Blame game can't solve Southeast Asia's haze crisis
Sun Xi says Singapore may have to help pay for a plan to stop illegal forest burning in Sumatra
The more than 20-year-old cross-boundary haze malady has hit Singapore again, but this time the situation is much worse, with pollution levels breaking several records.
With the crisis, the blame game is under way again. While Singapore has urged Indonesia to take tougher action against illegal forest burning, Indonesia has said Singaporean and Malaysian palm oil companies bear ultimate responsibility.
However, playing the blame game never works; all stakeholders must co-operate to solve the crisis.
In the short term, the most pressing matter is to extinguish the expanding hot spots as soon as possible. Indonesia has begun cloud-seeding in an effort to create rain and put out the fires, while Singapore has offered an assistance package.
In the long run, government intervention should be considered to force polluters to pay for the cost of the solution.
First, it is clear that Indonesia should bear top responsibility, given that the pollution happens within its territory. In fact, Indonesia has laws and regulations in place to ban illegal forest burning. However, clearing land this way is common due to weak law enforcement.
