5,000 Civil Servants Deployed to Tackle Forest and Land Fires in Six Provinces

A total of 5,000 civil servants from the Ministry of Forestry will be deployed to six provinces to help tackle forest and land fires.

Of the thousands of civil servants being mobilised, 2,200 will be stationed in three provinces in Kalimantan. For West Kalimantan specifically, the ministry will send 700 civil servants from areas that are less severely affected by forest and land fires.

“Specifically for West Kalimantan, there will be 700 civil servants from areas that are not too badly affected by forest and land fires, and we will send them here,” said Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni in a statement on Monday (24/8).

Raja Juli explained that the reinforcement of personnel was being carried out because hotspot developments are highly dynamic. In addition to deploying civil servants, echelon I officials from the Ministry of Forestry will also be based in six provinces: West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Riau, South Sumatra, and Jambi.

“Alhamdulillah, thanks to the cooperation of all parties — the TNI, the National Police, on the ground and in the air, including our colleagues from Manggala Agni at the Ministry of Forestry who have been fighting tirelessly together — as of today, and again as of last night, the number of hotspots in West Kalimantan is down to just 28. We will update the data later; once again, this is very dynamic,” he said.

On Monday, Raja Juli also directly inspected a forest and land fire site in Rasau Jaya, Kubu Raya Regency, West Kalimantan. He said his presence in West Kalimantan was at the request of President Prabowo to ensure that instructions on handling forest and land fires were being carried out properly.

“I am here in West Kalimantan today at the request of President Prabowo Subianto to make sure that his orders are being carried out properly, and that his instructions are being implemented by our colleagues, especially those in West Kalimantan Province,” he said.