Indonesian environmental group readies lawsuits against Malaysian and Singaporean firms over haze

At a roundtable organized by the Malaysian advocacy group Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation, Walhi outlined a strategy to pursue legal action against Singaporean companies in an Indonesian court and to consider filing cases in Singapore against their holding entities. Campaign coordinator Uli Arta Siagian explained that the group is still shaping its legal arguments and will retain an international lawyer to target the parent firms.

Walhi is also compiling data on the alleged role of Malaysian corporations in the forest-fire outbreaks that have generated hazardous haze across Southeast Asia. The NGO pointed to the 2022 assessment that the 2002 ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution lacks enforcement mechanisms, complicating cross-border accountability. Singapore’s own experience in 2015, when it failed to obtain fire-related information from Indonesian authorities, was cited as an example of these challenges. Walhi urged the Malaysian government to investigate its firms rather than assume they are uninvolved, noting recent official statements that most fires occurred outside Malaysian palm-oil concessions.