President Joko Widodo's Threat Regarding The 2020 Karhutla Handling

President Joko Widodo (Photo: setneg.go.id)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo will not tolerate TNI and Polri officers who in their working areas are unable to deal with forest and land fires (karhutla).

The President conveyed this strict rule in effect since 2016 when giving directions on efforts to increase control of forest and land fires (karhutla) in 2020 at the State Palace, Jakarta, Thursday, February 6.

"Especially for the TNI and Polri whose areas have large fires, be careful with the Pangdam, the Chief of Police, the Danrem, the Dandim, and the Chief of Police. I will definitely call the Commander and the Chief of Police if there is a fire in a small area (so) it gets bigger. not yet?" Jokowi said as reported by setneg.go.id.

"If it gets bigger (again), surely I will ask the Pangdam and Kapoldinya have been replaced yet? This is the rule of the game since 2016 and is valid until now," he continued.

He added, if a hotspot is found, then the related parties are asked to extinguish the hotspot as soon as possible before it has grown. Moreover, the government has the infrastructure and instruments down to the grassroots level to deal with this.

"We have Babinsa, Babinkamtibmas, notify them. Governors, regents, mayors, there are village heads, notify them. Our instruments and infrastructure are there. So that once again, if there is even the slightest fire, immediately extinguish it, don't let it spread and be difficult to solve, "he said.

Jokowi recalled the cases of forest and land fires that occurred in 2015 and previous years. At that time, the forest and land fires caused huge losses so Jokowi did not want this to happen again.

"This fire occurred decades ago. How many millions of hectares have been burned. In my experience, 2015 was really a big fire. At that time 2.5 million hectares of our land were burned, both peatlands and forests," he said.

He did not want this to happen and all parties took precautions. "We don't want the fires in Russia to reach 10 million (hectares), in Brazil 4.5 million, in Bolivia 1.8 million, in Canada 1.8 million, and lastly we know a big fire occurred in Australia. The information I received 6 million a month ago, but this morning I checked that it was 11 million, "he said.

Jokowi asked the relevant officials to be more intensive in taking preventive measures, such as the arrangement of the peat ecosystem in the peat hydrological area by the Peat Restoration Agency.

"Then look for a more permanent solution to efforts to burn forests and land deliberately for economic motives because, according to the reports I received, 99 percent of forest and land fires occur due to human activity on purpose for economic motives," said the President.

Relevant officials such as the Minister of Environment and Forestry and the National Police were asked to be firm against the perpetrators of forest burning indiscriminately. Jokowi must enforce the law firmly to be able to provide a deterrent effect for the perpetrators, both individuals and corporations.

In addition, he also instructed that the frequency of field inspections be increased. According to him, the supervisory function has a vital role in efforts to prevent forest and land fires from spreading.

"I ask for frequent field patrols, especially in areas prone to fires, please start instructing the apparatus below us so that we can really control the field. The regional government and territorial apparatus such as Babinsa and Babinkamtibmas will really be mobilized and involve community participation. We hope that Daily conditions in the field are always monitored, "he said.

Attending the event were Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud Md, Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya, TNI Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, National Police Chief General Pol. Idham Azis, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, and Head of BNPB Doni Monardo