Prabowo Targets Indonesia's Forest and Land Fires Resolved Within 1-2 Weeks

President Prabowo Subianto hopes that forest and land fires (karhutla) in several regions of Indonesia will be resolved within the next one to two weeks.

“I think it is now starting to be resolved, mitigated in several places. I hope that within one or two weeks everything can be finished,” said Prabowo at the launch of the 100 GWp Solar Power Plant (PLTS) programme in Jembrana Regency, Bali, on Tuesday (25/8).

Prabowo said that all his ranks are working well to address the karhutla problem. He stated that he had directly checked a number of places where officers are handling the fires.

The President also emphasised that the government is always present and will continue to strive to resolve this issue.

“We are now deploying dozens of helicopters, more than a dozen aircraft, various techniques, hundreds of water drilling rigs, hundreds of water pumps, thousands of personnel,” he said.

Prabowo also asked all parties to remain vigilant in facing today’s El Niño phenomenon. He said this year’s El Niño is predicted to be one of the strongest.

Forest and land fires have hit a number of areas on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan in recent times.

The fires in Kalimantan have even triggered smoke haze reaching Sarawak, Malaysia. The state has gone so far as to close schools to protect its students.