While severe drought driven by a "Godzilla" El Niño provided the dry spell across Southeast Asia in 2026, recent reports show that Indonesia’s wildfires, rampant in Sumatra and Kalimantan as well as in Papua and some areas in Java, are not an unavoidable act of nature. The fires are a predictable, preventable outcome of deliberate man-made land clearing attempts.

As a result, two neighbours of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia have become the most outspoken collateral of the haze. In an effort to hold accountable the responsible parties, Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) has issued formal Preventive Measure Notices (PMNs) to 10 Indonesian concession owners whose lands were matched to cross-border haze plumes, The Straits Times reports. The outcry from both countries has flooded the internet, begging Indonesia to take over control of the land.

The devastating effects of land-clearing

It has been found that commercial agricultural operators and forestry concession holders routinely employ illegal "slash-and-burn" methods to clear land. This is the cheapest way to clear peatland for palm oil, timber, and pulp plantations, but is a reckless move that ignites underground carbon deposits that can burn uncontrollably for weeks.

What begins as corporate cost-cutting on concession land in West Kalimantan or South Sumatra rapidly expands into a multi-billion-dollar environmental crime, destroying local ecosystems and exporting toxic particulate matter across international borders.

As a result, Indonesian law enforcement and environmental agencies have increasingly targeted the corporate entities profiting from these operations. National Police Chief Suyudi Ario Seto confirmed that authorities are investigating 98 corporate cases, with investigators gathering evidence to hold company owners and major shareholders criminally liable, Tempo reports. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Forestry has sealed off 57 commercial sites and imposed administrative sanctions on 32 plantation companies covering more than 12,900 hectares of scorched land.

Cross-border legal actions have intensified scrutiny on specific market players. Under its Transboundary Haze Pollution Act (THPA), some of the named companies include the Kalimantan-based concessions: PT Buana Megatama Jaya, PT Mananjung Hayak, and PT Baratama Putra Perkasa and Sumatra-based concessions: PT Bumi Andalas Permai, PT Bumi Mekar Hijau, PT SBA Wood Industries, PT Paramitra Mulia Langgeng, PT Sumatera Alam Anugerah, PT Hutan Lestari Raya, and PT Bangkanesia.

This interconnected supply chain has prompted regulatory bodies like the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to demand formal disclosures from major listed agribusinesses, including Golden Agri-Resources, Wilmar International, and Bumitama Agri.

However, investigations reveal that corporate responsibility is not purely domestic. Indonesian authorities and independent forest watchdogs confirm that many targeted concessions involve complex foreign ownership structures, including equity stakes, parent holding groups, and joint ventures linked to investors in Malaysia and Singapore. But the fact that this happens under the sovereignty of Indonesian land, still puts the country under the spotlight.

The domestic human toll and economic loss

Within Indonesia, the consequences of this corporate negligence are felt most acutely by vulnerable populations and smallholders. Over 300,000 people have suffered from acute respiratory infections (ARI) since August, with almost 70,000 cases involving toddlers diagnosed with bronchitis and pneumonia, DW reports.

According to the Centre of Economic and Law Studies (Celios), total potential economic losses from January to August 2026 stand between IDR39.29 trillion ($2.2bn) and IDR123.1 trillion. Direct commercial disruptions in retail, agriculture, and hospitality reached IDR29.54 trillion (0.23% of national GDP).

When accounting for medical treatment and lost income for an estimated 17.4mn people exposed to hazardous smoke, health-related expenses surge to IDR93.56 trillion, an amount equal to 67.6% of Indonesia's 2026 national health budget. At the grassroots level, smallholders in provinces like South Kalimantan have suffered catastrophic losses as fires spread into family plots, destroying crops and forcing low-income families into medical debt.

The number of fire victims have increased significantly too. The latest casualty number is five - people who were killed volunteering in firefighting at Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in East Java. the five deceased were trapped by sudden flare-ups and strong winds. Four other deaths were caused by smoke inhalation and include an infant and an elderly person as well as people with pre-existing asthmatic conditions.

In what could be classified as one big gas chamber given NASA’s satellite imaging, carbon monoxide levels are surpassing normal levels meaning that the victim tally might increase even post-haze as long-term health problems kick-in.

It is not only people affected as wildlife is also suffering from the loss of their natural habitat, Kompas reports. The WWF notes that Kalimantan is home to around 222 mammal species (including 44 endemic creatures) 420 types of bird (37 endemic), 100 amphibians and 394 fish (19 endemic). And the ongoing forest and land fires in East Kotawaringin Regency (Kotim), Central Kalimantan have devastated local wildlife habitats, driving protected species into human settlements and agricultural land in search of food and refuge.

Between August and October 2026, the Sampit Post of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) and local rescue volunteers successfully evacuated multiple animals in weakened, sick, or injured states, including an injured silvery lutung (Trachypithecus cristatus) in Tanah Mas and four orangutans across Baamang and Mentaya Hilir. Notably, a 20-year-old female orangutan named Ira was rescued on October 14 in Baamang Hulu after her destroyed part of the forest forced her onto a resident's farm; BKSDA continues to monitor five additional hotspot sightings where orangutans have encroached upon residential and plantation perimeters.

Many other animals meanwhile have succumbed directly to the flames and habitat destruction before rescue teams could reach them. Joint patrols conducted by animal welfare activists and BKSDA officers in burnt-out concessions, such as Terantang Hilir Village, have uncovered carcasses of protected wildlife, including two pangolins and various snake species killed during the infernos. Evacuation efforts remain fraught with danger and logistical hurdles, as rescuers and volunteers are forced to navigate treacherous terrain marked by deep potholes, fallen root networks, and thick toxic smoke, highlighting the severe biodiversity loss caused by the recurring wildfires.

Regional casualties

The toxic haze generated by these man-made fires is not confined to a single geographic vector. At first, Indonesia insisted that the haze wouldn’t travel north towards Singapore and Malaysia. But as the severity of the fire increased, the smoke has not only moved exclusively northward, but the wind corridors have even dispersed hazardous PM2.5 haze in every direction, impacting multiple neighbouring nations.

The first is Singapore, with its 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) that has climbed to read 230 - the equivalent of a very unhealthy reading. Economist Prof. Euston Quah estimates the 2026 haze could cost Singapore up to SGD3.9bn ($3.1bn) in healthcare costs, lost tourism, and reduced business productivity.

In Sarawak, Malaysia on the island of Borneo, the Air Pollutant Index (API) reached a hazardous 201, and authorities extended school closures across multiple districts. Sunway University economist Prof. Yeah Kim Leng estimates daily economic losses between MYR20mn ($4.9mn) and MYR50mn, leading local municipal leaders to publicly suggest that Indonesian regional authorities compensate affected Malaysian states for health and tourism damages.

To the south, Timor-Leste became the latest haze casualty, disproving the assumption that the haze only travels north. The thick smoke plumes drifting south forced Timor-Leste authorities to issue a three-day nationwide closure of all schools starting on October 15 to protect children from severe air pollution.

For the Philippines and overall broader corridor, the local health departments in the central and southern Philippines issued stay-at-home advisories due to airborne haze, while Australian meteorologists actively tracked high-altitude smoke corridors extending over the Indian Ocean toward Christmas Island.

Diplomatic friction

While President Prabowo Subianto's administration has deployed more than 60,000 security personnel, 47 aircraft, and accepted technical assistance from Japan and neighbouring ASEAN states, regional partners maintain that suppression is merely reactive.

Singapore Senior Minister K. Shanmugam noted that while taking administrative or legal action against foreign-linked concession holders carries diplomatic nuances, enforcing laws against irresponsible operators aligns directly with Indonesia's own public health interests. With the ASEAN Coordination Centre for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control maintaining a Level 3 Alert, neighbouring countries are demanding stronger preventive law enforcement, strict land-use oversight, and the elimination of financial incentives for illegal burning to break the annual cycle of man-made environmental destruction.

The situation within Indonesia is slowly escalating. The general public’s distrust with the government due to the way they are handling the haze problem has driven local environment organisations to protest at Jakarta's Welcome (Selamat Datang) landmark with members of Greenpeace Indonesia hanging signs calling the government incompetent in mitigating the expanding fire as well as for corruption. At least eight people have been detained by police because of the protests.

And still the haze enveops the region. More coordinated protests are expected in the days to come as the whole region watches the government’s ever-changing strategies in putting the fires out.