NEA issues legal notices under haze law to 10 Singapore-based companies, including Asia Pulp & Paper

SINGAPORE – Singapore is widening its probe into companies linked to the haze-causing fires in Indonesia, and has issued legal notices to another 10 firms – all of them based here – asking them to provide more information on their links to fires in Indonesia. 

In a statement issued in the evening of Oct 23, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said the 10 companies it is taking action against under Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act (THPA) include: 

• Asia Pulp & Paper Company

• Asia Pulp & Paper Company (China) 

• Bumitama Agri

• Golden Agri International 

• First Resources 

• Indofood Agri Resources 

• Kencana Agri 

• TSH Global Plantation 

• TSH Overseas

• Wilmar International 

The firms listed are in the palm oil or forestry business, and either own land concessions in Indonesia, or have related companies with such concessions.

The NEA’s latest requests for information from the 10 Singapore firms will carry penalties for non-response. Under Section 10 of the Act, representatives from the non-compliant firms can face a fine of up to $5,000, a jail term of up to one month, or both.

This follows NEA’s earlier move to issue preventive measures notices to 10 Indonesian companies. 

Those notices – issued under Section 9 of the Act – had asked the Indonesian firms for more information on how they were preventing or suppressing fires on their lands. There are no penalties for firms involved if they do not respond to these preventive measures requests. 

Introduced in September 2014, the THPA targets those responsible for causing or condoning fires, and can be activated if the haze causes the Pollutant Standards Index, which measures air quality in Singapore, to stay in the unhealthy range in any part of the island for 24 hours or more.

Those guilty under the Act can be fined up to $100,000 a day, with a total capped at $2 million.

The current haze is caused by fires raging on forests and plantations in Indonesia – primarily Kalimantan and Sumatra. 

The blazes are sparked by slash-and-burn practices to clear land. Such practices are illegal in Indonesia, but are still carried out as it is cheaper than removing trees using excavators. 

Singapore on Oct 16 first took action under its haze law when it issued notices to the first seven pulpwood companies, which are based in Sumatra. 

Another three firms in Kalimantan – two pulpwood firms, and one oil palm – were issued the preventive measure notices on Oct 19.

The 10 Indonesian firms that NEA had issued the preventive measures notices to include:

• Bumi Andalas Permai (pulpwood plantation) 

• Bumi Mekar Hijau (pulpwood plantation)

• Paramitra Mulia Langgeng (pulpwood plantation)

• Sumatera Alam Anugerah (pulpwood plantation)

• Sebangun Bumi Andalas (SBA) Wood Industries (pulpwood plantation)

• Hutan Lestari Raya (pulpwood plantation)

• Bangakanesia (pulp and palm oil plantation)

• Buana Megatama Jaya (pulpwood plantation)

• Mananjung Hayak (oil palm plantation)

• Baratama Putra Perkasa (pulpwood plantation)

The NEA said in the Oct 23 update that it has written to these companies for documents and information about the fires in their concessions, the measures they have taken to put out these fires, as well as their links with associated companies in Indonesia and Singapore.

Of these 10 companies, ST checks show that at least six of them have Singapore links. 

Four of them – Bumi Andalas Permai, Bumi Mekar Hijau, SBA Wood Industries and Buana Megatama Jaya – are suppliers to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), one of the world’s largest paper companies that has a presence in Singapore.  

APP had also been linked to causing fires during the 2015 haze crisis. 

ST also found that Paramitra Mulia Langgeng and Hutan Lestari Raya also have Singapore links. 

The former is a subsidiary of the Sungai Budi Group, a conglomerate led by Oey Widarto and his nephew Santoso Winata, both of whom are Singapore PRs.

Hutan Lestari Raya on the other hand counts Singapore PR Erik Setiawan as its director.

Aqil Hamzah is a transport journalist at The Straits Times. He is also interested in issues related to crime and technology.

Shabana Begum is a correspondent, with a focus on environment and science, at The Straits Times.