The shoot-on-sight order, he said, was given because the land and forest fires on Riau`s coastal areas tend to spread fast. The arsonists` acts have been seen as a serious threat that can disrupt the convening of the 18th Asian Games in Palembang, capital city of South Sumatra Province.
By enforcing the law, the local police have been conducting thorough investigation into the cases of land and forest fires on 45 land areas across the province, he noted.
The investigators have set police lines and notice boards on the areas prohibiting anybody to work on the land, Aprianto remarked, adding that the dossiers of several suspected arsonists had been completed so that their cases could immediately be tried at local courts.
"In Dumai city, for instance, there are three cases with `P21` status. It means that the suspects in the cases are ready for trial," he stated.
The suspects, whose cases are being handled by the local police, were individuals, and none of them represented a company. "Ninety-nine percent of the land and forest fires in Riau Province are related to the intentional acts of irresponsible people," the one-star army general remarked.
Therefore, he had ordered the military district commanders to conduct the shoot-on-sight against the arsonists who are caught red-handed while burning the land, he explained.
Aprianto further remarked that he had observed the areas of Dumai city and Rokan Hilir District by a chopper and found massive hotspots there.
The preliminary results of the aerial firefighting patrols that the taskforce team members had conducted indicated that the land and forest fires in Rokan Hilir District areas were the intentional acts of those wanting to extend palm oil plantation areas, he added.
"In Teluk Nilam, Rokan Hilir District, alone, the land and forest fires are expected to reach around 17 kilometers. The fires engulf empty pieces of land located next to a palm oil plantation. This is an evidence that the lands are intentionally burnt down," he revealed.
The shoot-on-sight policy has been discussed with Riau Police Chief Inspector General Nandang. "Approaches to local people and public awareness campaigns have repeatedly been conducted. But instead of creating a difference, the slash-and-burn method for clearing the land tends to get more massive," he noted.
To ensure the implementation of the shoot-on-sight policy on the ground, the army personnel of Yonif 132/BS would be deployed to every military district compound in the province, he remarked.
On Wednesday, referring to the Terra & Aqua Satellite`s latest images, Head of the Riau Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Sukisno explained that a total of 103 hotspots were detected in several parts of Riau, and majority of them were in the province`s northern coastal areas.
"Rokan Hilir District has 97 hotspots," he noted, adding that the other northern coastal areas which contributed to the hotspots were Bengkalis District and Dumai city with one and two hotspots, respectively.
The remaining hotspots were detected in Riau Province`s central areas, particularly the districts of Siak, Kampar, and Pelalawan, he stated.
Around 87 of the 103 hotspots had a level of confidence of above 70 percent, indicating possible occurrences of land and forest fires in the affected areas.
Sukisno remarked that 85 hotspots were detected in Rokan Hilir District and the remaining in Bengkalis and Dumai.
President Joko Widodo had warned earlier that the related authorities should do their best to ensure that the 18th Asian Games, due to be held in Jakarta and Palembang, the capital city of South Sumatra Province, from Aug 18 to Sept 2, would not be disrupted by land and forest fires.
"As the Asian Games host, we must be able to ensure that the land and forest fires will not occur during the multi-sport event, so that our image and flights are not disrupted by the haze," Widodo told attendants of a coordinating meeting for the Forest and Land Fire Mitigation in Jakarta last February.
Indonesia will host the Asian Games for the second time this year after Jakarta was selected as the venue for the Asian sporting event for the first time in 1962. By virtue of its hosting of the 2018 games, the country aims to secure a place among the top 10 largest sporting events.
Some 45 countries will participate in the games that will feature 462 events across 40 sports, of which 32 are Olympic sports and eight are non-Olympic events.
Reporting by FB Anggoro
Editing by Rahmat Nasution
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Yosep Hariyadi
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
