In early September, when the forest fires began to show signs of rage, the newly appointed head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Willem Rampangilei, promised that the fires would be brought under control within 14 days from Sept. 10 in Riau province, within 30 days from Sept. 11 in South Sumatra and within 30 days from Sept. 14 in Jambi.

About a week before the stipulated target time for Jambi expired, Indonesia accepted fire-fighting assistance from countries including Singapore and Malaysia.

All the target times have now expired, and as thick smog continues to cover Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, Kalimantan and parts of Malaysia, it has become evident that the problems are bigger than initially thought.

… The writer is a senior analyst with the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.