Singapore registers concerns on haze with Indonesian authorities: PM Lee

Channel NewsAsia 18 Jun 13;

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has weighed in on the current haze situation in Singapore.

Writing on his Facebook page, Mr Lee said various ministers have called their Indonesian counterparts to register Singapore's "serious concerns" and offer help to fight the fires.

Mr Lee added that Singapore is monitoring the haze closely and is in touch with the Indonesian authorities.

He said: "We are all affected by the haze. Farmers and plantation owners in Sumatra are burning crops to clear land in the dry season, and unfortunately the winds are blowing the smoke all the way to Singapore.

"Ministers Vivian (Balakrishnan) and (K) Shanmugam have called their Indonesian counterparts to register our serious concerns and offer our help to fight the fires. We are monitoring the situation closely and will stay in close touch with the Indonesian authorities.

"Meanwhile, please stay indoors whenever you can, especially children, seniors and those prone to respiratory problems. And do monitor NEA's website (or use their myEnv app) for the latest updates."

Some Members of Parliament have also raised concerns on the issue.

In a strongly worded Facebook posting, MP for Tampines GRC Irene Ng took issue with the Indonesian government for trying to shift the blame for the haze to other countries.

On Monday, an Indonesian forestry ministry official said Singaporean and Malaysian palm oil companies in Indonesia were also responsible for the haze.

Ms Ng said: "Indonesia is being quite disingenuous to try to shift the blame for the haze to other countries like Singapore and Malaysia. It is up to Indonesia to prosecute commercial companies, regardless of ownership."

She added: "All ASEAN countries, including Indonesia, already have domestic legislation which prohibits the use of fire for forest clearance in their own countries. The local authorities must enforce it.

"There are currently no legal sanctions which Singapore can apply against plantation companies whose extra-territorial actions affect our local environment."

She said Singaporeans could apply commercial pressure by boycotting products from these companies and to demand for products that come from sustainable sources.

- CNA/al

Singapore urges Indonesia to name firms responsible for causing haze
S Ramesh Channel NewsAsia 18 Jun 13;

SINGAPORE: Singapore has asked Indonesia to name the errant companies involved in illegal burning.

The primary responsibility to take legal and enforcement actions against these companies lie with Indonesia - as they have clearly violated Indonesian laws within Indonesian jurisdiction.

This was highlighted in a joint statement by the Foreign Affairs Ministry and Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources.

Earlier, Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Minister for Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan had spoken to their Indonesian counterparts - Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Marty Natalegawa and Indonesian Environment Minister Dr Balthasar Kambuaya - to register Singapore's strong concerns about the worsening haze situation.

The two ministers highlighted that Singapore's PSI had breached 150 on Monday, and had entered the unhealthy zone.

The Singaporean ministers emphasised the urgency of the situation while also reaffirming Singapore's commitment to help Indonesia fight the fires in Sumatra.

Dr Balakrishnan requested that Indonesia share relevant information to improve monitoring of hotspots and land clearing activities.

This had been agreed between Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in October 2012.

Both Mr Shanmugam and Dr Balakrishnan referred to the claim by an Indonesian Forestry Ministry official in the media that Malaysian and Singapore palm oil companies that had invested in Indonesia may be responsible for starting the fires in Riau.

They asked Indonesia to share the names of errant companies involved in illegal burning.

Dr Balakrishnan also reiterated that Singapore is ready to continue collaborating with Indonesia at the provincial level to mitigate the haze problem, as agreed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the recently-held Singapore-Indonesia Leaders' Retreat in April 2013.

Ministers Marty and Balthasar offered their assurances that Indonesia would address the haze problem.

Mr Shanmugam and Mr Marty agreed that bilateral and regional cooperation could be further strengthened to tackle the haze problem and that Indonesian Environment and Forestry officials could discuss with their Singapore counterparts ways to better cooperate and deal with the haze issue.

- CNA/xq

Singapore leaders want firms causing haze to be named
Neo Chai Chin and David Bottomley Today Online 19 Jun 13;

SINGAPORE — As the air quality in the Republic hovered around unhealthy levels yesterday — a day after the three-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading hit a record high since 1997 — both Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan and Foreign Minister K Shanmugam called on the Indonesian authorities to name corporations responsible for the fires.

But the suggestion, which Dr Balakrishnan had also posted on Facebook, was promptly pushed back by senior Indonesian government official Sony Partono, who was quoted by Reuters as saying “foreign parties should not be interfering with our domestic affairs”.

Mr Partono added: “The most important thing is that we have attempted to control the damage resulting from the forest fires” and fire trucks had been despatched to affected areas.

The haze, which has also enveloped Malaysia, continued to shroud the Singapore skyline yesterday, with the PSI reaching as high as 134 at midnight. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong posted a photo taken from the Istana on Facebook, with the cityscape “barely visible”.

He added that Dr Balakrishnan and Mr Shanmugam have registered Singapore’s “serious concerns” and offered Indonesia help to fight the fires.

“We are all affected by the haze,” said Mr Lee. “Farmers and plantation owners in Sumatra are burning crops to clear land in the dry season, and unfortunately the winds are blowing the smoke all the way to Singapore.”

In a joint statement, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya and Minister for Foreign Affairs Marty Natalegawa “offered their assurances that Indonesia would address the haze problem”.

The statement added that both Dr Balakrishnan and Mr Shanmugam had, in their conversations with their Indonesian counterparts, referred to the claim by Indonesian Forestry Ministry official Hadi Daryanto — which was reported in the media — that Malaysian and Singaporean palm oil companies investing in Indonesia may be responsible for starting the fires in Sumatra’s Riau province.

“(The ministers) asked Indonesia to share the names of errant companies involved in illegal burning, though primary responsibility to take legal and enforcement actions against these companies lies with Indonesia as they have clearly violated Indonesian laws within Indonesian jurisdiction,” the statement added.

Writing on Facebook, Dr Balakrishnan added that “we need to exert commercial pressure against companies causing the haze”. He also said that Singapore is waiting for Indonesia to publish concession maps which, combined with satellite images, would “enable us to pinpoint the errant companies”.

The 24-hour PSI reading at 4pm ranged from 112 to 123 for various parts of Singapore, while the PM2.5, which measures levels of fine particulate matter, was 149 to 169 microgrammes per cubic metre — concentrations prompting advice to those with heart or lung disease, as well as children and older adults, to avoid all physical activity. The National Environment Agency reported 187 hotspots detected in Sumatra yesterday, up from 113 detected on Monday.

Supporting the suggestion to name errant companies, Singapore Environment Council Executive Director Jose Raymond and Tampines GRC Member of Parliament Irene Ng said consumers could boycott products of these firms. Mr Raymond said consumers “should demand that the names of the business owners be made public” to show collective displeasure at their conduct, and “perhaps this will force them to change the way they operate”.

Nee Soon GRC MP Lee Bee Wah said the “answer to the problem” lies with the Indonesian authorities. “The ball is not in our court and we can only hope that more will be done to discourage the burning of the forest,” she said.

Some observers had suggested last year for Singapore’s pollution laws to apply to all polluters, wherever they may be located.

But Singapore Institute of International Affairs Executive Director Nicholas Fang pointed out that the Singapore authorities would need to be present on the ground to monitor the companies’ activities. Satellite technology “does not negate the need for on-the-ground surveillance, as solid evidence will be needed if offending companies are to be taken to task”, he said.

Singapore can do more to engage Indonesian provincial authorities, as it did previously in Sumatra’s Jambi province, said Mr Fang.

Meanwhile, two corporations here with palm oil plantations in Indonesia reiterated that they have a zero-burning policy.

A Golden Agri-Resources spokesperson said the company and its subsidiary PT SMART Tbk use only mechanical means such as excavators and bulldozers in land preparation and step up fire surveillance patrols during dry months.

A Wilmar International spokesperson said that, while it is committed to zero-burning, “we cannot prevent local practices of slash-and-burn for agricultural and other purposes”. “This may lead to high incidences of uncontrolled fires which inevitably spread over to our plantations. To minimise the impact of fire and haze in our operations and surrounding environment, we have a fire management programme that is based on principles of prevention and suppression,” she added.

Singapore calls on Jakarta to tackle haze
Republic wants firms causing the situation to be named and punished
Feng Zengkun Straits Times 19 Jun 13;

SINGAPORE has called on Indonesia to name those companies which are causing the haze in the region and take action against them for illegal burning.

It noted that primary responsibility for dealing with these companies rests with Indonesia because they would have carried out acts on Indonesian territory and broken its laws.

Singapore remained ready to work with Indonesia at the provincial level to mitigate the haze problem, said Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who also asked Indonesia to share information to improve the monitoring of hot spots and land-clearing activities.

"We need to exert commercial pressure against companies causing the haze," Dr Balakrishnan said in a Facebook post yesterday, adding that he had spoken to Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya and "expressed our deep distress with the situation".

Yesterday, Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam also spoke to his counterpart Marty Natalegawa twice to stress the urgency of the situation.

Dr Marty told The Straits Times that he hoped experts from Singapore and Indonesia's environment and forestry ministries could meet soon.

"I had a good talk with minister Shanmugam... and hopefully the experts can get together soon to compare notes on what is happening and where, and what is being done," said the Indonesian Foreign Minister.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Facebook last night that the Government would continue to monitor the situation and stay in close touch with the Indonesian authorities.

"Farmers and plantation owners in Sumatra are burning crops to clear land in the dry season, and unfortunately, the winds are blowing the smoke all the way to Singapore," he said.

The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) soared to its highest in 16 years on Monday when it hit 155.

The record was a reading of 226 in 1997.

The smog abated slightly yesterday, with the PSI falling to below 100 in the day before creeping up to 134 at midnight.

Air becomes unhealthy when the index exceeds 100.

Organisers of some activities were not taking any chances.

A carnival on road safety by Shell Singapore today has been aborted, while the Outward Bound School sent more than 300 students home yesterday.

The Education Ministry said schools have to stop all outdoor activities, including physical education lessons, sports and games when the PSI crosses 100.

Other groups like the Singapore Civil Defence Force and Singapore Armed Forces said they would scale back physical and outdoor training if the air became unhealthy.

Singapore expresses ‘strong concerns’ about worsening haze situation
Today Online 18 Jun 13;

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Environment and Water Resources have issued a joint statement saying Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law K Shanmugam and Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan have spoken with Indonesian authorities on the worsening haze situation.

Responding to the claim by an Indonesian official that Malaysian and Singapore palm oil companies may be responsible for starting the fires in Riau, the ministers asked Indonesia to share the names of errant companies involved in illegal burning.

Here is the full statement:

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law K Shanmugam today telephoned Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Marty Natalegawa to express Singapore’s concern about the worsening haze situation. Separately, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Dr Vivian Balakrishnan spoke to the Indonesian Environment Minister Prof Dr Balthasar Kambuaya to register our strong concerns.

The Singapore Ministers highlighted that Singapore’s PSI had breached 150 the day before, and had entered into the unhealthy zone. They emphasized the urgency of the situation while also reaffirming Singapore’s commitment to help Indonesia fight the fires in Sumatra.

Minister Balakrishnan requested that Indonesia share relevant information to improve monitoring of hotspots and land clearing activities. This had been agreed between Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in October 2012. Both Minister Shanmugam and Minister Balakrishnan referred to the claim by an Indonesian Forestry Ministry official in the media that Malaysian and Singapore palm oil companies that had invested in Indonesia may be responsible for starting the fires in Riau. They asked Indonesia to share the names of errant companies involved in illegal burning, though primary responsibility to take legal and enforcement actions against these companies lies with Indonesia as they have clearly violated Indonesian laws within Indonesian jurisdiction.

Minister Balakrishnan also reiterated that Singapore is ready to continue collaborating with Indonesia at the provincial level to mitigate the haze problem, as agreed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the recently held Singapore-Indonesia Leaders’ Retreat in April 2013.

Ministers Marty and Balthasar offered their assurances that Indonesia would address the haze problem. Minister Shanmugam and Minister Marty agreed that bilateral and regional cooperation could be further strengthened to tackle the haze problem, and that Indonesian Environment and Forestry officials could discuss with their Singapore counterparts ways to better cooperate and deal with the haze issue.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER RESOURCES

SINGAPORE

18 JUNE 2013

Singapore pressures Indonesia to identify firms behind haze
Kevin Lim PlanetArk 19 Jun 13;

Singapore pressures Indonesia to identify firms behind haze Photo: Edgar Su
A tourist bumboat cruises past the hazy skyline of the Marina Bay Sands casino and resort in Singapore June 18, 2013.
Photo: Edgar Su

Singapore's worst air pollution in 16 years sparked diplomatic tension on Tuesday, as the city-state urged Indonesia to provide data on company names and concession maps to enable it to act against plantation firms that allow slash-and-burn farming.

Singapore's environment minister made the request to his Indonesian counterpart by telephone as air pollution on the island hit unhealthy levels for a second straight day, with some of the worst readings since a 1997 regional haze crisis.

"We need to exert commercial pressure against companies causing the haze," Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on his Facebook page, without saying what measures Singapore might take.

"We are also waiting for Indonesia to publish the concession maps. The combination of satellite photos, which are updated daily, and these concession maps would enable us to pinpoint the errant companies," he added.

Indonesia's environment minister could not be reached for comment, but senior official Sony Partono told Reuters, "Foreign parties should not be interfering with our domestic affairs."

He added, "The most important thing is that we have attempted to control the damage resulting from the forest fires," and said fire trucks had been dispatched to affected areas.

Plantation companies with land concessions in Indonesia include Wilmar International Ltd, Golden Agri-Resources Ltd and First Resources Ltd.

Singapore's pollutant standards index (PSI) rose to an unhealthy 155 on Monday night, prompting the U.S. embassy to advise Americans planning a visit to consult their doctors about the effects of air pollution.

Visibility improved slightly on Tuesday and the PSI score slipped back to a "moderate" level of 85 after peaking at 123 in the morning.

A map on the site of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) Specialized Meteorological Centre showed dozens of satellite-detected fires on Sumatra island on Tuesday with winds blowing east towards Singapore.

The haze has also enveloped some parts of neighboring Malaysia, with four regions suffering "unhealthy" PSI levels above 100 for a second day.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak took to his Twitter page on Tuesday to advise people to reduce outdoor activities and drink plenty of water, warning that the haze was expected to worsen.

HAZY PROGRESS

Images of smog-shrouded Southeast Asian cities this week have highlighted the limited progress the region has made in fighting the problem since 1997, when the haze caused an estimated $9 billion in economic, social and environmental losses.

The illegal burning of forests to clear land for palm oil plantations is a recurrent problem in Indonesia, particularly during the annual dry season from June to September. Yet Indonesia is the only ASEAN member not to have ratified a 2002 pact on preventing haze pollution.

"Without the (Indonesian) republic, especially since the hotspots are found mainly there, little can be done," Malaysia's New Straits Times said in an editorial on Tuesday.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, has vastly expanded its palm oil plantations in the past decade, overtaking Malaysia to become the world's biggest supplier. In doing so it has cleared huge swathes of forest and peatland areas.

Corruption and Indonesia's decentralized political system have hindered efforts to stem the haze problem, said Jackson Ewing, a researcher at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

"Burning is quick, efficient and requires very little labor to clear land," he said.

"Government actors at the local level are colluding with private interests and central government authorities have difficulty influencing what is happening on the ground."

(Additional reporting by Dhea Renaldi in Jakarta and Stuart Grudgings in Kuala Lumpur; Writing by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Worsening haze from Indonesia angers Singapore, tourists
Annabelle Liang (AFP) Google News 19 Jun 13;

SINGAPORE — Singapore's smog crisis from Indonesian forest fires worsened Wednesday as air pollution levels reached a 16-year high, triggering a run on medical masks and angry complaints from foreign tourists and locals.

The city-state's Pollutant Standards Index soared to 172 at mid-afternoon, well past the officially designated "unhealthy" threshold of 100, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA) website.

It was Singapore's most severe haze reading since September 1997 when the number peaked at 226. Anything above 200 is considered "very unhealthy" particularly to the elderly, young children and people with heart and lung disease.

"We are going to leave Singapore two days early because we are having trouble breathing," said Zac Kot, 40, a business owner from the United States who was on holiday with his wife and two young girls.

Indignant Singaporeans attacked their own government on the web for its handling of the problem. Disposable medical masks flew off drugstores' shelves as consumers and companies bought them in bulk and placed orders for more.

Even tourists from Indonesia -- traditionally the largest source of visitors to Singapore -- protested about the smoky haze from Sumatra island, where some farmers and plantations deliberately set off fires to clear land for cultivation.

"It's not very good, and it's getting harder to breathe. I just don't know where to go," said Rangga Adisapoetra, 30, a risk management executive from Indonesia's main island Java who was attending a mobile communications and broadcasting expo.

"Maybe tomorrow, I'll visit Universal Studios. Since we are in Singapore, we might as well visit attractions," he told AFP, temporarily lifting a grey face mask to speak as he waited outside a convention centre for his friends.

The pollution problem peaks during the June-September dry season, when monsoon winds transport thick clouds of smoke from Sumatra to neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.

Singapore is a densely populated city-state of 5.3 million inhabitants which welcomed 14.4 million visitor arrivals in 2012 -- 14.5 percent of them from Indonesia.

Air quality also worsened on Wednesday in Malaysia, where readings in seven areas monitored by the Department of Environment entered "unhealthy" levels by midday, mainly in the country's south near Singapore.

Just four areas were rated "unhealthy" the day before.

Southeast Asia's worst haze crisis took place in 1997-1998, causing widespread health problems and costing the regional economy billions of dollars as a result of business and air transport disruptions.

Singapore officials continued to take to social media on Wednesday to address citizens' rising anger over the smog.

Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam strongly rebutted online criticism that the Singapore government was being soft on Indonesia -- a sprawling archipelago of more than 240 million people.

"Every country is sovereign and we can't intervene in the actions in other countries," he said in a Facebook posting on Wednesday.

"The burning is taking place in Indonesia. What do you think Singapore can do about that?" he wrote.

Shanmugam and Singapore's environment minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Tuesday spoke with their Indonesian counterparts to emphasise "the urgency of the situation" and offer help to fight the fires in Sumatra, a government statement said.

On Monday, an Indonesian forestry ministry official, Hadi Daryanto, shifted some of the blame to Malaysia and Singapore, saying their palm oil companies that had invested in Indonesia were also responsible.

Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), a palm oil plantation company listed on the Singapore Exchange with operations in Sumatra, said it has a "zero burning policy" since 1997 that its local contractors must comply with.

GAR's website says it is the world's second largest palm oil plantation company with a total planted area of 464,300 hectares (1.15 million acres) including smallholders and a market capitalisation of $6.0 billion as of March.

"Only mechanical means such as excavators and bulldozers are used in our land preparation," a spokesman told AFP.

"If illegal fires are started near our estates we take prompt action to put them out and report to the local authorities."