What can Singapore do about the haze?

OVER the past two months, the haze has generated a spate of heated responses in Singapore. As we now eagerly await the nearing end to the choking air, we are well aware that the problem is far from its resolution, and we would certainly expect the haze to revisit us in the subsequent years.

Instead of incessantly pointing our fingers at our neighbour, we should focus on how we could possibly escape this recurring conundrum.

It is clear that Singapore has little transnational jurisdiction on the haze culprits apart from Singapore firms, which might or might not be a sizeable proportion of the total number of errant plantations. Holding Singapore firms accountable is justified on both moral and legal grounds, but without disclosures of land ownership from Indonesia, whether this would reach fruition is very much debatable.