P

resident Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo on Wednesday called for harsh punishment for companies responsible for starting forest fires, including bringing prosecution against them as well as revoking their licenses, as areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan struggle with worsening land and forest fires.

'€œDon'€™t just target the ordinary people; it [the law] must also be firm on companies that ordered the burning. They must be held accountable,'€ Jokowi said during a limited Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Speaking after the cabinet meeting, National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti said that the police had ramped up their prosecution of firms responsible for the rampaging fires.

He said that police investigators had named at least seven companies and 133 individual suspects for their alleged involvement in clearing land by burning in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

He also said that the police had begun preliminary investigations into 20 more firms.

Police said that those accused included seven high-level employees of seven different companies.

The employees worked in a range of positions ranging from operations director to field manager, Badrodin
said.

Police have released the acronyms of the seven companies at which the employees worked, namely: PT BMH, PT RPP and PT RPS in South Sumatra, PT LIH in Riau and PT GAP, PT MBA and PT ASP in Central Kalimantan.

Some of the suspects were charged with Article 108 of the 2014 Plantation Law and could face a maximum 10-year prison sentence and Rp 10 billion in fines.

Badrodin said investigations into companies would continue and there could be more suspects named in the coming days.

Badrodin also revealed that he had been considering the idea of blacklisting the firms.

'€œSo, in the future if they apply for a proposal in the same line of business they will be rejected,'€ Badrodin said.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said her office was now working to impose administrative sanctions on 14 of the companies, including halting the companies'€™ operations pending court verdicts on their cases and revoking and suspending licenses.

Siti has also considered a plan to focus on reversing the burden of proof in cases against forest burners.

Other than calling for stern prosecution, Jokowi has also instructed all relevant central and local government officials to join together in putting out the fires as well as mitigating their effects, such as by providing better health services for thousands of local residents suffering from acute respiratory problems.

The National Police have deployed 752 officers from their Mobile Brigade (Brimob) in order to assist locals in areas affected by the haze.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Charilyan said each provincial police force had dispatched personnel to help mitigation efforts.

Although on Wednesday he deemed the situations in several areas of Sumatra and Kalimantan as '€œslightly better'€, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Willem Rampangilei said authorities continued to step up their efforts to put out the fires by conducting cloud-seeding and water-bombing operations.

In Kalimantan, the Pontianak administration ordered a temporary closure of schools from Wednesday to Saturday due to thickening haze, while the West Kalimantan Police were still investigating 19 cases of forest burning. The haze has also disrupted several flights from and to several airports on the island, including Sepinggan Airport in Balikpapan.

The heavy smoke also forced school closures in three states and two large cities in neighboring Malaysia on Tuesday.

Separately, the Riau Police detained 41 individuals suspected of forest burning.

'€œThis week, there are eight new suspects being secured by Rokan Hulu District Police and Indragiri Hulu District Police,'€ Riau Police spokesperson Adj. Sr. Comr. Guntur Aryo Tejo said, confirming that PT LIH was still under investigation in in Pelawan regency.

- Severianus Endi in Pontianak, N. Adri in Balikpapan and Rizal Harahap in Pekanbaru also contributed to this story.
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