Indigenous, civil-society groups sue Prabowo over forest fire response

A group of indigenous and civil-society organisations in Indonesia's West Kalimantan has filed a class-action lawsuit against President Prabowo Subianto and other authorities over their handling of forest fires in the region, its lawyer said on Saturday.

Below are more details:

• The case was registered at the Pontianak court in West Kalimantan with the first hearing scheduled for 7 October, the court filing shows.
• "This lawsuit was filed in response to the West Kalimantan public's concerns over the government's negligence and failure to prevent and tackle forest and land fires that recur every year," Glorio Sanen, the plaintiffs' lawyer, told Reuters on Saturday.
• The presidential office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
• The plaintiffs are the West Kalimantan chapter of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago, the West Kalimantan branch of Catholic Youth, Perkumpulan Laman Punyung Indonesia and an individual, Sisilius Rami, the filing shows.
• Indonesia is battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years and the government has warned that the fires could continue until November this year.
• In 2016, a lawsuit was brought by seven Indonesian residents against then-President Joko Widodo, his cabinet ministers and local governments over their handling of forest fires in 2015.
• After initially winning at the district court, the decision on the 2016 lawsuit was overturned when the Supreme Court granted the government's petition for judicial review in 2022, according to media reports.