As the season of haze returns to our shores, some Singaporeans may feel helpless about the smoky, unhealthy air blown our way from the south.
But a group of volunteers are determined to take up the fight against the haze, or those who had a hand in causing it.
The Haze Elimination Action Team (Heat), led by Professor Ang Peng Hwa of Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, is planning to sue and boycott the companies responsible for the fires.
Yesterday morning, PSI levels crossed into the hazardous range. At 6am, the 24-hour PSI was 257-318, and the three-hour PSI stood at 334.
Prof Ang told The New Paper yesterday: “We want consumers to know that there is something that we can do. We are not helpless.”
He and a few others set up Heat in 2007 – a year after Singapore experienced its worst haze in a decade, with the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) peaking at 150.
“What struck me most back then was when I read about a 40-year-old CEO who said how Singaporeans can’t do anything about the haze.
“This was a man empowered and in charge of a company, yet he was feeling helpless. I told myself that surely there was something we can do,” he said.
In 2007, Heat raised about $20,000 for a website and an educational effort in Jambi, South Sumatra.
Today, the group has about 800 members who include professionals, housewives and students.
It is also working with another haze awareness group, PM.Haze.
Prof Ang said that Heat intends to sue and boycott companies that are registered here but are involved, via intermediary or subsidiary companies, in starting the fires in Indonesia.
It is also “looking for someone or an organisation that has incurred losses of at least tens of thousand dollars or more due the haze”, or who has been hospitalised, to be an “ideal plaintiff”, he said.
Legal fees are estimated between $50,000 and $100,000 and the team is looking to get pro bono help as well as a lawyer with experience in corporate forensics to help trace the ownership pattern of the fires, he said.
Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan said that this was an encouraging effort at self-help by Heat, but added that it would be a challenging task.
TOUGH TO PROVE
Firstly, there is the evidential burden of proof that these local companies have management control of the Indonesian companies that are legally responsible for the haze, he said.
Heat would then need to provide evidence to the court that these Indonesian entities were indeed causing the haze pollution, he said.
But he noted that this bottom-up approach, if successful, would hit the alleged companies where it hurts the most – their reputations and profits.
“It will send a signal to these companies to clean up their act. It can pressure Singaporean entities to insist on sustainable and responsible agricultural practices throughout their supply chains.
“It’s a case of consumers having a big say in how a company ought to conduct itself and being responsible to stakeholders,” he said.
Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said during a press conference yesterday that the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, which was passed in Parliament last year, will help those seeking legal action against those responsible for causing or condoning fires if burning results in unhealthy levels of haze in Singapore.
“Whenever possible, we will try to share as much information as possible with the public. I think they are entitled to take action. I think our demands for greater transparency and sharing of information will facilitate their action. Anyone who suffers losses as a result of this may be entitled to take action against errant companies pursuant to (the Act).”
Dr Balakrishnan also listed five companies that the National Environmental Agency has issued notices to. (See report,)
Prof Ang said the case could take years to build and is aware of the challenges ahead.
One of their plans is to gather pictures of the sites that are burning now and check back on these sites in a few years.
“We hope then to trace who benefited from these fires. To the companies suspected of starting fires, we are coming after you,” he said.
