South Sumatra Residents Perform Rain Prayers as Wildfires Choke Province

PALEMBANG, Indonesia — Authorities in South Sumatra, the province recording the nation’s highest concentration of wildfire hotspots, turned to spiritual intervention on Tuesday as massive blazes consumed vast tracts of forest and peatland. The resulting haze has blanketed several cities in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

The call for communal prayer follows a prolonged dry spell that has sharply elevated the risk of forest and peatland fires across the region. Recent satellite data from the Environment Ministry showed South Sumatra leading the country with 1,429 hotspots, trailed by West Kalimantan with 1,226 and Central Kalimantan with 811. Forestry Ministry figures indicate nearly 940 square kilometers (363 square miles) burned in July alone, including over 20 square kilometers (8 square miles) in South Sumatra.

Approximately 3,000 residents gathered in Palembang, the provincial capital, to perform salat istisqa, a special Islamic prayer for rain. They assembled shoulder-to-shoulder in the governor’s office courtyard as thick smoke shrouded roads, buildings, and public facilities, reducing visibility to the point that motorists were forced to use headlights during daylight hours.

“We have done everything we can and worked closely with all relevant parties,” South Sumatra Governor Herman Deru said before the service. “As people of faith, we are also praying to God to send rain so that life can return to normal.”

Deru emphasized that the public prayer would complement ongoing firefighting and drought-mitigation efforts, serving as a moment of unity for residents confronting the province’s environmental crisis.

Emergency services continue to battle fires fueled by an intensifying El Niño pattern and an extended dry season. The National Disaster Management Agency reports that dense smoke has drifted across borders into Malaysia and Brunei.

Indonesia has ramped up weather-modification operations to assist firefighters, deploying 30 aircraft for cloud-seeding and water-bombing missions over Kalimantan, with an additional 22 helicopters covering Sumatra.

Meanwhile, Indonesian police have arrested 72 individuals suspected of igniting forest and peatland fires, while four companies face investigation for allegedly using fire as a low-cost land-clearing method.

Plantation owners and traditional farmers frequently set fires to prepare land for cultivation, triggering hazardous haze that reduces visibility, disrupts land and air transportation, and endangers public health.

Wildfires are a recurring seasonal challenge in Indonesia, and the resulting transboundary haze has periodically sparked diplomatic complaints from neighboring Southeast Asian nations.

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