Indonesia's Forest and Land Fires Protests Continue

October 28, 2026 was the 98th anniversary of the Indonesian Youth Pledge. In Jakarta, students from universities across the country gathered in front of the Selamat Datang monument alongside mothers, workers, women and men, not to celebrate the date but to put forward five demands to the current administration.

The demands were written by the student coalition Komite SADAR, the Save People's Sovereignty Committee. As reported by Tempo, the coalition called on the government to declare forest and land fires a national disaster, prosecute the corporations responsible for them and resolve fragmented land governance. It called for an end to what it described as wasteful state spending for political interests under the guise of populist programs, naming the Free Nutritious Meals program and the Red and White Village and Subdistrict Cooperatives initiative. It asked for lower education costs and equitable access to basic public services, for an end to the abuse of legal mechanisms to consolidate power and a serious effort against corruption, collusion and nepotism, and for the restoration of freedom of expression, accountability for human rights violations and an end to the militarization of civilian spaces.

One demand eclipsed the rest, because of the haze the people of Kalimantan were living in, which reached neighboring Southeast Asian countries, claiming thousands of lives, and worsening the air quality in cities across the region. Videos and photographs of orange skies in Palangkaraya and other parts of the island filled social media, and climate activist Greta Thunberg even helped carry the situation to a wider audience.

What people saw in the administration's lack of urgency was a failure of prevention and of mitigation. As the number of people harmed by the haze rose, they took it to the streets of Jakarta.

The protests began online.

Firefighter in a burning field, by @egoy_mkhairi via Instagram

In the reel, a firefighter standing in the middle of the fire pretends to be an avatar who can bend the flames. The joke is carrying something else. The caption expresses gratitude for a brief rain, which did not put the fires out, but very much missed.

Going to school in the haze, by @hanifsulthoni via Instagram

A second reel shows children in school uniforms and face masks going about their day inside thick smoke, under the line "It's easy to ignore the smoke when you're not the one struggling to breathe." It is addressed to everyone watching from a region where the air is fine.

Orange haze in Palangkaraya, by @emmanuelashinta via Instagram

In the third, Emmanuela Shinta explains the haze crisis in Palangkaraya. What put more eyes on it was climate justice activist Greta Thunberg resharing it.

Alongside the people living inside the smoke, people in other regions joined in solidarity and concern with content of their own, and Twibbons were one of the tools they used to raise awareness of the fires and of the protest. Four of them went up in the weeks around October 28: Pray For Karhutla, R16 Berlari Support Karhutla, ALLEYESONKARHUTLA and #JagaKehidupan. 

#JagaKehidupan was organized by the Pound Pro Indonesia Community, which paired direct action with a frame and put a QR code in the design to widen the reach of the initiative. R16 Berlari Support Karhutla by Beyond The Game attached its support for the people affected by the fires to an ultra marathon event.

Neither Beyond the Game nor Pound Pro Indonesia Community are organizers directly involved in a social cause. This did not stop them from joining the movement that raises awareness for the victims of the fires. The members of these communities may not be able to put out the fire directly, but they still took a form of  action on behalf of the people suffering the haze.

The zakah service Ibadurrahman created the campaign ALLEYESONKARHUTLA, making the case for fundraising visually, through their Frame that is filled with smoke. Gia Irlanda places a face in the middle of the fires which have been translated into the Frame Pray For Karhutla.

Their Twibbon campaigns become an expression of their protest. A strong message sent out through graphic design, which imagines oneself surrounded by haze and fires to stand in solidarity for those living in them.

And while Pray For Karhutla does not connect to another form of fundraising action, it is Twibbonize in its essence: a visual campaign. It offers a visual for people living far from the issue. The round shape fits snugly as a profile picture. An individual can join from wherever they are, as the Twibbon Frame in their profiles speak about the problem they are most concerned about.

Barriers, may it be financial or geographical, which normally would hinder people from voicing their concerns have been minimized by free-to-use online platforms such as Twibbonize. These four Twibbons further show that the ability to push a narrative and keep a movement going is in anyone's field.

As October ended and November began, rain finally reached the islands suffering the worst of the fires. The haze may have cleared, a slight relief for all residents, but the air quality is still very much poor.

Concern has even moved to what the land becomes next. In a video by @maziz.xp, the subject is palm plantations, and Kalimantan's tropical rainforest, once called the lungs of the world, facing the risk of being converted into plantations.

As the sun sets and we go back home, let’s keep the conversation going.  Speak with purpose. Stand for what matters to you. The campaigns do not stop here.