Jakarta. Indonesia is stepping up cooperation with Malaysia and Singapore to tackle forest and land fires that threaten to spread hazardous haze across borders, as a strong El Nino raises concerns over a return to conditions last seen during the 2015 fire crisis.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said President Prabowo Subianto had agreed to take the necessary measures to address worsening haze in Malaysia following a telephone conversation between the two leaders.

Anwar said the air pollution index (API) in several parts of Malaysia had reached worrying levels, prompting Kuala Lumpur to urge Indonesia to take immediate and effective action against the sources of the haze.

“I have contacted Indonesian President Prabowo, and he agreed to take the necessary measures. This commitment must be followed by immediate and effective action by Indonesia to address the sources of the haze,” Anwar said, according to Malaysian newspaper Utusan Malaysia, as reported on Saturday.

Monitoring by Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Ministry's forest fires tracking system recorded 437 fire hotspots nationwide as of Oct. 9, with Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra accounting for the largest concentrations among six priority provinces.

Central Kalimantan recorded 122 hotspots, followed by South Sumatra with 107. Jambi had 15, and West Kalimantan and South Kalimantan each recorded 13, while Riau reported none. The fires have spread across a wide area this year. More than 200,000 hectares of forest and land burned between January and September 2026. 

Indonesia's Deputy Forestry Minister Rohmat Marzuki said on Friday that Prabowo had also communicated with leaders of neighboring countries, particularly Malaysia and Singapore, to strengthen joint efforts to prevent and control forest and land fires.

“President Prabowo has communicated with leaders of friendly countries, especially Malaysia and Singapore, to strengthen cooperation in handling forest and land fires,” Rohmat said Friday in Yogyakarta.

He said cross-border haze required coordinated action, particularly as challenging climate conditions increased the risk of fires.

The situation has raised comparisons with 2015, when forest and land fires burned about 2.6 million hectares across Indonesia, causing severe haze that affected neighboring countries.

Indonesia has since made progress in limiting the damage. The area burned by forest and land fires fell to around 350,000 hectares in 2025, which Rohmat attributed to collaboration among government agencies and other stakeholders.

Rohmat said other countries were also grappling with large-scale fires amid increasingly challenging global climate conditions. At a meeting of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Indonesia had an opportunity to discuss its fire-management efforts with other tropical forest countries, including the Republic of the Congo, Brazil, and Bolivia, he added.

Beyond international cooperation, the government plans to establish a National Peatland and Mangrove Management Agency to strengthen efforts to protect vulnerable ecosystems and control fires.

Peatlands pose a particular challenge because dried peat can ignite easily and sustain fires that produce large amounts of smoke. Winds can then carry the haze across national borders, making fires difficult to contain and turning them into a regional environmental and public health concern.

“When peatlands dry out, they become highly combustible, and the smoke they produce can be enormous. Carried by the wind, it can reach neighboring countries,” Rohmat said.

The government hopes the planned agency and closer cooperation with neighboring countries will improve its response to fires, particularly as El Nino threatens to exacerbate dry conditions and increase the risk of transboundary haze.

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