MUI urges Prabowo to speed cross-border forest fire response

The Indonesian Ulema Council urged the government to accelerate efforts to extinguish forest and land fires, saying the situation has reached emergency level and has affected neighboring countries. MUI Deputy Chairman Muhammad Cholil Nafis on Monday (19/10) asked President Prabowo Subianto to give greater attention so the karhutla can be brought under control quickly. MUI reiterated MUI Fatwa No. 30 of 2016, which states that burning forests and land is haram because it threatens lives. The organization also asked authorities to take firm action against individuals and corporations that deliberately set land on fire for business interests. A day earlier, Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said Prabowo had disbursed about Rp15 billion for handling karhutla in Kotawaringin Timur, Central Kalimantan, including aerial and ground firefighting.