VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian President Joko Widodo Recognizes Significant Progress in Handling Land and Forest Fire.

Welcome to the segment of My Indonesia. The title of today’s edition is ‘Indonesian President Joko Widodo Recognizes Significant Progress in Handling Land and Forest Fire’.

In a Coordinating Meeting of Forest and Land Fire Control 2018 which took place in Jakarta on Tuesday (6/2), President Joko Widodo reiterated the commitment of governors, regents, mayors, TNI leaders and Polri leaders in their respective areas to protect their territory from fire. The statement  was conveyed by the President, considering that this year's weather conditions are  estimated to be drier compared to last year. All parties are demanded to be prepared. In addition, along with the implementation of the Asian Games in August, Indonesia is predicted to enter the dry season. President Joko Widodo asserted, this is betting of Indonesia's reputation in the eyes of the international world, if there is smoke that may disrupt the implementation of Asian Games event. Moreover, the President also said that land and forest fires can be prevented if all parties can work together, so that it is no longer to become national disaster and international spotlight.

Learning from forest and land fires in 2015, President Joko Widodo greatly appreciated, within two years there has been a significant progress in controlling the case. He said, there is a very significant reduction of hotspots. By 2015, the number of hotspots reached 21,929 points, in 2016 down to 3,915, and in 2017 down to 2,567 hotspots.

President  Joko Widodo said that at the Asian Summit, the Prime Minister of Malaysia and Singapore usually complained about smoke.  But this year, Indonesia received appreciation from the two countries. Learning from the forest and land fires in 2015, the Indonesian government has established Early Detection System of Fire Prevention since 2017. In the system, there has been shown daily hotspot data and fire map. The people can access through sipongi.menlhk.go.id  page. In addition, an integrated system has also been built among the related stakeholders in handling the land and forest fire.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry in cooperation with the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (LAPAN) have facilitated detection and monitoring. The regional governments and businesspeople have conducted fire prevention efforts with standard operating procedures (SOPs) that are defined in terms of facilities and personnel and unfueled land clearing techniques. They also establish and foster a fire-caring society (MPA), so that people are aware of the importance of self-prevention efforts.