SINGAPORE – Singapore’s response to the haze will be high on the agenda when Parliament sits this week, with questions on the Republic’s legal and regulatory levers at the fore.
More than 30 MPs have filed over 50 questions on how Singapore is tackling the haze, which escalated here in early September in the most severe bout in more than a decade.
They come as the Government has said it would introduce changes to the current haze law in Parliament this week to give it more teeth in dealing with companies responsible for the widespread burning in Indonesia.
The majority of questions on the haze zoom in on the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act (THPA), a law passed in 2014 to target those responsible for causing or condoning fires.
The law can be triggered when the haze causes the Pollutant Standards Index air quality measure to stay in the unhealthy range in any part of Singapore for 24 hours or more.
There have been no fines or convictions under the law even though it has been wielded twice, with preventive measure notices issued to multiple firms in 2015 and 2026. Of the six cases from 2015, two were eventually closed while four are still open.
MPs from both sides of the House asked about the status of these cases and the challenges authorities face in concluding them, and if the Government was considering legislative amendments to address enforcement gaps. They also asked how Singapore can better identify and take action against companies linked to the haze.
PAP’s Charlene Chen (Tampines GRC) asked if the authorities have assessed whether changes to existing laws are needed to address gaps in determining liability when entities responsible for haze-causing fires operate through complex corporate ownership structures.
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