Singapore is refusing to back down in its pursuit of those responsible for haze-belching forest fires in Southeast Asia last year, despite struggling to bring the perpetrators before the courts and drawing a sharp rebuke from Indonesia.
Forest fires are part of an annual dry-season problem in Indonesia, started illegally to quickly and cheaply clear land for cultivation — particularly for palm oil and pulpwood.
However, last year’s haze outbreak was among the worst in memory, shrouding Malaysia, Singapore, and parts of Thailand in acrid smoke and forcing school closures as pollution reached hazardous levels and thousands fell sick across the region.
Singapore has served notice to six Indonesian companies it believes might have cleared land by burning, but could target others as investigations continue, according to Singaporean Ambassador to Indonesia Anil Kumar Nayar.
“We are going after, to put it starkly, the bad guys that are causing this problem,” he said in an interview last week.
Singapore argues that international rules allow states to take action — even if harm is being caused by activities outside its jurisdiction — but Jakarta has questioned how Singapore could pursue Indonesian citizens for prosecution, especially in the absence of a ratified extradition treaty between the neighbors.
The latest saber-rattling came after Singapore issued a court warrant in May to detain a director of an Indonesian company linked to the haze while he was in the city-state.
Afterwards, Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forest Siti Nurbaya Bakar said that she would be reviewing her ministry’s cooperation with Singapore on environmental issues.
“Singapore cannot step further into Indonesia’s legal domain,” Bakar told reporters last month.
Nayar reiterated that Singapore was not crossing any line pursuing these companies and was within its rights to enforce its law.
“We are not doing something that is extraordinary. It is not targeting any country, or anybody’s sovereignty,” he said.
The law threatens local and foreign firms with fines of up to S$100,000 (US$74,297) for every day Singapore endures unhealthy haze pollution.
So far just two of the companies have responded to the court order, Nayar said, without naming specific firms.
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