Government Denies Haji Isam Appointed as Forest Fire Coordinator
State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi has denied information suggesting that Haji Isam was appointed as the coordinator for handling forest and land fires (karhutla) in Kalimantan. He emphasised that the government has divided handling responsibilities among several minister-level officials based on regions.
“There is no such thing, it is not true. Who started this issue? On social media there are many trending topics, but that does not necessarily mean they are true and have become a problem,” said Prasetyo in Jakarta on Sunday (23/8).
Prasetyo explained that the government has indeed opened space for various parties to help with karhutla handling. However, this is different from being appointed as the main coordinator for disaster management.
“It is true that all parties are asked to help. But becoming a coordinator is not the case, because that authority does not lie there,” he said.
According to Prasetyo, the central government has established a division of work areas among several minister-level officials to accelerate the response to karhutla occurring in several regions of Kalimantan.
“We, the central government, have appointed several minister-level officials to share regions. So we have indeed divided tasks to give attention to West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and so on. We have arranged it that way,” he explained.
The division of tasks does not mean that responsibility for karhutla handling is only attached to the regions assigned to each official. The scheme is more aimed at clarifying focus and accelerating coordination on the ground.
“There is the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, there is the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture. We have divided everything, the Army Chief of Staff is also responsible for one region. But do not interpret that as not being responsible for other regions. This is only dividing attention so that there is acceleration,” said Prasetyo.
Regarding the discourse on forming a special karhutla task force, Prasetyo said the government has not seen the need to establish a new structure. According to him, the current cross-sector coordination is already strong enough to handle the situation on the ground.
“I think not yet, because yesterday the results from the field showed that cross-sector coordination was already quite strong,” he said.
The government, Prasetyo continued, has also added various support to strengthen firefighting operations. The additions include equipment, water bombing helicopters, fire extinguishers, and additional personnel.
“If there is a need to add some equipment, including water bombing helicopters, including personal protective equipment and additional troops, all of that has been done,” he said.
Personnel reinforcement was also carried out by deploying an additional three battalions to assist karhutla handling operations. Prasetyo said the troops began operating on Sunday (23/8).
“And today the additional personnel from three battalions have begun operating. We are all working together to tackle this,” he said.
Karhutla, whose smoke has the potential to affect neighbouring countries, is also a concern for the government. Prasetyo said communication regarding the condition has been carried out, both through informal and official channels.
“Informally there is communication, formally through the Foreign Minister there is certainly communication,” said Prasetyo.
According to him, the communication is running in parallel with the government’s efforts to accelerate handling of fires domestically. The government wants to ensure that karhutla can be controlled as soon as possible so that its impact does not spread further.
“That is why we are trying to handle karhutla as quickly as possible,” he concluded.