Can Indonesia's neighbours stop the haze?
Singapore has escalated its concerns about Southeast Asia鈥檚 worst haze in more than a decade, demanding answers from ten Indonesian companies it suspects are linked to fires that cause it.
Singapore has escalated its concerns about Southeast Asia鈥檚 worst haze in more than a decade, demanding answers from ten Indonesian companies it suspects are linked to fires that cause it.
The Singaporean government has sent notices that are seen as a shot across the bow, ordering the firms to fight the fires but not directly blaming them or punishing them with fines.
It鈥檚 the latest chapter in a problem the region has failed to solve for decades. Fires in Indonesia for land clearing send smoke across international borders every dry season. Despite the country having strict laws to prevent widespread burning, the problem has accelerated this year due to an unusually long dry season.
Peatland fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan have created hazardous air for communities living there. Schools have temporarily closed in Malaysia and Brunei.
Indonesia was slow to accept offers of help from Malaysia and Singapore, and a government spokesman鈥檚 remark that neighbours should be grateful for the oxygen that Indonesian forests create outside of the haze season deepened the row.
Singapore has a Transboundary Haze Pollution Act that allows for the government to target companies that cause haze, even though the fires are overseas. Yet to date, no companies have been punished.
So what could work to prevent another prolonged haze season in future?
On this episode of Asia Specific, host Mariko Oi is joined by Bloomberg Opinion columnist David Fickling and 麻豆社 World Service Jakarta-based journalist Astudestra Ajengrastri.
