Climateupdated 1h ago2 min read
Archive photo · 15 September 2019Singapore And Indonesia Form Joint Task Force To Hold Forest Fire Firms Accountable For Haze
6 Asian3 Other1 Local WesternPhoto: NASA image by Joshua Stevens (LANCE MODIS Rapid Response) / US federal government, Public domain · Cropped for layout
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Singapore and Indonesia will form a joint task force to hold firms accountable for forest fires. The task force will share information, financial intelligence, and cross-border evidence.
10 outlets told this the same way.
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Task Force for Firms
Singapore and Indonesia agreed to establish a joint task force to combat companies responsible for forest fires causing cross-border haze, with the foreign ministers announcing the plan in Jakarta on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026.
“It will link information sharing, financial intelligence and cross-border evidence gathering, with, where possible, hopefully asset recovery.”
Indonesian Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir said the task force would coordinate information sharing, financial intelligence, cross-border evidence gathering and asset recovery where possible.
Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said the two governments were putting companies on notice that the joint task force would ensure “a very close coordination of actions and sharing of information between Indonesia and Singapore.”
Nusantara Atlas said Indonesia’s wildfires burned more than 1.9 million hectares in the nine months to September, as Indonesia struggled for months to contain the blazes.
Following the Money
Arrmanatha Nasir framed the effort as an accountability mechanism that would link information sharing, financial intelligence and cross-border evidence gathering to pursue asset recovery against corporate backers.
Arrmanatha said, “Smoke can cross borders, so can money. That is why we must follow the money trail these companies have left behind,” as he described Singapore’s offer to share data on firms linked to the fires.
Balakrishnan said Singapore would exercise “every single legal and regulatory power” against firms responsible for haze pollution, including those based in the Republic.
The Singapore National Environment Agency (NEA) issued preventive-measures notices to 10 companies in Indonesia linked to fires suspected of contributing to the haze in the Republic, and it asked 10 Singapore-based companies to provide information and documents under the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act.
Enforcement, Hotlines, Stakes
Indonesian Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir said the first victims of the fires are Indonesians, adding that “It is our farmers, our children and our families in Sumatra and Kalimantan who have to breathe the smoke first.” Balakrishnan described the joint mechanism as a deterrent, saying “We are in effect putting all the companies on notice that the joint task force will ensure that there is a very close coordination of actions and sharing of information between Indonesia and Singapore.”
Both ministers also agreed to strengthen communication through a hotline at the ministerial and senior official levels to manage differences as they coordinate enforcement action. Arrmanatha said President Prabowo Subianto had made tackling the fires a national priority, with around 71,000 ground personnel and 51 aerial units mobilised across priority provinces.