By Ainur Rohmah
TUBAN, Indonesia (AA) – Indonesia's highest Islamic authority has declared the intentional burning of forest and land to be haram (forbidden) in an effort to control the choking smog created by forest fires in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
In statement Tuesday, the chair of the Fatwa Section of Indonesia's Ulema Council, Huzaemah Tahido Yanggo, said "starting forest and land fires that can cause damage, environmental pollution, losses for others, health problems and other bad effects is haram".
For years, Indonesia's neighbors have complained as an annual smoky haze created by agricultural conglomerates and small-time farmers’ slash-and-burn techniques have taken pollution to unhealthy levels.
In 2015, the fires resulted in the deaths of at least 19 people, while more than 500,000 others suffered acute respiratory infections.
Yanggo said that the fatwa had been issued to improve community moral, and encourage people not to destroy nature.
"Such actions as forest and land fires are a crime, so the perpetrators need to be sanctioned according to the level of damage and impact," she said.
Yanggo added that it is now also haram for parties to facilitate, allow, or take advantage of the affects of forest and land fires.
On Tuesday, Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya welcomed the fatwa, saying a moral approach was clearly needed to reduce such deliberately started forest and land fires, as formal law was not enough.
"This is more important, this is moral," said Siti Nurbaya, according to detik.com.