Jokowi Suspects Massive Forest Fire is Organized

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In his visit to Pekanbaru, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo affirms the magnitude of the region’s massive land and forest fires that sparked a large scale haze. The president also suspects that the environmental-crime was commenced in an organized way.

“The immense lands engulfed by the fire are extremely massive. This was organized. We’ll ask about the details to the Police Chief upon tackling it,” said the president as stated in the statement released by the Presidential Secretariat’s press bureau.

The president asserts that the government through the Indonesian National Police (Polri) will take legal measures for those who are responsible for the forest fires. He also called stakeholders to commit to preventing the same event from happening in the future.

Moreover, President Joko Widodo asserts that preventing forest fires is much more effective and financially viable compared to handling post-event.

In his visit, he took the time to engage with on-duty officials at the location of the forest fires that have generally spent more than a month tackling the growing fire, especially over peatlands.

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