Indonesia sues six companies over environmental harm in flood zones

Environmental groups say government also holds responsibility for granting firms right to raze large tracts of land.Published On 16 Jan 2026Indonesia’s government has filed multiple lawsuits seeking more than $200m in damages against six firms, after deadly floods wreaked havoc across Sumatra, killing more than 1,000 people last year, although environmentalists criticised the moves as inadequate.Environmentalists, experts and the government pointed the finger at deforestation for its role in last year’s disaster that washed torrents of mud and wooden logs into villages across the northwestern part of the island.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Indonesia blocks access to Musk’s AI chatbot Grok over deepfake imageslist 2 of 4Aerial video shows the devastation from Indonesia floods, landslideslist 3 of 4Satellite images show the scale of destruction from Asia floodslist 4 of 4Indonesia counts human cost as more climate change warnings soundedend of listThe government is seeking 4.8 trillion rupiah ($283.8m) from six companies accused of unspecified damage to an area spanning more than 2,500 hectares, the Ministry of Environment said on Thursday.The sum represents both fines for damage and the proposed monetary value of recovery efforts.The suits were filed to courts on Thursday in Jakarta and Sumatra" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="902" data-entity-type="location">North Sumatra’s Medan, the ministry added.“We firmly uphold the principle of polluter pays,” Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said in a statement.He added that any corporation that “profits by damaging the ecosystem must be held fully responsible for restoring it”.The Environment Ministry declined to offer more details when speaking with the AFP news agency on the alleged damage caused by the defendants, listed in the statement only by their initials.The Indonesia Business Post reported that the ministry is also conducting environmental audits on more than 100 companies operating in the provinces of Sumatra" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="902" data-entity-type="location">North Sumatra, Sumatra" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="903" data-entity-type="location">West Sumatra and Aceh, quoting Nurofiq as saying that potential criminal suspects will be identified after the audits are completed.