Prabowo Prepares 1,000 TNI-Polri Officers to Strengthen South Sumatra Forest Fire Handling

President Prabowo Subianto has instructed for the strengthening of forest and land fire (karhutla) prevention measures in South Sumatra. Prabowo also emphasised the need to enhance education and socialisation to the public by preparing 1,000 TNI and Polri officers to be deployed together in the region.

“So at the central level, especially the TNI and also the Polri, we are preparing one thousand officers to be deployed to assist with socialisation and education. Later they will be divided together with all the officers and officials here. I mean so that the central government also has a sense of involvement, because this forest fire problem is a problem for the entire nation, the entire country. The forest is our source of life,” said Prabowo while leading a forest fire handling meeting at the Main Command Post of the South Sumatra Forest Fire Task Force in Palembang, Monday (24/8/2026).

Prabowo requested that every identified hotspot be followed up immediately so that it does not develop into a larger fire. In addition, Prabowo said that speed in responding to hotspots is an important part of the forest fire control strategy.

“If the forest burns, all the people will be affected, their breathing and so on. This is a very dangerous disaster. Although we do see that compared to several years before this, I have observed that this year is far lower. Even so, we must remain vigilant because the El Nino forecast this year is for a fairly severe El Nino,” he said.

Prabowo encouraged utilising the challenges in peatland areas as opportunities to develop more innovative solutions. One of these is by increasing the number of boreholes, retention basins, and canals in productive peatland areas.

“We also see some things that we consider obstacles, which in fact can also become opportunities. This peatland turns out not to be too difficult to drill and find water. I think this is why I call it an opportunity. Secondly, for future anticipation, perhaps BRIN can be deployed, how we can now continue to add retention basins and canals in productive peatland areas. Can those retention basins maintain certain fish and so on,” said Prabowo.

Furthermore, Prabowo also encouraged the involvement of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) to study the utilisation of retention basins and canals, including the possibility of developing productive activities such as cultivating certain fish species so that forest fire control infrastructure also provides economic benefits to the community.

“So with this nature, we must be creative, we must be innovative, and look for opportunities,” said Prabowo.

At the end of the meeting, Prabowo expressed appreciation to the South Sumatra Regional Leadership Coordination Forum (Forkopimda) and all elements who have worked hard to handle forest fires. Prabowo also asked that the issue of smoke be the next concern and assured that the government will continue to monitor forest fire developments in South Sumatra.

“To the South Sumatra Forkopimda, with all its leadership elements, I express my gratitude for your hard work so that mitigation could be carried out, but indeed the smoke problem we will think about later,” he added.