Singapore Threatens Prosecution Over Indonesia's Worst Haze in Decade — SkimNews
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Singapore PM Lawrence Wong said his government is identifying companies responsible for the fires and exploring prosecution plus "joint action with other countries," while distributing masks to vulnerable citizens.
- Anwar Ibrahim told Malaysians he had contacted Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who "agreed to take the necessary steps," but veteran activist Tan Sri Lee demanded "real enforcement, not just polite words" in an open letter.
- Indonesia rejected regional help on Monday saying it was "still capable of handling it," then reversed course by week's end to accept assistance as the blazes — the most intense in more than a decade — were driven by slash-and-burn land clearing for palm oil.
- Syahganda Nainggolan, head of Indonesia's government communication agency, went viral on Saturday declaring: "We don't only send haze, the oxygen in Singapore and Malaysia comes from our forests."
- The haze has reached at least six countries — Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Timor-Leste, the Philippines, and Vietnam — with Indonesia's health ministry reporting nearly 280,000 respiratory infections, including more than 60,000 children under five.
- A Greenpeace report identified Singapore- and Malaysia-based businesses allegedly linked to burning in Indonesia, a complication since both countries host companies with concessions across the border.
- Four firefighters were killed in a Java national park on Friday per Indonesia's forestry ministry, and students in Kalimantan and Sumatra have staged protests — including a child holding a "Save our little lungs" sign — demanding the government declare a national disaster.
Why it matters: With nearly 280,000 Indonesians sickened — over 60,000 of them children under five — and four firefighters dead, this is Indonesia's worst haze episode in more than a decade. Singapore's threat to prosecute firms based in its jurisdiction, where several concession-holding companies sit, could finally give legal teeth to a problem that has outlasted ASEAN's non-interference diplomacy; the next regional foreign ministers' meeting is still a month away.
Ask SkimNews
