Antara News·Indonesia·Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at 05:25 AM UTC

Minister urges local leaders to ban land burning as wildfires continue

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Fianda Sjofjan, Raka Adji

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian has instructed regional leaders to ban all forms of land burning to prevent new forest and land fire hotspots as fires remain in several regions.

"I have issued a Home Affairs Ministerial Instruction to all regional heads, prohibiting burning under any circumstances during an emergency like this," Tito said at a press conference at the Ministry of Home Affairs headquarters in Jakarta on Monday.

He stated that land burning prevention must be strictly enforced through collaboration between local governments, Regional Leadership Coordination Forums (Forkopimda), the military, the police, and community leaders.

Tito called on all regional heads, from the provincial to the district and city levels, to engage directly on the ground to raise awareness about the ban down to the village level.

"Spread the word down to the village level. No one is allowed to conduct any form of burning," he said.

According to Tito, burning land to clear new areas risks triggering uncontrollable fires, especially under dry weather conditions during the dry season. Therefore, he emphasized that citing local wisdom cannot be used as a justification during a land and forest fire emergency.

In addition to preventing the emergence of new fire sites, he emphasized the importance of continuous firefighting efforts, calling for cross-sector collaboration in the operations.

Tito also urged weather modification efforts to assist in firefighting operations when cloud conditions permit rain formation. For peatlands in particular, he noted that large volumes of water are required to extinguish fires reaching deep underground.

"Channel as much water as possible, such as through irrigation networks, from water sources like rivers, lakes, dams, or reservoirs, until it saturates the burning peatland," he remarked.

He expressed hope that cross-sector coordination and firm local government action would strengthen fire management efforts while preventing new fire sites during the emergency period.

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