---
title: "Kalimantan governor faces backlash for visiting S’pore amid haze: ‘Your city is burning’"
url: "/trending-now/kalimantan-governor-faces-backlash-visiting-spore-amid-haze-your-city-burning"
published: "2026-10-14T11:34:57.000Z"
updated: "2026-10-14T11:42:23.000Z"
section: "Trending Now"
authors: ["Ethel Tseng"]
tags: ["Indonesia","kalimantan","governor","backlash","singapore","medical","mount-elizabeth-hospital","TNP News"]
---
# Kalimantan governor faces backlash for visiting S’pore amid haze: ‘Your city is burning’
*The East Kalimantan provincial government has responded to allegations that the province’s governor was spotted having breakfast with his wife at Marina Bay Sands, clarifying that he was in Singapore for a medical check-up at Mount Elizabeth Hospital.*
The East Kalimantan provincial government has responded to allegations that the province’s governor was spotted having breakfast with his wife at Marina Bay Sands, clarifying that he was in Singapore for a medical check-up at Mount Elizabeth Hospital.
A viral photo of the sighting was posted on Threads on Oct 11 by user @zumaahmd, apparently showing a man who resembled East Kalimantan governor Rudy Mas’ud sitting across from a woman in a black hat.
The post garnered over 11,000 likes, and was later reposted on multiple social media accounts.
East Kalimantan’s Communications and Informatics Department head Ririn Sari Dewi told Indonesian news outlet detikNews that Rudy was scheduled for a check-up on Oct 10 at Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital.
She added that the governor had obtained written and oral permission from the Indonesian Minister of Home Affairs, Muhammad Tito Karnavian.
On Oct 11, he headed back to Jakarta, and was in Balikpapan in East Kalimantan by Oct 12.
Rudy made the news earlier this year for his official car purchased for 8.5 billion rupiah (S$642,000). He returned the vehicle after criticism over what many perceived as excessive spending.
## Netizens question governor’s presence in country
Singapore-based page Vigilanteh reposted the photo on Oct 12, asking the governor: “Why are you in Singapore when your city is burning?”
In the comments section of another repost, one netizen asked: “Even though there are many good hospitals in Jakarta… Why do you have to go to Singapore?”
One user questioned whether his trip was related to the Formula 1 race happening in Singapore from Oct 9 to 11, while another commenter pointed out that people were “breathing in thick smoke”.
In the original Threads post, one netizen even called the governor’s actions “tone deafness at its finest”.
Concerns over air quality in Singapore have grown, with 1-hour PM2.5 levels exceeding 200 in three regions on the afternoon of Oct 14.
The head of Indonesia’s government communications agency, Syahganda Nainggolan, reportedly said at the Lemhannas office in Jakarta on Oct 10 that the forest and land fires were a natural phenomenon.
“We don’t just send smoke; when there is no smoke, we send oxygen,” he said. “The oxygen in Singapore and Malaysia also comes from our forests.”