{
  "id": 16616754,
  "title": "Indonesian NGO alleges 21 Malaysian-linked firms involved in forest fires",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/26/indonesian-ngo-alleges-21-malaysian-linked-firms-involved-in-forest",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-26T14:19:47.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2026/10/1564188/indonesian-ngo-alleges-21-malaysian-linked-firms-involved-forest-fires"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "KUALA LUMPUR: A report released by the Indonesian NGO Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI) has accused 21 Malaysian-linked companies of involvement in forest and land fires across the country from January through September 2026. The analysis, titled \"Who Are Behind the Fires?\", utilized satellite data to identify at least 30,927 hotspots during the period, with nearly half situated within the operating concessions of oil palm plantation and forestry firms. The regions with the most fire hotspots included West Kalimantan (9,529) and Central Kalimantan (7,141). The fires led to unhealthy to hazardous Air Pollution Standard Index (ISPU) levels in affected areas.\n\nThe WALHI report also discovered that 21 Indonesian concession-holding companies, identified as subsidiaries or affiliated with Malaysian business groups, were responsible for fire incidents. Besides Malaysian-connected firms, the NGO noted that numerous other high-risk concessions were managed by foreign capital and conglomerates, whose parent entities or registered shareholders were based in Singapore, Hong Kong, and tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands and Samoa.\n\nOn October 5, Greenpeace Indonesia and Pantau Gambut made a similar claim, citing a dataset of haze sources from August 1 to October 1, which implicated 20 entities linked to forest fires, including plantation companies from Malaysia and Singapore. Some of the same Indonesian entities appeared in a 2019 report connected to land fires they owned.\n\nWALHI emphasized that forest and land fires in Indonesia should not be attributed solely to technical errors or negligence by local companies with permits. Instead, the NGO argued that the issue is structural, involving parent business groups that control operational policies and reap economic benefits from their land control. The NGO urged authorities and relevant ministries to take decisive action, such as reviewing permits, imposing administrative restrictions, suspending operations, and revoking concession permits for companies repeatedly experiencing fires within their controlled areas. The recurring pattern of hotspots among subsidiaries belonging to the same business groups suggested that the fires were not isolated incidents caused by individual negligence.",
  "summary": "KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesian environmental non-governmental organisation Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI) has claimed that 21 companies linked to business groups with Malaysian ties were involved in forest and land fires in Indonesia between January and September 2026.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}