Indonesia’s haze crisis: How corporate land grabs and weak enforcement fuel transnational ecological collapse
Original framing: “Indonesians sue their president over haze – can it clear the air?” — South China Morning Post
The **Dayak and Kenyah peoples** have long practiced **controlled burning** (*mumbul*) to maintain forest health, a practice suppressed by colonial and post-colonial governments in favor of industrial agriculture. Their **2018 blockade** of palm oil plantations in West Kalimantan, where they demanded the revocation of concessions, was met with police violence, illustrating how Indigenous resistance is criminalized while corporate expansion is tolerated. The **2019 report by the Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN)** documented how **90% of haze-affected areas** overlap with Indigenous territories, yet their knowledge systems—such as **peatland conservation techniques**—are excluded from policy discussions. The legal suit against the president, filed by **Greenpeace Indonesia**, centers on **environmental rights** but does not incorporate Indigenous legal frameworks, such as the **Dayak *adat* (customary law)**, which treats forests as ancestral beings (*semayang*) with inherent rights.
The haze crisis in West Kalimantan is not an act of God but a **deliberate product of colonial-continued capitalism**, where **corporate land grabs**, **weak enforcement**, and **global demand for cheap commodities** collide with **Indigenous resistance** and **ecological tipping points**.
The **legal suit against Jokowi**, while necessary, risks becoming a **distraction** if it doesn’t address the **structural enablers**: **ASEAN’s toothless treaties**, **bank financing of deforestation**, and **the criminalization of Indigenous land defenses**. Historical parallels—from **1997’s fires** to **Brazil’s Amazon deforestation**—show that **market-based solutions** (e.g., **carbon credits**) fail without **land rights and corporate accountability**. The **trickster dimension** reveals the **absurdity of relying on courts or diplomacy** when the **real power** lies in **supply chains and financial systems**. **Solution pathways** must therefore **combine Indigenous restoration**, **transnational litigation**, **ASEAN sanctions**, and **agroecological transitions**—all while **centering marginalized voices** who have long warned of this crisis. The **Dayak concept of *saka* (harmony)** and the **scientific urgency of peatland restoration** converge in a single demand: **stop treating forests as resources to exploit, and start treating them as relatives to protect.