Companies Behind Forest Fires Will Not Be Announced to Public Due to Economic Considerations

Coordinating Minister for Politics Luhut Pandjaitan acknowledged that “economic considerations” forced the government not to announce big companies suspected to be the masterminds of forest fires.

In a press conference of Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Luhut said the government strictly launched law enforcement, especially on the plantation and forest management.

“It won’t be enough to make them  become the suspects. I don’t have the number of the companies, but the investigation is in the process,” said Luhut.

Not yet open to the public

Luhut repeated that the government “will take decisive action against the companies (involved in the burning of the lands). Companies that do not have appropriate fire extinguishing  system will also be taken into account.”

But he said, “we don’t  want to reveal their names to the public.”

Asked by BBC Indonesia, why the government would not immediately reveal the names of the companies involved in forest fires Luhut replied:

“Well, frankly, to be honest; we have economic considerations. Because we do not want the announcement will lead to consequences such as the layoffs. “

It is not clear what is meant by economic considerations other than the concerns of the unemployment of the workers working for those companies. The economic losses due to the forest fires so far has reached Rp200 trillion. (bbc.com, 28/10/2015)