'How is it possible?': Students protest Indonesian haze

On a late Friday evening in Palangkaraya, Indonesia, hundreds of students took to the streets in protest against the growing wildfire crisis plaguing their city and the surrounding region. The students, many donning surgical masks due to the toxic haze, assembled under an orange sky with limited visibility. They held banners urging the government to declare a national emergency and provide more aid, expressing their frustration with the authorities.

One protest placard read, "The officials are morons, yet they get fantastic perks while the lives of the common people are tragic." The demonstrators sang the patriotic song "Indonesia Pusaka" and briefly clashed with the police, but no injuries or arrests were reported. After the protest, the students cleaned up their belongings and dispersed peacefully.

Yuyun Sanjaya, a protest leader, addressed the crowd, stating, "We call upon the Central Kalimantan provincial government to state clearly that it is unable to mitigate this disaster, so that the situation may be officially designated a national disaster." The protesters questioned how it was possible for such dense smoke to be inhaled by the elderly, newborns, and others, while the government remained indifferent.

According to the deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas, wildfires have burned over 1.9 million hectares in the nine months leading up to September. However, the government has neither confirmed nor denied this figure. The resulting haze has affected the health of hundreds of thousands of people across Indonesia and reached as far as Malaysia, Singapore, and East Timor.

Diplomatic objections from neighboring countries have put pressure on the Indonesian government, and the situation has become increasingly tense domestically. On Thursday, students on Java island prayed for rain, as wildfires had also ravaged several regencies and conservation areas on that island.