Indonesia’s costly haze problem

Flights cancelled, agricultural land destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people around the region suffering from respiratory illnesses.

This is something that has happened pretty much every year - for the last 18 years!

Indonesia's forest fires and the resulting haze have caused havoc and headlines across Asia, which has put the government there under pressure to put the fires out.

Map of Greater Indonesia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and East Timor

That might explain why Indonesian police are on a roll. On Monday (October 12) they've named another 12 companies as suspects in starting the forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan. But while Indonesia's police chief Badrodin Haiti was unwilling to mention who the companies are, he was happy to stress that two of them are from Malaysia and China and that another one under investigation is from Singapore.

Police-General Drs. Badrodin Haiti is the current Chief of Indonesian National Police

Pointing the finger outside of Indonesia can be useful especially at a time when the government there is under pressure to show that's it's serious about stopping the haze.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that the haze was a problem that would as many as three years to solve. Since then he's changed his tune and has accepted regional assistance after weeks of refusing the offers from his counterparts in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.

On 19 June 2013, NASA's Aqua satellite captured a striking image of smoke billowing from illegal wildfires on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The smoke blew east toward southern Malaysia and Singapore, and news media reported that thick clouds of haze had descended on Singapore, pushing pollution levels to record levels.

But environmental activists say that although these companies have been charged with breaking several laws - including Indonesia's environmental law, which carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of $8m - none of that makes a difference unless authorities actually start enforcing the law. Out of the 40 companies that have been named as suspects for starting the fires, only one case has ever been brought to court.

Fires on Borneo in 2006. Fires in peat—thick layers of dead, but un-decayed vegetation—are extremely smoky and difficult to put out.

This is a problem that affects Indonesia every year. But scientists say this year is shaping up to be the worst on record since 1997. The last time this part of Asia was hit by a major haze crisis it cost the region an estimated $9 billion due to losses from cancelled flights, agricultural damage, tourism and healthcare costs.

This time, some economists estimate it could cost the region more than twice that.

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)