JAKARTA: Indonesians protested in several cities on Tuesday (Oct 20), raging against wildfires and a toxic haze that has made thousands unwell for weeks on end in a crisis that has engulfed Southeast Asia.
Demonstrations were called by students to display dissatisfaction with the government of President Prabowo Subianto, which marked its second year on Tuesday.
They railed against perceived ineptitude and corruption during protests in the capital Jakarta, but also in Bandung and Yogyakarta elsewhere on Java island, as well as Pekanbaru in Sumatra and Makassar in South Sulawesi.
Many pointed particularly to an inability to put out the fires that have ravaged vast swaths of Borneo and Sumatra islands since July.
„If we burn, you burn with us!“ read a protest banner held up by a demonstrator in Jakarta.
„I have the right to breathe. Extinguish the fires immediately,“ said another.
Residents in the city of Palangkaraya, on Borneo, told AFP of their despair.
„This haze is really bad. Sales are quiet. Prices keep going up, but there’s no income,“ said Melsi, a 40-year-old streetside drinks vendor.
She cried as she spoke to AFP.
„What can we do? We’re the little people, we can’t do anything but hope that the government will handle it,“ Melsi said.