185 Arrested In Indonesia For Causing Forest Fires Which Led To Haze

There is this expression that says “money makes the world go round”.

The expression basically emphasizes on the importance of money and how it is essential for everything in life and that money solves most of our problems.

I wouldn’t say that I do not agree with that saying, but I do think that while money is essential, people do need to be ethical when it comes to earning money.

Illegal Burning In Indonesia

As most of us would have known by now, Indonesia’s dry season starts somewhere around June to October and every year during this season, hot spots are often detected.

While some of the hot spots are due to the dry spell, it is also reported that these hot spots are caused by illegal burning by plantation companies.

Image: Business Insider Malaysia

It is believed that these companies are using the excuse of the dry spell to cover up their dirty acts of setting fire to the forested lands.

This form of farming is also known as “slash and burn” and it is a method of clearing the land for cultivation and when the plot becomes infertile, farmers would move to a new plot and do the same.

Image: Thoughtco

Despite the harm that slash and burn does to the environment and health of the citizens (just look out of your window to see the harm lah), farmers continued such methods as it is a cheaper way to clear the land.

185 People Arrested 

On 16 September 2019, Indonesia’s authorities arrested 185 people who were suspected of being involved in the slash and burn activities.

The national police spokesman told the reporters that the police will enforce the law against anyone who carries out forest and land burning and that this is the “last resort”.

Indonesia also sealed off plantations where fires have occurred and they are currently investigating four firms for illegal burning.

Difficulties Fighting Fire

According to TNP, the forest fires are hard to subdue as the fire is also burning underground.

When being interviewed, Mr Hendri Kusnardi said, “Even if the fire on the ground is being put off, the ground fire will reignite the next morning as it is still burning underground.”.

Indonesia Government has since stepped up their measures to fight against the raging forest fire as hot spots are on the rise.

Smoke was also reported to have blanketed parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Schools were declared to be closed due to the worsening haze condition.

It was reported that a total of 36 helicopters have been deployed for water bombing and more than 10,000 people are being sent to fight the raging fire.

However, experts said that the Indonesia forest fires are not going to go off anytime soon as fighting fire remains a challenge for many countries.

I do, however, hope that people will come to realize the harm that these forest fires cause and that they shouldn’t allow monetary value get the better of them.

Arrest more and we might be able to breathe easy. Literally.