JakartaPost-Sept 2
Police in Riau are ramping up supervision of areas scorched by blazes to prevent their being turned into oil palm plantations by unscrupulous parties, as rain in the past few days have helped extinguish wildfires. Riau Police chief spokesman Sr. Comr. Akmadi said handling forest and peatland fires, also known by the portmanteau karhutla, did not stop when they had been extinguished, emphasizing land monitoring as part of a sustainable strategy. “We want to ensure that there is no loophole for certain parties to reap benefits by violating regulations after an area is burned,” Akmadi said on Monday. “After the fire is doused, we still monitor the land to prevent planting, so that the karhutla handling cycle is not broken.” He added that the message was simple: Burning should not be a cheap way to clear land. According to Akmadi, many locations that had been affected by fire, especially in forest areas in Riau, had signs forbidding land cultivation and other activities. The Riau Police had installed the warning signs after the fires in 2025 to indicate that the areas remained under police observation. “Police forces under the Riau Police, such as the Rokan Hilir Police, are currently deploying officers to conduct patrols and inspect the warning signs on lands that caught fire,” he said. “The aim is clear: to prevent those lands from being cultivated or used by anyone.” The postfire areas targeted for monitoring include Simpang Caltex in Simpang Kanan subdistrict and Simpang Kanan district as well as along Jl. Parit Iput in Bagan Punak Meranti village, Bangko district, all of which had warning signs installed last year. “The warning signs are still intact and there is no cultivation or other activities [taking place] on the lands, which are now covered by bushes and shrubs,” Akmadi said. “This shows that installing warning signs is not a mere ceremony. One year on, installing warning signs and continuous monitoring have proven to be effective.” Postfire monitoring was also important to prevent a misperception among residents that burnt land could be cleared, cultivated and used as plantations, he said. “We strengthen supervision after fires so there is no incentive or benefit from land burning.” The Riau Police began enhancing monitoring after recently finding that oil palm saplings had been planted on burnt land in Bengkalis regency. Read more at:
