Threat from President Joko Widodo regarding the management of Karhutla 2020

JAKARTA – President Joko Widodo will not tolerate TNI and Polri officers who in their work areas are unable to fight forest and land fires (karhutla).

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

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

“If it gets bigger (further), surely I will ask that the Pangdam and Kapoldinya have already been replaced? This has been the rule of the game since 2016 and it is valid until now,” he continued.

He added that if a hotspot is discovered, then relevant parties are asked to turn off the hotspot as soon as possible before it grows. Moreover, the government has the necessary infrastructure and instruments down to the local level to deal with this problem.

“We have Babinsa, Babinkamtibmas, warn them. Governors, regents, mayors, there are village chiefs, warn them. Our instruments and infrastructures are there. So that once again, if there is If there is the slightest fire, put it out immediately, don't do it.” “I can’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, forest and land fires were causing huge losses and so Jokowi did not want this to happen again.

“This fire happened decades ago. How many millions of hectares were burned. In my experience, 2015 was really a big fire. At that time, 2.5 million hectares of our lands were burned, both peatlands and forests,” he said.

He didn't 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 finally we know that a big fire will “It's produced in Australia. The information I received was 6 million a month ago, but this morning I checked it was 11 million,” he said.

Jokowi asked relevant officials to take more intensive preventive measures, such as the development of the peat ecosystem in the peat hydrological zone by the Peat Restoration Agency.

“So seek a more permanent solution to efforts to deliberately burn forests and land for economic reasons because, according to reports I have received, 99 percent of forest and land fires occur due to human activity intentionally for economic reasons,” the president said. .

Relevant officials, such as the Minister of Environment and Forestry and the national police, have been urged to show firmness towards those responsible for indiscriminate forest burning. Jokowi must enforce the law firmly so that he can have a deterrent effect on perpetrators, whether individuals or businesses.

Additionally, he also requested that the frequency of field inspections be increased. He said the surveillance function plays a vital role in efforts to prevent the spread of forest and land fires.

“I request frequent patrols of the terrain, especially in fire-prone areas, please start instructing the apparatus below us so that we can actually control the terrain. The regional government and territorial apparatus such as Babinsa and Babinkamtibmas will be truly mobilized and involve community participation “We hope that the daily conditions on the ground will always be monitored,” he said.

Present at 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 BNPB chief Doni Monardo

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