72 held in Indonesia forest fire probe as haze spreads to Malaysia

Indonesian police arrested 72 people on Sunday suspected of starting some of the recent forest and peatland fires, as large-scale blazes across central and western parts of the country triggered a hazardous haze cloud.

Indonesia has been grappling with fires fuelled by an intensifying El Nino pattern and a prolonged dry season, generating dense smoke that has drifted into neighbouring Malaysia, according to the country's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB). Fires are a recurring problem in Indonesia and frequently strain relations with neighbouring countries, as plantation owners and traditional farmers often resort to burning land to clear it for cultivation, said Mohammad Irhamni, director of special crimes at the National Police's Criminal Investigation Agency.

The arrested suspects are being investigated in connection with 89 forest and land fire cases spread across five provinces on Borneo and four on Sumatra, Irhamni said. He noted that most of those detained are accused of deliberately setting fires to clear land for plantations at a lower cost, while investigators continue tracing financial records to establish whether companies financed or directed the land-clearing activity — suggesting the probe could widen beyond those already arrested. "We will not stop at the perpetrators on the ground," Irhamni said at a news conference in Jakarta on Sunday. "We will determine who benefited from these activities and who was ultimately behind them." The suspects face charges carrying penalties ranging from substantial fines to prison terms of up to 15 years, he said.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto travelled to Central Kalimantan province on Saturday, where more than 7,600 hectares (18,700 acres) have burned, to urge authorities to bring the haze under control. He pledged government resources — including helicopters and water pumps — to help contain the fires, and vowed accountability for any companies found responsible. "I hope we can control this soon," Prabowo said during the visit. "We have experienced worse forest and land fires in the past, and we were able to overcome them."

Prasetyo Hadi, head of the State Secretariat, who accompanied the president, said at least four companies in West Kalimantan province are under investigation for allegedly using fire to clear land, adding that companies found to have deliberately set fires could face sanctions, including revocation of their operating permits.

Smoke from the fires blanketed parts of Borneo on Sunday — the world's third-largest island, shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, with Indonesia administering roughly three-quarters of it. The country's Environment Ministry recorded more than 3,700 hot spots on the island on Sunday. BNPB chief Suharyanto, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name, said fire activity had intensified in West, Central and South Kalimantan, where peatlands often worsen and prolong the haze. He cautioned that fires appearing extinguished on the surface may still smoulder underneath, making sufficient rainfall essential to rewet the peat and fully suppress the blazes.

South Sumatra, on the western island of Sumatra, also battled fires, with more than 1,700 hot spots detected on Sunday, reducing visibility to as little as 10 metres (33 feet) in some areas, according to the ministry. Cloud-seeding operations resumed over Kalimantan on Sunday, involving 30 helicopters for water-bombing and aerial patrols, with another 22 helicopters deployed over Sumatra.

Malaysia, meanwhile, has also suffered from the smoke, with the eastern state of Sarawak among the worst affected. One district recorded "very unhealthy" air quality readings on Friday, while eight others reported unhealthy levels, prompting the closure of nearly 600 schools and disrupting classes for about 200,000 students, the Sarawak government said.