Rebuke for Foreign Nations

President Prabowo Subianto reprimanded several nations that mock and insult Indonesia over forest and land fires (karhutla). In fact, he stated, companies originating from those very countries share responsibility for the fires sweeping through multiple regions in Indonesia.

'Several countries mock us, insult us, and so forth. Yet many of their own companies are responsible here,' Prabowo said while attending the 2026 National Coordination Meeting of the Regional Financial Access Acceleration Team (TPAKD - Tim Percepatan Akses Keuangan Daerah) at JIExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta, on Thursday (22/10/2026).

Threat to Revoke Concessions of 19-Time Violators

On the same occasion, Prabowo revealed that there are concession-holding companies that have repeatedly violated regulations up to 19 times. He emphasized that he would not hesitate to revoke the business permits of companies proven to have committed violations causing forest and land fires. 'Whoever violates the rules, that's it, just revoke it. I won't hesitate, I will simply revoke them later,' he asserted.

Prabowo also opened up the possibility of transferring the management of revoked lands or plantations to Indonesian human resources. According to him, young Indonesians are capable of managing these plantations, and it would be far better managed independently out of love for the homeland.

Staying Focused on Fire Mitigation

Despite delivering harsh criticism, Prabowo stressed that the government remains focused on handling forest and land fires by mobilizing the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI - Tentara Nasional Indonesia), the Indonesian National Police (Polri - Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia), and local governments, emphasizing that the government takes responsibility for the mitigation efforts.

He also reminded that the impact of the fires is not only environmental damage, but also threatens public health, especially children in affected areas. Prabowo expressed his belief that local communities relying on forests and lands in Kalimantan would not damage their own living environments, as they are the ones who suffer the most.

Forest and land fires have affected several regions across Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, and Papua over the past four months. Although suppression efforts continue, hotspots in several areas are reportedly not yet fully extinguished, and haze still blankets residential areas, beginning to impair public health.