State Secretary: Forest and Land Fire Handling in 4 Sumatran Provinces Under Control

Minister of State Secretary (Mensesneg) Prasetyo Hadi said President Prabowo Subianto’s working visit to Riau and South Sumatra provinces was to ensure that the handling of forest and land fires (karhutla) is carried out precisely and quickly. Pras said the handling of karhutla in four Sumatran provinces is already under control.

“Once again, this is in the context of him wanting to ensure the handling of karhutla that has occurred both on Kalimantan Island and in Sumatra, and thank God, the last two coordination meetings were also connected via Zoom meeting with the Forkopimda of Jambi and Lampung,” said Pras at the South Sumatra Karhutla Post in Palembang on Monday (24/8/2026).

In Palembang, Prabowo also held a teleconference with the ranks of the Lampung and Jambi Forkopimda. From the reports of the four regions, it is known that the handling of karhutla is under control.

“Thank God, for Sumatra Island, the four provinces are relatively under control. Several have reported that there are no more hotspots, but there is still smoke that continues to emerge, because there is peatland and also, as reported, coal in areas especially in Sumatra,” said Pras.

However, Pras said, in the meeting Prabowo focused on asking about the resources still needed to resolve the karhutla problem. Although the area of karhutla has now shrunk, Prabowo is still sending additional equipment to the four provinces.

“Then also the President expressed his appreciation because the Forkopimda, both in Riau and South Sumatra, are considered by the President to have taken many extraordinary preventive and anticipatory steps, including providing education and working together. There was one good quote from the beginning, which is working together in mutual cooperation with the entire community, business actors, and plantation owners to jointly anticipate from the beginning of the year,” explained Pras.

“Because this year’s El Niño is predicted to be quite strong, so from the beginning of the year we have been working together to anticipate and reduce behaviours or activities that could cause fires, both in forests and on land,” he added.