Indonesia's Health Ministry recorded more than 277,000 cases of chronic cough and acute respiratory infections as of mid-October, including more than 62,000 children under five.
Hundreds of protesters, mostly students, marched in Jakarta and in Bandung, Yogyakarta, Pekanbaru and Makassar as Prabowo Subianto marked two years in office.
A court in Pontianak began examining a class action that names Prabowo Subianto and 26 officials, accusing them of negligence that caused a serious public health crisis in West Kalimantan.
DBS, OCBC and UOB will cut financing or end relationships with clients that breach their sustainability standards, while Singapore has issued legal notices to ten Indonesian companies.
Wildfires have burned some 1.9 million hectares across Indonesia since the start of 2026, according to the Nusantara Atlas satellite platform. About one million hectares are thought to have burned in September alone. Fires in peatlands are especially hard to fight because they keep smouldering underground, releasing smoke, fine particles and other pollutants. In Palangkaraya, on the Indonesian part of Borneo, the sky has turned yellow to orange and houses and cars disappear into the haze.
Data from the article text
As of mid-October, Indonesia's Health Ministry had recorded more than 277,000 cases of chronic cough and acute respiratory infections, and more than 62,000 of them involved children under five. An earlier official figure from a senior Health Ministry official put the count at more than 283,000 cases since 18 August. The sources do not reconcile the two figures. Authorities advise people in the worst-hit areas to stay indoors, but farmers, traders and day labourers often cannot, and some schools hold lessons online.
Data from the article text
Hundreds of protesters, mostly students and young people, gathered in Jakarta and in cities including Bandung, Yogyakarta, Pekanbaru and Makassar as President Prabowo Subianto marked two years in office. Demonstrators want the government to declare the fires a national disaster, and some chanted that the crisis is political rather than natural. Students also accuse the government of corruption and ineptitude, and of failing to bring the fires under control. Placards called on authorities to put out the fires immediately.
Prabowo Subianto told a government meeting that some countries like to insult Indonesia and that the country would name the companies involved when the time came, although he named neither companies nor countries. He said many companies bear responsibility and that the causes of the fires are not exclusively natural. He described deliberate fire-setting as environmental terrorism, noting that residents had detained several people they said had set fires on purpose, and promised a thorough investigation. Separately, a court in Pontianak began examining whether a class action by residents of West Kalimantan, a province of about six million people, was admissible. The suit accuses Prabowo Subianto and 26 officials at national, provincial and local levels, along with police and emergency services, of negligence, omission and failures that caused a serious public health crisis.
Smoke has reached dangerous levels in Malaysia, Singapore and Timor-Leste, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has called a meeting on the crisis. Neighbouring leaders have offered help while avoiding open criticism at the highest diplomatic level. Malaysian lawmaker Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said earlier in October that Indonesia's fires should be treated as the pariahs of the region. In Singapore, DBS, OCBC and UOB are strengthening sustainability standards for clients, taking a zero tolerance approach to open-pit burning and deforestation. The banks say they will reduce financing or end relationships with companies that breach the rules.
Senior Minister K Shanmugam has urged banks to weigh the environmental and legal risks of financing companies that may be responsible for the fires. Singapore has issued legal notices to ten Indonesian companies over their contribution to the haze, and the Singapore Exchange has questioned seven listed companies about their ties to the phenomenon. The smoke also threatens beetles that pollinate oil palm trees, a concern for palm oil, the most consumed vegetable oil. In Malaysia, an Australian visitor said she could not get clear photos of the Petronas Twin Towers through the haze, and the country expects a tourism impact.
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Protesters in Jakarta and other cities demand a national disaster declaration as wildfires burn some 1.9 million hectares, while Singapore's largest banks tighten rules on firms linked to the fires.
AI text based on reports by SAPO, Adnkronos, Il Messaggero and other publishers. Published .