It remains to be seen how effective governments can be in sanctioning offending companies.
In 2014, Singapore passed the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act which allows the government to take action against local and foreign firms found to be contributing to the haze.
The following year when Singapore saw a bad bout of haze, authorities issued summonses to several Indonesian companies thought to have cleared land by burning, in a bid to prosecute them under the new law.
But that drew sharp ire from Jakarta, which said the move harmed bilateral ties. And with Indonesia refusing to cooperate, Singapore authorities said they could not obtain information about the suspected companies.
Also in 2015, Indonesia’s then-vice-president Jusuf Kalla angered Singaporeans when he said that “for 11 months, they enjoyed nice air from Indonesia and they never thanked us… they have suffered because of the haze for one month and they get upset”.
Similar tensions surfaced again last weekend when Syahganda Nainggolan, who leads the Indonesian government’s communications agency, said the raging wildfires were beyond human control and added that the oxygen in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia “also comes from our forests”.
“When there is no smoke, we send oxygen,” he added, in a video that has been widely circulated on social media, triggering criticism and ridicule from Malaysians and Singaporeans.
But in the past Indonesia has also apologised to its neighbours for causing the haze.
This year, Indonesian officials have thanked Singapore and Malaysia for offering to help tackle the wildfires, though Jakarta has not officially requested international support.
