Indonesia vows harsher penalties for those behind record wildfires

Indonesia is grappling with its strongest wildfire outbreak in 11 years, driven by a "super El Nino" that has dried out forests on Borneo and Sumatra, spreading hazardous haze to neighboring Singapore and Malaysia. President Prabowo, speaking to his cabinet, declared zero tolerance for anyone—individuals or corporations—found to have started the fires and asked the state secretary and law minister to explore stricter legal sanctions, even proposing the label "ecological terrorism" for such acts.

He also ordered the immediate removal of exemptions that let smallholders use fire for land clearing and called on police to open criminal investigations into corporate violations. Police official Mohammad Irhamni reported 219 criminal probes, naming 162 suspects and examining 95 companies. The government has deployed more than 50 aircraft for water-bombing and cloud-seeding, with Japan contributing CH-47 helicopters and Malaysia offering additional aircraft and personnel. Forestry minister Raja Juli Antoni warned the fires could persist until early November, as the rainy season arrives later than expected.