IN comments certain to rile Singaporean officials, Indonesia’s Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya said Singapore should stop commenting on Indonesia’s efforts to combat haze and fires, and “focus on their own role.”
Indonesia’s neighbors, Singapore and Malaysia, are frequently victims of haze from fires in Indonesian territory in what seems to be an annual affair. Jakarta has often been accused of not doing enough to address the problem, and the minister’s comments suggest that it is irritated over the criticism it receives.
While strongly defending her government’s commitment to curbing land and forest fires, Siti questioned Singapore’s role in doing the same.
“We have been consistent in sticking to our part of the bargain, especially by attempting to prevent the recurrence of land and forest fires and by consistently enforcing the law. So, my question is – what has the Singaporean government done? I feel that they should focus on their own role,” said the minister, according to a foresthints.news report posted on Saturday.
“There is really no need to comment too much on the part Indonesia is currently playing. However, with all due respect to my Singaporean counterpart, what are they doing? And where has it got them?”
She cited Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s strict enforcement of laws against companies found to be responsible for fires (even through negligence) – in particular, firms based in Singapore – as evidence that Jakarta is doing its fair share.
“This is just one example of how we are not shirking our responsibilities and are doing what is expected of us.”
She also emphasized the difficulties involved in implementing anti-haze and anti-fire policies in a large and complex country like Indonesia.
“We really appreciate the input provided to us by our Singaporean neighbors and cherish our bilateral partnership, but I would respectfully ask them to stop making so many comments, particularly when it comes to the fires and haze-related issues. We each have our own part to play and we should focus on carrying this out. We have already formulated some major polices on our own initiative which we are busy implementing.”
There has been general perception in the region and elsewhere that Indonesia’s land and forest fires problem have gotten from bad to worse, raising questions about both Jakarta’s sincerity and ability in confronting the issue.
Last year in September, during a particularly severe forest fire season, Indonesia gave out more emissions per day than the average daily emissions from all US economic activity, reported the World Resources Institute citing data from the Global Fire Emissions Database.
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