JAKARTA – INDONESIA needs to take decisive action against errant companies found responsible for the haze, Singapore’s National Environment Agency chief Andrew Tan told The Straits Times.
Echoing remarks he made at a two-hour meeting of Singapore officials and their Indonesian counterparts here on Thursday afternoon, Mr Tan said Singapore could work together with Indonesia to map its satellite images of hot spots onto concession maps of affected areas in Sumatra, and track those responsible.
The haze caused by fires raging across Sumatra is not an act of nature, but man-made, he added.
“I urged Indonesia to take more decisive action, because the situation is likely to deteriorate in the next few weeks and at the onset of the dry season if no further efforts are taken,” he said.
“We registered that given the weather conditions, the burning actions are man made and therefore can and should be averted. We pressed them to take our concerns seriously.”
The emergency meeting at Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry followed telephone calls between foreign and environment ministers from both countries on Tuesday.
In fact, an hour before the meeting began at 1pm Jakarta time, Singapore’s PSI reached a record high of 371.
“On Singapore’s part, we conveyed the very serious concerns Singaporeans have over the deteriorating haze situation and went into a fair bit of description – how this was unprecedented and PSI levels deteriorated very quickly in a short period of time.”
“(We) are now at a stage where air quality is at hazardous levels,” he said. “So we cannot take this lightly. And that’s why we need to put in effort.”
Singapore also proposed to bring forward a regional ministerial steering committee meeting on transboundary haze from August to tackle the issue, he said.
Mr Tan said: “We had a frank discussion with the host agencies. They updated us on their ministerial meeting this morning, where a national task force was set up to look into it, and had agreed on several measures.”
These included Indonesia stepping up firefighting efforts and enforcement against errant companies, as well as immediate measures such as cloud-seeding to induce rain, he added.
The task force is chaired by Coordinating Welfare Minister Agung Laksono and includes the ministers for foreign affairs, environment and forestry.
Said Mr Tan: “They understood the seriousness of the situation.”
At the meeting, officials also said that if Indonesia suspected Singapore companies were involved, they should share the information so Singapore can act.
Haze update: Singapore urges Indonesia to act against errant firms
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