Indonesian president calls for tougher sanctions for land burning — Channel NewsAsia
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has called for tougher legislation and sanctions for clearing land by burning amid large-scale forest fires that have been ongoing in the country for several weeks. At a government meeting, he called the practice “environmental terrorism” and declared zero tolerance for people and companies responsible for starting fires, Channel NewsAsia reports.
The president’s proposals
Subianto instructed the state secretary and the law minister to consider strengthening legal sanctions. He also suggested that the House of Representatives should toughen laws and classify land burning as “environmental terrorism”.
The president also ordered regional authorities to immediately revoke exemptions that allow small landowners to burn small plots to clear land. In addition, he called on police to launch criminal investigations into companies over violations of fire safety requirements.
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Investigations and firefighting
According to Indonesian police spokesperson Mohammad Irhamni, law enforcement has opened 219 criminal investigations related to the fires and named 162 suspects. Police are also examining 95 companies, but the official did not specify how many of them are suspected of criminal offenses.
Indonesia has deployed more than 50 aircraft for water bombing and cloud seeding. Japan joined water-bombing operations on Wednesday and Thursday. Last week, it sent more than three CH-47 Chinook helicopters, but their participation was delayed by unfavorable flying conditions.
According to government data, fires burned 202,000 hectares from January to July. Environmental group YKAN estimates that fires damaged another 600,000 hectares in August. Borneo and Sumatra were hit hardest, while transboundary air pollution caused unhealthy conditions in Singapore and Malaysia. Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni warned that the fires could continue until early November because of a later start to the rainy season.
