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Reuters

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has called for stricter regulations and sanctions against those who use slash and burn methods to clear land, as the country struggles to contain wildfires that have been raging for weeks.
Indonesia is battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, with “super El Nino” weather parching ‌the country’s forests and fields. The islands of Borneo and Sumatra have been the worst hit, with the hazardous haze causing a spike in respiratory illnesses.
Transboundary pollution has also caused unhealthy air conditions in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.
Prabowo, in a meeting with his cabinet, said there will be zero tolerance for people or corporations found responsible for starting wildfires.

“I have asked the state secretary and the minister of law to look into this further, specifically regarding legal sanctions,” he said.
“And perhaps we should ask the House of Representatives to stiffen the laws, classifying this as ‘ecological terrorism’. This is a very serious matter,” he added, according to a palace statement issued late on Wednesday.
He also instructed regional governments to immediately abolish exemptions that allow smallholders to clear small plots of land using fire.
Prabowo also called for the police to ‌launch criminal investigations against corporations found to be violating fire safeguards.
Cases of wildfire-related respiratory illness in seven affected provinces more than doubled to 113,336 from September to September 9, with residents of West Kalimantan among the people suffering the worst from hazardous fire emissions.

Indonesia has deployed more than 50 aircraft to conduct water bombing and cloud seeding operations to help battle the fires.
Japan also joined Indonesia’s water bombing operations on Wednesday. Japan sent over three CH-47 Chinook helicopters last week but poor flight conditions delayed their participation.
From January to July this year, fires raged across 202,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of land, government ‌data showed. Environmental group YKAN has estimated that fire damaged another 600,000 hectares in August.
Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni warned that the wildfires could last until early November with the rainy season expected to arrive later than previously estimated.


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Indonesia

The Singapore Flyer and commercial buildings are shrouded in haze at the Marina Bay area in Singapore on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

A Regional Disaster Agency staff member sprays water to extinguish a fire in a peatland area burnt by wildfires in Kubu Raya, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

A Japan Self-Defence Forces soldier looks at a CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter, which will be used to help  Indonesia in forest and land fire battling operations, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

A person looks at parked Malaysia Airlines planes amid haze at Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Tuesday. Photo: AP

A cathedral in the Indonesian city of Pontianak is shrouded in haze from wildfires on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

A resident of Kubu Raya in West Kalimantan receives oxygen through a nasal cannula on Monday. Photo: Reuters

As toxic haze spreads, can Indonesia make land burners pay?

A helicopter drops water to extinguish a wildfire burning through peatland in Jambi province, Indonesia, on Monday. Photo: BPBD Jambi/AP

Government buildings shrouded in haze in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on Tuesday. Massive forest and land fires across parts of Indonesia have sent haze towards the neighbouring nation. Photo: EPA

Junior school students wear face masks at a school in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia on Friday, as a result of widespread forest and land fires. Photo: AFP

A haze-shrouded road in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, on Thursday. Smoke from widespread forest and land fires has significantly reduced visibility and degraded air quality across the province. Photo: AFP

How wildfires are threatening Indonesia’s economy and carbon market

A drone view shows a barge being towed along the Kapuas River, shrouded in haze from wildfires, in Pontianak, Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

People travel on a riverboat as thick haze from forest and land fires blankets Benua Melayu Darat village in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Staff members of the Regional Disaster Agency spray water to extinguish a fire in a peatland area burned by wildfires, in Kubu Raya, Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Up in smoke: why Southeast Asia failed to halt the haze

Scenes from across Southeast Asia as dense transboundary haze from widespread forest and peatland fires triggers severe air pollution. Photos: EPA

Firefighters spray water on a wildfire in South Sumatra, Indonesia, on September 5. Photo: EPA

Students walk home along a street in Jambi, Indonesia, after being released from school early due to the haze in September 2015. Photo: Antara Foto/Wahdi Setiawan/Reuters

A ship sails through thick haze in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia, on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

Dock workers walk amid thick haze from forest fires at Kijing Port in Mempawah, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, on Thursday. Photo: AP

Haze shrouds Singapore on September 4. The city state’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act 2014 lets it prosecute companies for haze pollution. Photo: EPA

Malaysia’s air quality turns hazardous as Indonesian wildfires burn

The skyline of Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur is seen shrouded in haze from regional wildfires on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Firefighters spray water in an attempt to extinguish a wildfire in Indonesia’s South Sumatra province on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Satellite data from Nasa’s Fire Information for Resource Management System showed dense concentrations of heat signatures in West Kalimantan on Sunday. Image: Handout

A farmer in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province sprays water in an attempt to extinguish wildfires that are burning his palm oil plantation on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Burnt trees lie on the ground at a peatland area affected by wildfires in Ketapang regency, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Philippine capital’s ‘acutely unhealthy’ air due to Indonesian haze spurs warnings

A thick haze shrouds Metro Manila due to smoke from ongoing fires in Kalimantan, Indonesia, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Firefighters try to extinguish a wildfire in the Tumbang Nusa area of Pulang Pisau, central Kalimantan, on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Haze shrouding the area around the Sarawak Legislative Assembly building in Kuching, Malaysia, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

An Indonesian prays for rain at a mosque in Pontianak, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, as haze from wildfires blankets the area. Photo: Reuters

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Asia

Southeast Asia

Indonesia is battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, with the hazardous haze also affecting neighbours Singapore and Malaysia


Indonesia is battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, with the hazardous haze also affecting neighbours Singapore and Malaysia.


Indonesia’s Prabowo mulls labelling wildfires as ‘ecological terrorism’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Indonesia is battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, with the hazardous haze also affecting neighbours Singapore and Malaysia

Indonesia is battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, with the hazardous haze also affecting neighbours Singapore and Malaysia