Singapore, Indonesia to create haze task force, share data amid tensions

Indonesia and Singapore are looking to set up a joint task force to deal with haze from Indonesia’s wildfires, the countries’ foreign ministers said on Tuesday, as they met to reaffirm their ties after weeks of simmering tensions.

The visit to Jakarta by Singapore Foreign Minister ‌Vivian Balakrishnan came amid mounting frustrations in the city state over the transboundary haze generated by Indonesia’s most intense forest fires in 11 years.

After a two-hour meeting, Singapore and Indonesia’s top diplomats discussed establishing a task force that would enable the countries to share information, gather cross-border evidence and potentially even recover assets from companies linked to the forest fires, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir said.

“We must follow the money trail these companies have left behind. Singapore offered to share data on companies ⁠linked to the fires,” Nasir said.

“No border should shield those who profit from burning our forests.”

Indonesia has previously launched criminal investigations into companies ‌linked to the fires.

Nasir added that the two countries were mature enough to talk candidly about the fires, which have caused a spike in respiratory illnesses in Indonesia and engulfed neighbouring Singapore, Malaysia and East ‌Timor in smoke.

“Singapore stands in solidarity with Indonesia. [Haze] is a common problem, and one that we can best ⁠achieve collectively,” Balakrishnan said after ⁠the meeting.

Both foreign ministers said on Tuesday that the first victims of the haze were Indonesians, with Balakrishnan vowing to crack down on companies registered in Singapore ‌found to be responsible for the fires.

In their remarks, neither minister mentioned the tensions arising from Jakarta’s decision to cut gas supplies to the city state.

Jakarta cut pipelined ‌gas to ‌Singapore by about 8 per cent as of Saturday, saying it was safeguarding domestic supplies.

Singapore generates up to 95 per cent of its electricity ‌from natural gas, and though the supply cut from Indonesia amounts to less than 2 per cent of daily demand, Prime Minister Lawrence ⁠Wong said on Sunday that he expected contract signatories to “honour their commitments”.

Indonesia’s Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia hit back on Monday, saying the amount ⁠of gas now being supplied to Singapore met the minimum level stipulated under their agreement.

“Our nation is a nation that honours contracts, rules. So don’t lecture Indonesia on how to honour contracts,” Bahlil said.

Veteran Singaporean diplomat Bilahari Kausikan ‌called the gas cuts an “attempt at intimidation” ‌but said they would be ineffectual.

Singapore’s state investor Temasek and its sovereign wealth fund GIC were also on the defensive last week, rejecting allegations by a former Indonesian trade minister that they had pressured global index provider MSCI to consider demoting Indonesia’s equities to “stand-alone” market status.

Indonesia’s government has not commented on the allegation by the former minister.