Kalimantan Burns: Prabowo Takes Charge of Worsening Forest Fires
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has traveled to Kalimantan to personally oversee firefighting efforts as forest fires continue to spread. Thousands of military and police personnel have been deployed to combat the blazes, which have affected over 500 square kilometers of land.
Why it matters
Large-scale forest fires in Indonesia have significant environmental and health impacts across Southeast Asia, often causing regional haze.
August 22, 2026 | 11:40 am SHARE URL berhasil di salin. President Prabowo Subianto addresses leaders of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) at the State Palace in Jakarta on Friday, July 31, 2026. (Beritasatu.com/Theressia Silalahi) Jakarta . President Prabowo Subianto flew to Kalimantan on Saturday to inspect and directly oversee efforts to contain a worsening outbreak of forest and land fires that has spread across several provinces.
Prabowo departed Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta at 10 a.m. local time, according to Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya, who said the president wanted to ensure that firefighting operations were carried out swiftly and in coordination with local authorities.
"President Prabowo Subianto is heading to Kalimantan to inspect and directly lead the simultaneous response to forest and land fires in Kalimantan," Teddy said in a post on the Cabinet Secretariat's Instagram account.
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