Tackling haze: Words and action

The political veteran last week chided Malaysia and Singapore for overreacting about the haze, largely a by-product of peat fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan. This triggered a predictable torrent of criticism on social media and satire websites. 

Kalla’s comment echoes back to past acrimony on this issue. Some might remember 2010, when an Indonesian official told the two nations to quit complaining about the fumes and just be grateful for the oxygen from Indonesian forests. In 2013, an Indonesian minister hit out at grumbling Singaporeans for “behaving like children”. 

While we are against the haze and fires, over-reacting to such comments may lead to an unhelpful tit-for-tat war of words. More, we may fail to recognise the positive signs for better environmental protection and resource management that are emerging under the current Jokowi administration. 

What’s the context?

First, Kalla’s comment should be understood in context. The vice-president was on March 3 speaking at a ceremony to launch a national programme for judicial reform in natural resources and environmental management. According to Indonesian media, his key point was on the need to adapt the country’s laws to changing times and public perception. 

The vice-president recalled how Indonesian businessmen were once looked on with pride for being good at exporting the country’s forestry products, but are now often seen as “public enemies”, profiteering from national assets. Similarly, while people used to see black smoke rising from factory chimneys as signs of progress, they now fight to stop it. Such changing expectations should be reflected in new laws. 

 

Legal reforms on track

Already, the Indonesian government is moving on a new law for the protection and management of peatland, which is often drained for planting and then becomes especially vulnerable to fires and haze. 

As Kalla spoke last week, the haze was thick in northern Riau, reaching an alarming level of 300 on the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) at one point. 

Vast areas of peatland in Riau have been deforested and drained for plantations by both corporates and smallholders. But recognition is growing about the need to stop commercial expansion into virgin peatland. The Indonesian government has stopped such permits. And expect that from May this year, the new law with more stringent criteria for peatland management will kick into effect. 

Commercial interests have lobbied against the new criteria and push for lower standards. The final details remain to be seen, but it is nevertheless noteworthy that the government is moving to address a long-standing environmental and public health concern for Indonesians. 

Secondly, the increased effort on this issue is signalled by President Jokowi Widodo himself and is backed by his cabinet. The president, a forestry graduate, personally made a high-profile visit to a haze-prone zone in Riau late last year. This followed a petition filed by an ordinary citizen against one of the more controversial concessions in the region. 

Notably, the president’s cabinet has fused the ministries of environment and forestry to seek to balance and align their interests for a more sustainable industry. The new minister, Siti Nurbaya, has won praise for her frequent consultations with non-governmental organisations as well as business groups. 

She has also launched a standard geo-spatial map for use across all ministries to increase coordination in the administration of Indonesia’s forests. For Riau, a new forest-and-land fire-mitigation and prevention action plan has also been launched under her watch. 

Her ministry, too, is closely monitoring lawsuits brought against forest burning suspects over the last two years. When a state court recently dismissed charges against a firm in Riau’s Meranti Islands regency, the Minister herself has personally challenged the verdict. 

For many long-time observers of the forestry industry, this goes beyond business-as-usual. The new administration has shown that it is taking charge and is prepared to do things differently. 

More needs to be done. The many and often complex concession boundaries across this country need to be mapped, and this will take time, resources and attention. Pressure is also being felt as the land needed for commercial plantations is likely to expand, despite dropping commodity prices. The risks of fires and haze continue. 

But steps are being made for judicial reform, improved legal enforcement and better monitoring technology. Indonesia is increasingly committed to a resource sector that can be sustainable. Rather than words that might fan divisions, such actions can align Indonesia’s interests with those of its neighbours and the global community. 

 

Simon Tay and Cheong Poh Kwan are chairman and assistant director of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs respectively. On May 13, the SIIA will host the 2nd Singapore dialogue on Sustainable World Resources and launch Haze Tracker (www.hazetracker.org).