After two years, President Prabowo Subianto is struggling with economic malaise, policy blunders and a devastating fire season in the world’s third-largest democracy

As almost 2m hectares has gone up in smoke in Indonesia’s worst fire season in a decade, enveloping the region in a thick dystopian haze, 33-year-old university researcher Nurul Amalia has grown increasingly exasperated.

“The government claims to be continuously increasing the number of personnel to extinguish it. But we have yet to see any significant progress,” she says.

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© Photograph: Achmad Ibrahim/AP

© Photograph: Achmad Ibrahim/AP

© Photograph: Achmad Ibrahim/AP

Indonesia is battling its worst wildfires in more than a decade, made worse by El Niño. Many were deliberately set to clear land for farming, including palm oil plantations. More than 12,000 schools across Indonesia have closed because of the toxic haze. Natanael Undas, a school principal and photographer, has been documenting the fires on social media.

Palangkaraya is on the front line of an environmental crisis that has cloaked much of the region in a toxic haze