Arya News - In recent days, the government has allegedly tried to snuff out online content criticising the wildfire response and reported more critical posts to social media platforms, according to public grievances compiled by digital rights group Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet).
JAKARTA – Indonesia faces mounting criticism over its handling of the haze crisis and spreading wildfires, with the government allegedly silencing public scrutiny and downplaying the scale of the blazes, as neighboring countries speak out against Jakarta’s muted gestures toward accepting firefighting assistance.
In recent days, the government has allegedly tried to snuff out online contents criticizing the wildfire response and reported more critical posts to social media platforms, according to public grievances compiled by digital rights group Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet).
“The growing restriction targeting critical contents on wildfires may indicate the government’s attempt to polish its image, despite already facing backlash from abroad,” Unggul Sagena of SAFEnet said on Sunday.
Digital censorship is not rare in Indonesia, with content restrictions or blocking often coming at the official request from the Communications and Digital Ministry to tech giants, such as X and Meta, which operates Instagram and Facebook. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Multiple videos showing wildfires turning the skies orange across Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua have been circulating online, amplified by numerous coverage by established global media outlets and environmental activists.
Independent forest monitoring Nusatara Atlas estimated that at least 1.47 million hectares of land and forest, or an area the size of Timor-Leste, have burned nationwide this year as of September.
Common consensus among experts is that drought associated with a strong El Niño climate pattern intensifies the forest and peatland fires, while deliberate land clearing and peatland degradation from agricultural activities often cause the blazes.
But the Palace recently downplayed the scale and cause of the fires, with newly appointed government spokesperson Syahganda Nainggolan describing it as an unintentional “natural calamity”.
Uli Arta Siagian of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) criticized such a statement coming from the presidential office, saying: “They are trying to disguise environmental and corporate crimes behind natural causes”.
Smoke from fires in Kalimantan reached the atmosphere above Jakarta on Friday, though it dispersed and moved away from the capital by Saturday, according to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).
Meanwhile, President Prabowo Subianto on Friday was reported to host his 75th birthday party eve with a Russian deputy prime minister in Bogor Palace, on the outskirts of Jakarta, as part of a bilateral meeting on defense cooperation, according to a Moscow-based media outlet. But the Palace said there was no such celebration, after the report went viral and frustrated Indonesians on social media amid the haze crisis.
Hanging aid
Toxic haze from the fires has also drifted across borders, forcing schools across Malaysia to close and Singapore to revive a haze-linked health subsidy for the first time since 2015.
In Malaysia, the haze crisis brought Jakarta’s handling of the fires into an intense parliamentary debate in Putrajaya earlier last week.
In a livestreamed parliamentary session on Tuesday, Malaysian parliamentarian Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman pushed for ASEAN member states to exert financial pressure on companies found responsible for being behind the fires, while suggesting the bloc lodge a “very clear” diplomatic protest against Jakarta.
“We must send a strong diplomatic note that Malaysia objects, and that not only Malaysia objects, it must be agreed upon by other ASEAN countries that are similarly affected, such as Singapore,” he said.
But Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan described the pursuing of a formal diplomatic protest as “a last resort”, saying on Thursday that the country would rather prefer to apply bilateral or ASEAN channels to address the ongoing transboundary pollution, The Star reported.
Asked about whether Malaysia would take a firmer stance against Indonesia over the worsening haze, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim briefly said: “We have done everything we possibly could”.
In Singapore, where air quality has plummeted in recent weeks, Environment Minister Grace Fu has also renewed an offer to assist firefighting efforts in Indonesia to her Indonesian counterpart Minister Jumhur Hidayat.
“I have offered both civilians assistance to support fire-fighting efforts, as well as other measures such as cloud-seeding support. I have yet to hear from him,” she said on Friday.
Both Singapore and Malaysia have repeatedly conveyed their commitment to help Indonesia battling the fires but neither offers have yet to take ground.
Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir has maintained Indonesia’s compliance to the regional framework on cross-border haze known as the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP), which requires regular reporting on fire activity data and firefighting responses.
He said Prabowo had already expressed his approval for Jakarta to accept foreign assistance, saying the offers were being discussed at the technical level at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) as of Thursday. The Foreign Ministry and the BNPB did not give any updates on Sunday.
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