Worst fire season in 11 years
Indonesia is fighting its most intense wildfire season in 11 years, with fires burning across Borneo and Sumatra and haze spreading over parts of the region. President Prabowo Subianto, chairing a limited meeting on disaster management, called for tougher regulations and sanctions against people and companies behind deliberate slash-and-burn land clearing, describing the practice as ecological terrorism and demanding zero tolerance for anyone found responsible.
Peat fires smoulder out of sight
Much of the damage is happening in peatland, where fires burn underground and can reignite weeks after surface flames are put out. That makes them expensive to fight and hard to measure: satellite detection struggles with smouldering peat, and smoke can travel hundreds of kilometres. Health authorities in affected provinces have advised residents to limit time outdoors, and schools in some districts have closed. The cost includes lost plantation output, disrupted flights and respiratory illness, which falls hardest on children and older people.
Enforcement and El Nino
The government has pointed to a dry El Nino pattern for the conditions that let fires spread, but officials acknowledge that most ignitions are set deliberately because burning is the cheapest way to clear land. Enforcement is difficult in a country of thousands of islands where the burning happens at local scale, and cases against larger companies have moved slowly through the courts in past years. Prabowo asked the state secretary and other agencies to prepare stricter rules, saying both individuals and corporations would face consequences. Land-use researchers say the real test will be whether those sanctions are applied during this season, rather than after the rains arrive and the fires go out on their own.