Jokowi to monitor handling of wildfires in Jambi

JAKARTA. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is scheduled to begin his working visit to monitor the handling of the haze disaster caused by land and forest fires in Jambi on Thursday.

“The government is serious about tackling this problem. On Thursday, the President will monitor the handling of fires in several locations he could not visit during his last visit to Sumatra,” said Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Jokowi planned to visit locations in Jambi during his working visit on Sept. 25-26. The plan was cancelled due to thick haze, which disrupted flights to Jambi.

The Cabinet Secretary office said President Jokowi was scheduled to fly to Jambi from the Indonesian Air Force Base Halim Perdanakusuma in East Jakarta at around 10 a.m. local time after he monitored the drilling activity of the mass rapid transit tunnel project in Senayan, Thursday morning. Jokowi is scheduled to return to Jakarta on Sunday. Apart from Jambi, the President is also scheduled to visit Padang and Riau.

The National Police have named 12 companies as suspects in land and forest fires. As of Wednesday, based on data from the police’s Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim), there were 223 individuals and corporations named as suspects in land and forest fire cases.

Most recently, the police named two plantation firms, PT Antang Sawit Perkasa (PT ASP) and PT Kayong Agro Lestari (PT KAL), as suspects.

“They are foreign investment companies,” Bareskrim chief Comr. Gen. Anang Iskandar said as quoted by kompas.com on Thursday morning.

The Central Kalimantan Police are handling PT ASP’s case while PT KAL’s case is handled by the West Kalimantan Police. These two foreign investment companies are among 12 corporations the police have named as suspects.

Anang said the police named 223 individuals and corporations suspects based on 242 police reports. (ebf)