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Singapore’s worst air pollution in 16 years sparked diplomatic tension on Tuesday, as the city state urged Indonesia to provide data on companies 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 the 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.
Indonesian Forestry Ministry spokesman Sumarto Suharno said the government was continuing to educate farmers about alternatives to traditional slash-and-burn methods. “We have been able to reduce the regional haze problem significantly for years with help from local communities and will continue to undertake all efforts to prevent it from spreading,” Suharno said.
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 US 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 Center showed dozens of satellite-detected fires on Sumatra on Tuesday with winds blowing east toward Singapore.
The haze has also enveloped some parts of neighboring Malaysia, with four regions suffering “unhealthy” PSI levels above 100 for a second day.
On Tuesday, authorities in Bengkalis regency in Riau province, one of the fire hot spots, stated they had given up efforts to extinguish the widespread fires that in one area alone covered 3,000 hectares.
Bengkalis deputy regent Suayatno said that fires had raged in plantations as well as bush in three villages since March. “We have been dealing with the fires for three months, but this week the fires have become so big that we’re no longer able to extinguish them. It is beyond our capability,” he said, adding that “If there’s no rain within three days, the haze could get thicker.”
However, Pekanbaru Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) questioned whether Singapore’s haze was from Riau.
BMKG Pekanbaru analyst, Warih Budi Lestari, admitted that the wind direction was to Singapore and Malaysia, but the speed was only between 5 to 20 kilometers per hour. “At that speed, the haze could only reach areas within a 100-kilometer radius. The wind speed needs to be some 30 kilometers per hour to reach Singapore,” he said.
— JP/ Rizal Harahap
Singapore pressures RI to identify firms behind haze
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