Singapore can fix Southeast Asia’s haze, if it wants to
This opinion piece argues that Singapore has the capacity to address the regional haze crisis caused by forest fires in Indonesia, but is hindered by diplomatic caution and legal loopholes. It suggests that fragmented industry structures and lack of cross-border accountability allow the environmental damage to persist.
Why it matters
The haze is a recurring environmental and public health crisis in Southeast Asia that requires complex international cooperation to resolve.
BURSA SGX Home Opinion Make The Edge Malaysia your preferred source on Google A cloud of haze has descended across Southeast Asia over the past few months as a brutal El Niño helps incinerate forest and scrub in Indonesia. Obscuring responsibility for the fires stems from a much deeper and more impenetrable legal pall.
The smoke has spread across the region, forcing schools to close in Malaysia, diverting flights, and giving tiny Singapore — which has no dry lands of its own aflame — the worst air pollution in the world. If current trends persist, this episode may turn into the worst in Southeast Asia since devastating wildfires in 2015.
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