Indonesia names 20 companies as suspects in forest-fire crackdown
Indonesia’s police have named 20 companies as suspects in the country’s forest-fire crisis, including four foreign-invested firms, as the crackdown gathers pace. The police also named 245 individuals as suspects. Together, the cases cover 104 reports and nearly 29,169 hectares of burned land.
The four foreign-invested firms are linked to Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea. On 22 October, President Prabowo Subianto said the government would revoke the business licences of foreign-owned companies found to have repeatedly broken the rules and contributed to the fires. One company was suspected of involvement in as many as 19 forest fire cases.
“Whoever violates the rules, just revoke their licenses! I have no hesitation,” Prabowo said. He said the names of the companies under investigation would be disclosed in due course, and that firms operating in Indonesia must answer for environmental damage whatever country they come from.
The crackdown follows protests on Wednesday 28 October, when hundreds of students and activists gathered at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Jakarta, some wearing gas masks, to demand that the government declare the fires a national disaster. Protests were also held in other cities. The government said it welcomed the students’ views and had already prosecuted companies linked to the fires.
Indonesia is living through its worst fire season in 11 years, worsened by El Niño conditions that leave peatland dry and easy to burn. Satellite monitoring put the area burned in the first nine months of 2026 at almost two million hectares. Haze from the fires has drifted into Malaysia and Singapore, forcing school closures in Malaysia.
Why it matters
The fires are not only a natural disaster. Police say companies are suspected of starting fires or letting them spread, and a licence is the government’s strongest lever: losing one can shut a business down. Because some firms are foreign-owned, and the smoke crosses borders into Malaysia and Singapore, the crackdown is also a diplomatic test for Jakarta.
What happens next
Police investigations continue, and the government has promised to name the companies under investigation. The test now is whether licences are actually revoked, and whether the government declares the fires a national disaster, as protesters demanded. With the fire season still under way, the next weeks will show whether the crackdown changes anything.
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
Sources
- https://jawawa.id/newsitem/this-week-in-indonesian-politics-23-29-oct-2026-1793358081 (Jawawa, 30 October 2026)
- https://mediaselangor.com/en/2026/10/402723 (Media Selangor, 22 October 2026)
- https://qncnews.com/2026/10/30/prabowo-vows-to-strip-licences-from-firms-linked-to-indonesia-forest-fires/ (QNC News, 30 October 2026)
- https://spillrphl.com/indonesian-students-flood-jakarta-to-demand-action-on-the-worst-fires-in-11-years/ (Reuters, 28 October 2026)
