Prabowo Orders Revocation of Corporate Permits Linked to Riau Forest Fires

Jakarta - President Prabowo Subianto has issued firm instructions to his officials to impose severe sanctions on companies proven to be involved in forest and land fires in Riau. The instruction was delivered during a limited cabinet meeting on forest fire management held on Monday. According to a post on the official Instagram account of the Presidential Secretariat, Prabowo requested that the permits of companies proven to have deliberately set forest and land fires be revoked. “The government will ensure that heavy sanctions await corporations behind the Riau forest fires,” the post stated.

During the meeting, Prabowo stressed that there must be no tolerance for corporations that deliberately set fires for economic gain. The permit revocation forms part of the government’s rapid intervention to break the recurring cycle of forest fires that cause widespread harm to society. “This step is taken as a form of rapid government intervention to break the chain of forest fires that continue to harm public health, the economy, and the environment. There is no tolerance for parties who sacrifice nature for mere profit,” the statement read.

Prabowo also instructed all law enforcement officials to prevent forest fires, particularly targeting individuals who deliberately start fires for any reason. He further asked the police and prosecutors to investigate corporate involvement in the Riau fires. “Especially if there is a corporation that ordered the burning, I ask the police, prosecutors, and intelligence services to investigate,” he said. He stressed that any corporation found to have instructed communities to burn land would have its permits revoked. “Whoever the corporation is, if there is any indication they ordered the burning, we will revoke their permits, all of their corporate permits. I am not playing around,” he said.

Prabowo also requested a list of five palm oil industry companies suspected of violating forest fire prevention obligations in Riau Province. The request was made to Riau Police Chief Inspector General Herry Heryawan during the coordination meeting at the AJU Command Post in Pekanbaru. Herry reported that companies operating in forest areas are required to have monitoring towers to watch for potential fires, and 268 towers have been built to date. However, he noted that five corporations were subject to law enforcement by the Ministry of Environment last year for failing to meet various fire prevention obligations, such as building monitoring towers or establishing rapid reaction teams to respond to fire spots.

Upon hearing the report, Prabowo immediately asked for the names of the sanctioned companies. He also instructed officials to identify any companies committing similar violations this year. Herry explained that the five companies had since fulfilled their obligations, but their sanction status remained in limbo with no permit revocation yet. Prabowo said the government would investigate the cases further in Jakarta and stressed that any company unwilling to participate in fire prevention would have its permit revoked. “This is the source of the people’s livelihood, and the source of the company’s livelihood as well. They cannot act arbitrarily and fail to prevent fires,” he said.