Prabowo Orders Investigation into Forest and Land Fires

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto called for law enforcement against those responsible for forest and land fires to be strengthened, including by investigating suspected deliberate burning linked to plantation land clearing. Prabowo issued the directive while chairing a limited meeting on developments in natural disaster response from Merdeka Palace in Jakarta via videoconference on Monday, September 7, 2026.

"So this was truly deliberate. Is it carried out by locals or corporations? Please continue to investigate, and I want the names of those corporations – whether the 8 or the 18 (perpetrators) – to be brought to me immediately," the president said, as quoted from Indonesia’s Presidential Secretariat.

Prabowo also called for the joint follow-up by the relevant ministries and agencies. He specifically called on the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN), and the Task Force for the Control of Forest Areas (Satgas PKH) to take action.

"If necessary, we should immediately revoke all of them – all their permits, their cultivation rights, and so on. This has gone too far, and I also want to know exactly who owns these corporations," President Prabowo added.

At the meeting, National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) chief Lt. Gen. Suharyanto reported that law enforcement efforts against those responsible for forest and land fires were continuing. Based on findings, Suharyanto said there were indications that some fires had been deliberately set, including by paying certain individuals to burn forests and land.

"There have indeed been deliberate efforts to set fires. We caught perpetrators in Jambi who had been paid to burn the forest," Suharyanto told Prabowo in his report.

Meanwhile, National Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo reported that 200 police reports were being processed. Of that number, police had detained 138 suspects, he said. In addition, eight corporations were currently facing legal proceedings.

“We are also conducting further investigations into 18 companies, while 42 companies have currently been subjected to administrative sanctions, including the suspension or revocation of their permits... If it is later found that they have also committed criminal offenses, we will prosecute them. So this figure will continue to change and increase, depending on the teams that are continuing to work in the field,” Listyo said.