Puan Urges Cross-Ministerial and Parliamentary Commission Coordination to Tackle Forest Fires

The Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR RI), Puan Maharani, has highlighted the ongoing forest and land fires (karhutla) occurring in various regions. Puan drew attention to the emerging issues in the education and health sectors caused by the impact of these fires.

“The forest fires have now reached an extraordinary condition (KLB), and we have requested the government to implement coordination that covers not only the handling of the fires themselves but also anticipatory measures regarding health and education issues, as well as coordination for post-fire recovery,” said Puan after presiding over a plenary session at the DPR RI building in Senayan, Jakarta, on Tuesday (1/9/2026).

Puan requested that the government coordinate efforts to resolve fire issues across various regions. She noted that tackling forest fires cannot be done in isolation; it requires cooperation from many parties.

“Therefore, we will request cross-sector coordination for the post-fire period moving forward. Our commissions will also undertake handling measures following the fires,” Puan stated.

“This cannot be done individually; it must be a coordinated effort. Within the House, the leadership will conduct coordination meetings to determine how to manage this across various ministries and commissions,” she added.

Puan also highlighted the haze threatening communities affected by the fires. She mentioned that the various parliamentary bodies within the DPR will follow up on the fire management efforts.

“That is why coordination cannot be done alone; it must involve multiple ministries. This must be done collectively, meaning it will involve multiple commissions in the DPR and multiple ministries within the government,” she explained.

The National Disaster Management Agency (BNNP) previously reported developments regarding hotspots and fire points across six provinces affected by forest and land fires. An increase in fire points was observed in West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan.

“We can see that in West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan, the number of hotspots is relatively increasing. In West Kalimantan, the increase is significant, while in South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan, it is relatively decreasing,” said the Acting Head of the BNPB Data and Information Centre, Berton SP Panjaitan, during a press conference via the official BNPB channel on Monday (31/8).

He stated that the number of fire points in the three provinces—West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan—has relatively increased, with visibility reduced to less than 1–2 kilometres.

“However, looking at the fire point data, we found an increase in fire points in these three provinces, and visibility is approximately 1 to 2 kilometres,” he said.

Meanwhile, for the provinces of Riau, South Sumatra, and Jambi, fire points have relatively decreased. However, hotspots in South Sumatra increased by 209 points to a total of 1,013.

“In Riau and Jambi, hotspots have decreased significantly. Visibility varies between 4 to 5 kilometres in Riau and South Sumatra, while in Jambi, it is around 7 kilometres,” he added.