Business · Singapore Bureau
Indonesia targets 20 firms in forest fire crackdown as haze crisis deepens
Indonesian authorities have identified two dozen companies suspected of responsibility for forest fires that trigger seasonal haze across Southeast Asia. Four of the firms are foreign-controlled, with backing from Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea.
LSN Singapore ·
Indonesia's environmental enforcement agency has named 20 companies as suspects in an intensified campaign against illegal forest clearing that fuels the region's annual haze crisis. The move represents a significant escalation in efforts to hold corporate actors accountable for transboundary air pollution that routinely affects neighbouring countries, including Singapore and Malaysia.
Four of the identified companies are foreign-owned or controlled, with investors and shareholders originating from Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea. The inclusion of regional investors underscores how forest conversion activities in Indonesian plantation zones remain tied to regional economic interests and supply chains.
The crackdown addresses a persistent environmental challenge that has plagued Southeast Asia for decades. Seasonal fires on peatlands and cleared forest areas release thick smoke that drifts across the region, causing air quality emergencies and respiratory health crises in affected populations.
Indonesian authorities have previously struggled to enforce regulations against large-scale plantation operators and land-clearing companies, many of which operate across vast concessions in Sumatra and Kalimantan. The naming of specific firms signals renewed determination to pursue corporate liability, though implementation and prosecution remain ongoing challenges for government agencies.