JAKARTA: Indonesia’s devastating wildfires are fueling anger across the country, with protesters demanding action against the toxic haze that has for weeks engulfed Southeast Asia, leaving hundreds of thousands of people ill.
Indonesia is struggling to contain fires that have been ravaging vast swaths of Borneo and Sumatra islands since July, which have caused persistent haze that has also smothered other parts of the region, including neighboring Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Timor-Leste, as well as the Philippines and Vietnam.
The Ministry of Health has recorded at least 277,000 cases of acute respiratory infections related to the fires so far, of which 60,000 are children under 5.
The months-long disasters are triggering a wave of protests across major Indonesian cities this week, with protesters calling on the government to declare the fires a national emergency.
Students and activists, who organized the protests around the two-year anniversary of President Prabowo Subianto’s presidency, gathered in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Bandung, Makassar and Jayapura on Tuesday, calling out what many have perceived as a lack of action and competence from the government.
“My forests are burning! Where is my government?” read a poster held by a protester in Jakarta.
“This is not a natural disaster. This is a policy disaster,” another one reads.
“So much haze over there, (while) officials party at the palace,” one banner read.
The demonstrations continued in other parts of Indonesia on Wednesday, with protesters rallying in Pekanbaru, Samarinda, and Malang, the capital cities of three different provinces on three of the country’s main islands.
“All Eyes On Karhutla,” read one long banner held by a group of protesters in Samarinda, as they rallied in front of the governor’s office in East Kalimantan.
Karhutla is an Indonesian abbreviation used to refer to forest and land fires.
Though Indonesia regularly battles wildfires in the dry season, the blazes this year are the most intense in over a decade, with around 1.9 million acres, or over 7,800 sq. km, of land burned between January and September 2026, according to deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas.
The fires have also been exacerbated by slash-and-burn practices to clear land for agriculture, including palm oil, of which Indonesia is the world’s largest producer.
In Palangkaraya, the capital of Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan province, PM 2.5 levels — the fine pollution particles linked to higher rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease — reached as high as 3,340 just about a week ago, as the city is regularly blanketed by the thick, orange haze.
Levels between 301 and 500 are classified as “hazardous,” while anything over 500 is beyond the official index. The World Health Organization’s guidelines say 25 is the maximum level of PM 2.5 anyone can safely be exposed to over a 24-hour period.
“For the last three months, we have been forced to adapt to the haze and constantly fear for our health,” Palangkaraya resident Lely Piatric Sirumapea told Arab News.
“This has to be declared a national emergency, because it’s affecting our health significantly. Even when the fires lessen, the haze remains and it’s putting our children’s lungs at stake.”
The rampant wildfires have also threatened the natural habitats of the critically endangered orangutans, sparking efforts to rescue dozens of them from various locations in Kalimantan since August.
“The natural wealth we have here in Kalimantan may vanish in our generation, gone before the next, unless the government takes swift action,” Sirumapea said.