Bogor, W Java (ANTARA) - On a small patch of land, Mama Lifa and her offspring, Lifa, were found isolated among acacia trees after fires destroyed the surrounding forest.
Their ordeal reflects a wider crisis. As October 20, 2026, approaches - the second anniversary of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s administration - Indonesia is still battling fires nationwide.
Six provinces remain priorities: Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, South Sumatra, Jambi and Riau, where dry conditions and combustible peat have made firefighting especially difficult.
In Riau alone, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) recorded 2,713.26 hectares burned between January 1 and March 24, 2026, in nearly three months of fires.
BNPB data dated March 25 showed the burned area expanding at several strategic locations, an early sign of the challenge that would continue through the dry season.
BNPB data cited by the National Development Planning Ministry showed that 72,009.10 hectares had burned in the six priority provinces as of September 8, 2026.
Of that total, 71,274.29 hectares had been extinguished, while about 734.81 hectares remained alight and under active firefighting efforts, BNPB figures showed.
Those figures can shift because peat fires are notoriously difficult to contain: flames may smolder underground and reappear after crews believe the fire has been put out.
The government has deployed more than 60,000 joint personnel for ground operations, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said, with particular focus on Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra alongside aerial firefighting.
Smoke has crossed national borders, affecting Malaysia and Singapore. Both neighboring countries have expressed sympathy as Indonesia struggles to contain fires that have disrupted life at home and across the region.
Japan, though far from the burning areas, has also supported the response, deploying several military assets to help conduct aerial firefighting operations in Kalimantan.
The fires are not confined to peatlands. BNPB has also recorded significant burns in other landscapes, showing how widely the crisis has spread beyond the government’s six priority provinces.
Fires affected 4,458 hectares in the Nusantara capital region, East Kalimantan; 2.5 hectares on Mount Ijen; 16.5 hectares on Mount Butak in East Java; and 223.5 hectares in Teluk Bintuni, West Papua. All were extinguished.
Affecting people, biodiversity
The smoke from fires that have persisted for months has disrupted daily life in Indonesian communities, while haze has also affected people in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.
Beyond interrupted routines, the fires carry serious health risks and threaten the basic conditions people need to live, work and attend school safely.
The flames are also endangering Indonesia’s biodiversity, especially the forests of Kalimantan and Sumatra, where countless species depend on intact habitat for food, shelter and movement.
The Forestry Ministry said it had handled 290 wild animals affected by the fires as of October 8, 2026. Of those, 272 were in four provinces in Kalimantan.
Orangutans are among the animals affected. Ristianto Pribadi, head of the ministry’s Public Relations and International Cooperation Bureau, said responses included rescue, relocation to safer habitats, translocation, treatment and rehabilitation.
In West Kalimantan, the provincial Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) and YIARI, a wildlife-rehabilitation foundation, rescued 46 Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) between August and October 9 during the fire season.
Murlan Dameria Pane, head of the West Kalimantan BKSDA, said pulling orangutans from burning habitats was only the beginning; the next challenge was ensuring they could survive in safe places.
Eight rescued orangutans that had been declared healthy began their move on October 9 to Batu Nyambu Protection Forest in Ketapang District, where more secure habitat could offer a path to recovery.
The transfer followed evacuation from fire-hit areas, medical examinations and observation, steps intended to establish whether the animals were well enough to return to the wild.
“Saving wildlife takes more than rescue and translocation; both are part of a broader conservation strategy,” Murlan said, emphasizing that moving animals is only one part of protecting them.
The orangutans came from locations in Ketapang and Kayong Utara Districts. Fires stripped away forest cover and broke connections between habitat areas, leaving animals isolated in plantations with little food or room to roam.
They were found in Pelang Village, Ketapang, on a roughly 400-square-meter plot surrounded by oil palm plantations - a stark illustration of how fires and land conversion can turn fragmented habitat into a trap.
Such stories are heartbreaking, but they also point to a duty beyond wildlife rescue: people living in fire-affected areas must have their safety prioritized by a government entrusted with their mandate through elections.
Major nation with responsibilities
Indonesia, a major nation with responsibilities to its own people and its neighbors, should be better equipped to prevent and contain these fires each time the dry season intensifies.
After decades of recurring fires and successive presidents leading the country under its chosen democratic system, the nation has had ample time to learn from each disaster and address its causes.
Instead, the fires have again become a regional ASEAN concern just as the Prabowo-Gibran administration approaches its second anniversary.
In its third year, the government faces renewed pressure to act faster and more effectively.
*Rahmad Nasution is a journalist at the ANTARA News Agency
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the ANTARA News Agency.
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