PONTIANAK, thekabarnews.com—President Prabowo Subianto’s instruction to repeal West Kalimantan Regulation No. 1/2022 has triggered a debate. The discussion centers on how Indonesia can control forest and land fires (Karhutla) without criminalizing traditional farmers.

Prabowo issued the instruction after inspecting wildfire response operations in Limbung village, Kubu Raya Regency, on Saturday, August 22.

The visit formed part of a wider government operation involving additional personnel, firefighting equipment, water-bombing helicopters and weather-modification flights.

West Kalimantan Governor Ria Norsan said Home Minister Tito Karnavian had conveyed the president’s order.

“The Home Minister informed me that the president had ordered the immediate repeal of Regional Regulation No. 1/2022,” Norsan said.

The order followed reports that fires had burned an estimated 38,310.86 hectares across West Kalimantan between January and August 2026.

Ketapang recorded the largest affected area at 12,443 hectares, followed by Kubu Raya with 8,614 hectares. Officials presented these figures during Prabowo’s wildfire response meeting at Supadio Air Force Base on August 22.

The regulation does not provide unrestricted permission to burn land. Instead, it allows farmers to use limited and controlled burning as part of locally recognized farming traditions. This rule applies only to areas covering no more than two hectares per household.

Farmers must build firebreaks, prepare adequate firefighting equipment, notify neighboring landowners and stay on-site until they have fully extinguished the fire.

The regulation prohibits controlled burning on peatland and requires farmers to notify village authorities before clearing land.

A presidential instruction alone does not immediately remove it from the regional legal framework. Therefore, West Kalimantan’s administration and provincial legislature must follow the applicable repeal procedure.

The government must also carefully consider national environmental law. Article 69 of Law No. 32/2009 generally prohibits land burning but retains a limited exception based on local wisdom.

Its official explanation refers to a maximum of two hectares per household and requires firebreaks to prevent flames from spreading.

Repealing the provincial regulation would therefore remove West Kalimantan’s detailed regional framework. It would not automatically erase the exception contained in national legislation.

House of Representatives Commission V Chair Lasarus previously urged authorities to protect farmers who follow traditional practices and comply with the two-hectare limit.

“Is it true that our regional regulation allows people to farm two hectares? Yes. Please protect that regulation. Do not let our people be arrested again even when they cultivate only two hectares,” Lasarus said during the 2026 Sintang Dayak Gawai, according to the video published by Sintang Interaktif.

The dispute now presents policymakers with two connected responsibilities: stopping fires that threaten public health and regional economies. They must ensure law-abiding Indigenous and traditional farmers receive legal certainty.

Any replacement policy will need to distinguish controlled subsistence farming from negligent or commercially motivated burning. It should provide farmers with affordable, fire-free land-clearing alternatives.