Singapore's Wong looks into which companies may be responsible for Indonesia's haze fires

The Act's trigger is specific. It targets those responsible for causing or condoning fires if haze keeps the PSI at 101 or above in any part of Singapore for 24 hours or more ^[4]. The 24-hour reading hit 212 in the west on Oct 15 ^[9] and 224 in the central region at 7 am on Oct 16 ^[10], both more than double the threshold ^[12]. In our view condoning is the word concession holders should read closely, because a company can condone a fire it did not light.

Wong's pledge carried a qualifier. "Where warranted, we will take action under Singapore's Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, and explore joint action with other countries," he said ^[2]. The counter-case is in the Guardian's reporting: several attempts to take legal action against companies exacerbating transboundary haze have failed, both locally and internationally, and posed a diplomatic minefield ^[13]. That history argues against expecting a quick conviction. We think the exposure this quarter is investigation and naming.

The direct penalty has a ceiling. Fines run up to S$100,000 a day and stop at a total of S$2 million ^[5]. The ceiling is reached after 20 days at the daily maximum ^[19].

Greenpeace named a third company, First Borneo Plantations, which is privately held and has ownership links to Singapore-incorporated companies ^[7]. The Guardian wrote that several companies with concessions in Indonesia are reportedly based in the city-state, which has no plantations or forests of its own ^[11]. None of the four reports includes a response from the named companies or says Singapore has named a company itself, so we do not know yet which firms the government is examining or what evidence it will treat as enough.

Indonesia has already answered the criticism sharply. Syahganda Nainggolan, who heads Indonesia's government communication agency, hit back: "We don't only send haze," he said, "the oxygen in Singapore and Malaysia comes from our forests" ^[14]. The Guardian described ASEAN as built on quiet engagement and non-interference, with regional foreign ministers due to meet in the Philippines next month ^[16]. Singapore and Malaysia both host companies working in Indonesia ^[17], and Greenpeace's report also identified businesses based in Malaysia that it claimed were linked to burning land ^[8]. We'd expect Malaysia to be the first partner for any joint action, but Wong's word was "explore" ^[2].

The sequence we'd expect runs from data to a decision on naming to any joint action. The only timetable on the record is Fu's own: "we will share with you in due course" ^[21].