Muhammadiyah Calls for Impartial Law Enforcement in Forest and Land Fire Cases

Muhammadiyah’s Central Executive Board has urged law enforcement agencies to conduct thorough and transparent investigations into every suspected case of forest and land burning, including possible involvement by corporations, officials or parties protecting those responsible.

Law enforcement must be impartial, so that power, position and financial strength do not obstruct accountability.

Muhammadiyah Central Executive Board Chairman Prof Haedar Nashir said the law must be enforced firmly and without discrimination. He called on law enforcement agencies to investigate thoroughly and transparently every suspected act of burning, negligence or other violation that caused or worsened forest and land fires.

“Law enforcement must reach individual perpetrators, corporations, those who ordered the acts or benefited from them, and anyone proven to have protected perpetrators or obstructed enforcement,” Prof Haedar said in Statement No. 87/PER/1.0/H/2026 on Forest and Land Fires in 2026, cited on Wednesday (21 October 2026).

The statement said any suspected involvement by officials, security personnel or law enforcement officers must be examined independently and accountably. Power, position and financial strength must not serve as shields from legal accountability or as barriers to it.

Prof Haedar also said government policies and actions at national and regional levels needed to be aligned.

He urged governors, regents and mayors, sub-district heads, and village and urban-ward heads in affected and fire-prone areas—particularly in Kalimantan and Sumatra—to ensure that prevention, response and recovery measures were implemented consistently and in coordination with the central government.