Remembering the hazy days in Singapore during June 2013 (Singapore's role in ASEAN - providing the technologies?)

As many of you can recall from your ("not too long ago") IH module on ASEAN, Singapore exist in a region where peace is actively negotiated at the regional level, where trans-boundary conflicts are constantly being negotiated as and when they arise. The recent haze episode in June essentially brings back the living memories of having to yet negotiate with our neighbors....

The first thing that crossed my mind however was....

BUT, to move on to the real issues of resolving conflicts, as any good diplomats will focus on....













PM Lee Hsien Loong's 20 June press conference on the haze, especially after it hit the unhealthy range for a few days.


Our PM himself took the time to address the nation and assure the population that Singapore will do its best to negotiate with the Indonesia authorities on finding the (Singaporean)companies responsible for any burning.

The video coverage of the environmental ministers who met later on in mid-July 2013.


Amongst the ASEAN countries, Indonesia is the only country that has not ratified the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, but has recently this year reported that they will raise the ratification issue in parliament after causing the PSI to cross into the unhealthy range in Singapore, registering the highest PSI levels above 370s, a historical high in Singapore, and sent Muar, Malaysia into a state of emergency with PSI levels over the 700s range.

Many people in Singapore were angry with the situation and many point fingers at the palm oil companies that were responsible in allowing their workers to persist in using the slash and burn method of clearing plantations and getting them ready for the next batch of palm oil planting.

As Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan had pointed out, Singapore's advanced satelite imagery technologies basically provide all the tools available to pin-point the errant companies. Singapore also obviously have to diplomatically work with the other governments in ASEAN to handle the transboundary haze issue.

ACE discussion on Singapore and ASEAN:

Discussion 1:
In your MGs, let's focus on discussing if there were other alternatives Singapore could have taken. Can you agree with the course our Ministers have taken so far?

Discussion 2:
Do you remember a comment made by a senior Indonesian minister that Singapore was "behaving like a child" over the haze situation? Singapore decided not to engage that comment. Think about such diplomacy exercised in the spirit of unity in the region. What kind of character/strength does a government office holder need to show such restrain?

Discussion 3:
Palm oil is actually commonly used in the manufacturing of many food items and sold as "vegetable oil". It is the cheapest form of cooking oil and you can imagine not only most households will buy it, but many food manufacturers use it because of its relative cheap price. The crop needs to be cleared, i.e. slashed and burnt down, after about 25 years of growing, which means there will be smoke produced every time a large tracts of Indonesian palm plantations reach their 25 years shelf lives. Is this something we want to "live with"?

Singapore has recommended naming the errant companies to allow a form of commercial pressure to operate, and possibly make the companies think twice about using the slash and burn method of clearance. How effective do you think this is in place of diplomatic ties? Will you modify your own consumption to avoid food items prepared using "vegetable oil"? 

This looks like a regional problem but it seems consumers like you and I can "do something about it"?