00:00The haze may be easing in, but the question of who should be held responsible is far from settled.
00:06Singapore has a law that allows it to take action against companies linked to fires and haze pollution, even if
00:12overseas.
00:13But as one legal expert tells us, turning those investigations into successful prosecutions is much harder.
00:22Singapore has widened its haze investigation to include 10 locally based companies,
00:26asking them for information about their operations and links to firms in Indonesia.
00:31That's on top of 10 companies in Indonesia that have been told to take steps to put out or prevent
00:36fires on their land.
00:37The notices were issued under Singapore's Transboundary Haze Pollution Act.
00:42Three of those Indonesian companies were also issued notices during the 2015 haze crisis.
00:47Their cases are still open.
00:49And that points to a long-standing challenge.
00:51How do you gather enough evidence to hold companies accountable for fires across the border?
00:56Associate Professor Eugene Tan of Singapore Management University says that can be difficult without the cooperation of Indonesian authorities.
01:04So I think that the real difficulty really is, you know, the evidence.
01:10The evidence that is required, you know, to mount a successful prosecution, you know, against the polluters.
01:18The difficulty, of course, you know, is that Singapore investigators cannot enter Indonesia to conduct the investigations, you know,
01:26without the commission of the Indonesian authorities.
01:32And there's also the possibility of Indonesian authorities cooperating, you know, by gathering the evidence that Singapore needs.
01:40But I don't think that's also happening.
01:44Tan says the lack of successful prosecutions doesn't mean Singapore's Haze Law has failed.
01:49He says the threat of financial penalties and damage to a company's reputation can still act as a deterrent.
01:55But because the haze crosses borders, he said countries in the region need to work more closely together.
02:02But because the haze pollution is transboundary in nature, that means that, you know, cooperation would be necessary.
02:10Cooperation not just in terms of evidence, but cooperation in terms also of putting out the fires,
02:17you know, giving advance notice, you know, that there would be, you know, hot spots and fires, you know,
02:26so that countries can better prepare in the event, you know, that there is, the pollution does cross the border.
02:37But I think certainly, you know, when you look at the ASEAN agreement,
02:43it really requires, you know, the goodwill, the cooperation of ASEAN member states
02:52in recognising, you know, that this is an issue that affects all of us.
