Singapore votes to toughen haze law as Indonesia relations sour

Parliament votes to toughen the haze law

Singapore's parliament voted on 4 November to strengthen its cross-border haze law, a 2014 statute that has been hard to enforce because of jurisdictional disputes and the difficulty of gathering evidence abroad. The vote follows several weeks of smoke from fires on Indonesia's Borneo and Sumatra islands, which angered residents and pushed the government to act. Sustainability and Environment Minister Grace Fu told Parliament that authorities need better ways to obtain and check information, trace complex relationships between companies and impose serious consequences on firms that behave improperly. The amendments are expected to pass without difficulty.

What the amendments would allow

Detentions for violations would allow courts to try defendants in absentia when they are abroad or cannot be contacted. Fines for companies found in breach would rise tenfold, reaching nearly 800,000 dollars (711,000 euros) a day. The government would also gain the power to order companies to appoint independent inspectors, at their own expense, to investigate fires, business activities and links between firms. Under existing legislation, Singapore has already issued warnings to 10 companies, ordering them to deploy firefighting teams, stop all burning and submit action plans.

Regional response and the ASEAN centre

Singapore, which has hosted the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre since 1993, will chair the regional grouping in 2027. Working with ASEAN member states, it plans a regional coordination centre for transboundary haze pollution control, to be based in Indonesia and known as the ACC THPC. The centre will only take effect once six member states ratify its establishment agreement, and Singapore has said it will submit its own ratification shortly. Singapore had offered Indonesia help with fire management, but the offer was declined.

Diplomatic friction and an energy dispute

According to La Vanguardia, the dispute has escalated since the start of the season. In mid-October, Singapore's pollution reached its highest level in 11 years, prompting the government to hand out masks to at-risk residents and threaten fines against Indonesian companies it held responsible for the fires. Jakarta treated the move as an attack on its sovereignty. Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, visiting Jakarta, argued that El Nino was natural but forest burning was caused by human activity, before meeting President Prabowo Subianto, who has acknowledged that most fires stem from a push to create commercial plantations. Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia then threatened to cut Singapore's gas supply, and a 9% reduction within the contractual margin was later confirmed on energy-security grounds.

Markets and nationalist rhetoric

Jakarta's stock market is down 44% so far this year, while Singapore's has gained 13%. MSCI is considering removing Indonesia's emerging-market status. Former Indonesian trade minister Muhammad Lutfi accused Singapore's sovereign funds GIC and Temasek, which together hold 1.6 trillion dollars, of pressing MSCI in order to buy Indonesian assets cheaply, a claim the Singapore government denied. The Indonesian government has also revived nationalisations justified on environmental grounds.

Singapore stock market13%

Jakarta stock market-44%

Singapore stock market

13 %

Jakarta stock market

-44 %

Data from the article text

The smoke and public anger

The Nusantara Atlas deforestation monitor reports that Indonesian fires have devastated more than 1.9 million hectares in the first nine months of the year, worsened by El Nino and severe drought. BBC reports that haze in Singapore and Malaysia, which usually lasts only a few days, has persisted for weeks this time. Malaysians have launched a boycott of Indonesian goods to protest the smoke. Eugene Tan, an associate professor of law at Singapore Management University, told BBC that people were exhausted, angry and anxious, and that governments had to respond or an external problem could become a domestic and politicised one.