Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) sent preventive notices to seven Indonesian companies over concession fires that may have sent smoke to Singapore, highlighting the challenge of cross-border accountability.
NEA said smoke from fires on land the companies held under concessions in Sumatra may have reached Singapore. The notices are preventive measures and do not constitute a legal finding that any company caused the haze.
On Oct. 19, NEA named PT Buana Megatama Jaya, PT Mananjung Hayak and PT Baratama Putra Perkasa as three additional companies it planned to notify. The agency said the planned notices would call for firefighting, an end to burning and plans to extinguish fires or prevent their return.
The ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, signed by 10 member countries in 2002 and in force since 2003, directs governments to resolve disputes about its interpretation, application or compliance through consultation or negotiation. Malaysia’s government told Parliament in 2023 that the agreement has no punitive measures against a state or company responsible for cross-border haze.
Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act 2014 covers certain conduct outside the country that causes or contributes to haze there. A conviction for a covered offense can bring fines of up to S$100,000 per day, subject to an aggregate cap of S$2 million.
Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said investigators use satellite imagery, meteorological data and concession maps to trace fires. Establishing responsibility also requires information from multiple sources, some of which is outside Singapore’s jurisdiction.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry reported that, as of Oct. 19, 32 companies had received administrative sanctions covering 12,926.74 hectares of burned land. It also reported criminal proceedings involving 125 legal subjects: 44 at the preliminary investigation stage and 79 under investigation. The ministry said 12 people and one corporation had been named suspects, and two corporate cases had reached the transfer of suspects and evidence to prosecutors. Those case stages do not establish convictions.
President Prabowo Subianto said on Oct. 21 that he had directed police, prosecutors and the Forestry Ministry to investigate alleged human and corporate involvement in fires. “If the evidence is clear, we will act,” he said.
Singapore issued notices to six Indonesian companies after the 2015 haze episode. In a 2021 parliamentary reply, it said two cases had been closed after receiving information from the companies, while four investigations remained open at that time. Singapore’s Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment identifies the elderly, children, and individuals with existing heart or lung disease as especially sensitive to haze.
