Singapore launches legal action against five Indonesian firms over city-blanketing haze

Singapore has launched legal action that could lead to massive fines against Indonesian companies blamed for farm and plantation fires spewing unhealthy levels of air pollution over the city-state.

Five Indonesian companies including multinational Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) have been served with legal notices, according to a Singapore government statement issued late Friday.

The move followed a bitter diplomatic spat over Indonesia’s failure to stop a severe outbreak of smoky haze which has also affected Malaysia and persisted for years. 

APP, part of Indonesia’s Sinar Mas conglomerate, is one of the world’s largest pulp and paper groups and publicly upholds “sustainability” and forest conservation as core principles. Its products include stationery and toilet paper.

APP was asked by Singapore’s National Environment Agency to supply information on its subsidiaries operating in Singapore and Indonesia, as well as measures taken by its suppliers in Indonesia to put out fires in their concessions.

The group, which has paper mills in Indonesia and China, did not immediately respond when asked to comment.

Under a 2014 law called the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, Singapore can impose a fine of SG$100,000 (US$70,000) for each day that a local or foreign company contributes to unhealthy levels of haze pollution in Singapore, subject to a maximum total of SG$2.0 million.