JAKARTA – President Prabowo Subianto has reminded all stakeholders to take all necessary steps to prevent forest and land fires (Karhutla) that could become an international issue if not under control.
The important environmental message was presented by Security and Politics Coordinating Minister (Menko Polkam) Budi Gunawan during a Karhutla preparedness briefing 2025 at the air base of Reosmin Nirjadin (Rsn), Pekanbaru, Riau province.
“President presented me the message twice to be conveyed to all participants of this briefing. President has stated that the forest and land fires should not become an international issue because of our failure to put it under control,” Minister Budi Gunawan said on Tuesday (29/4/25).
He said that Karhutla can cause huge impacts. It is not just potential to cause social and economic impacts to the country, but also to other countries, especially neighboring countries. “It’s because the smoke resulted from forest and land fires knows no borderlines. Geographically, this Riau province is on borderline with Malaysia and Singapura,” he said.
He said therefore all stakeholders and related institutions, including military (TNI), police (Polri), and the genenral public should increase their alertness in anticipating the impacts of Karhutla. “All should be prepared to take actions of preventing forest and land fires and extinguishing the fires,” he said.
Generally, Indonesia, especially Riau province, has a bitter experience in the past due to the forest fires. “We hope we won’t see such bitter experiences in the future,” he said.
But Minister Budi Gunawan has also expressed his appreciation to the efforts of preventing and tackling the Karhutla cases during the last few years. “The Karhutla cases in the past were were tackled well. It’s because of good solidarity and collaborations among all stakeholders. All stakeholders took necessary steps in tackling the Karhutla cases early on before spreading beyond control,” he said.
“Today, our President, President Prabowo Subianto has conveyed an important message for all of us to maintain all of the positive achievements we’ve realized so far. There shouldn’t be forest and land fires occurring beyond control and becoming an international issue,” he said.
During the occasion, the minister had also underlined the importance of involvement of private companies, especially the big ones, in Riau province in resolving the environmental problem. “The involvement of private companies in preventing and extinguishing forest fires is part of their corporate social responsibility, especially in surrounding areas of their operations,” he said. (*)
