Prabowo Leads Forest Fire Meeting in Kalimantan
President Prabowo Subianto directly chaired a meeting on forest and land fire (karhutla) handling upon his arrival in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, on Saturday (22/8/2026).
While leading the meeting, Prabowo was seen telephoning a relevant official to send additional water pumps. “Send five to Central Kalimantan immediately,” he said during the call, as seen in a video uploaded to the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel.
The forest fire disaster affecting several areas in Kalimantan has not only drawn national attention but also international scrutiny, as the resulting haze has been felt in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.
A representative of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) explained that Central Kalimantan has declared a state of emergency for forest and land fires. A total of 10,700 personnel have been deployed to extinguish the hotspots.
The previous day, President Prabowo had instructed officials, particularly the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and the National Police (Polri), to work directly with regional governments and local communities to tackle forest and land fires in four affected provinces in Kalimantan. The division of duties includes the TNI Commander and the National Police Chief assigned to West Kalimantan, the Army Chief of Staff and the Deputy National Police Chief assigned to Central Kalimantan, the Navy Chief of Staff and the Police Operations Assistant assigned to South Kalimantan, and the Deputy TNI Commander and the Mobile Brigade Corps Commander assigned to East Kalimantan. This division of duties is intended to ensure that field handling proceeds more quickly, in an integrated manner, and simultaneously.
The President instructed that forest and land fire handling be carried out as quickly and optimally as possible so that the public can resume normal activities. In addition, the President also requested that any legal violations found be dealt with firmly in accordance with applicable regulations.