Jokowi Warned About Forest And Land Fires: Don't Be Ashamed During The Asean Summit

President Joko Widodo (Antara)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) does not want Indonesia to be embarrassed at the Asean Summit because there are forest and land fires (karhutla) 2021. Because this will have an impact on the judgment that Indonesia is unable to handle this problem.

Moreover, in the past five years, there has been no discussion about forest fires in the international arena.

"Don't let us be ashamed at the Asean Summit meeting of Asean countries, there are one, two, or three countries discussing this issue again," said President Jokowi while giving a briefing at the National Forest Fire Control Coordination Meeting which was broadcast on the YouTube account of the Presidential Secretariat, Monday , February 22nd.

He emphasized that the regional head and all his staff must be able to prevent forest and land fires. This must be done so that the international community, especially countries in the Asean region, do not consider Indonesia to be ignorant of this problem.

"I leave it, shame we think we can't solve this problem," he said.

Thus, it is important for all parties to pay attention to the problem of forest fires even though currently the more real threat comes from floods and landslides.

"Readiness to face the threat of forest and land fires must not be loose. We hope for a detailed and mature prevention plan, strong synergy and more effective field execution," he said.

Furthermore, in the National Coordination Meeting Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD said forest and land fires were still occurring in early 2021. At least last January, forest fires occurred in Aceh with 3 incidents, North Sumatra 9 incidents, Riau 29 incidents, Riau Islands 4 incidents, Jambi 2 events.

Then forest fires also occurred in West Kalimantan with 52 incidents, Central Kalimantan 12 incidents, Southeast Sulawesi 20 incidents and Papua 1 incident.

So, currently efforts to control forest fires such as those carried out in 2020 will be continued such as the operation of weather modification technology (TMC) together with BPPT, TNI AU, BNPB, which is supported by data and information from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) and BMKG. .

"In addition, increasing community participation through community development to care about fire or MPA paralegals, will also soon be implemented in areas prone to forest and land fires, both in Sumatra and Kalimantan and other areas," he concluded.