Prabowo Orders Firefighting Efforts to Focus on Tanjung Puting

Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Prabowo Subianto has ordered that efforts to extinguish forest and land fires focus, among other areas, on Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan, as well as other parts of Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra.

At a limited meeting at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Monday afternoon, the President paid particular attention to the fires in Tanjung Puting National Park, given that the park is the world’s largest centre for orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) conservation and rehabilitation.

“Tanjung Puting, or the area around the national park, must be protected because there are animals there,” Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Dudung Abdurachman told reporters at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Monday evening after the meeting.

Dudung also said that firefighting was currently being conducted mainly on the ground, as smoke haze in several areas was too thick to allow aircraft to fly safely because of poor visibility.

“According to a report from the head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), helicopter operations have been carried out, but ground operations are predominant because it is difficult to reach the areas from the air due to the smoke being too thick,” he said.

Dudung said that all parties, including the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), the National Police and volunteers, were now involved in extinguishing the fires. Combined teams can cover a maximum of 692 hectares per day.

“These efforts are continuing, including mitigation operations. Weather conditions are also being managed by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), and hopefully the situation will be brought under control quickly,” he said.

The meeting was also attended by Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, TNI Commander General Agus Subiyanto, National Police Chief General Suyudi Ario Seto, State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi and Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya.

Joining by video conference were Army Chief of Staff General Maruli Simanjuntak, Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Muhammad Ali and Air Force Chief of Staff Air Chief Marshal M. Tonny Harjono.

Also attending were BNPB chief Lieutenant General Suharyanto, along with several regional military commanders, regional police chiefs and governors in areas affected by the fires.

The meeting lasted about two hours, from 4.30pm to 6.30pm Western Indonesia Time.