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A cloud of haze has descended across Southeast Asia over the past few months as a brutal El Ni\u00f1o helps incinerate forest and scrub in Indonesia. Obscuring responsibility for the fires stems from a much deeper and more impenetrable legal pall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The smoke has spread across the region, forcing schools to close in Malaysia, diverting flights, and giving tiny Singapore \u2014 which has no dry lands of its own aflame \u2014 the worst air pollution in the world. If current trends persist, this episode may turn into the worst in Southeast Asia since devastating wildfires in 2015.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
To hear the way this is talked about in Singapore, the region\u2019s wealthiest country, the whole situation is an act of God: Fires just happen, and no one can be sure exactly who is responsible. A more sophisticated diagnosis blames intransigence in the region\u2019s largest country. When Singapore passed a law in 2014 threatening millions of dollars in fines for companies causing haze, Indonesia\u2019s refusal to cooperate made it impossible to implement. For the city-state, discretion toward its giant neighbor has become the better part of diplomacy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It\u2019s certainly hard to discern precisely who is responsible for lighting Southeast Asia\u2019s forest fires, but that\u2019s because laws across the region are riddled with huge and obvious loopholes. With officialdom in Indonesia and Singapore blaming each other for the grim state of affairs, smallholders and businesses can get on with despoiling the landscape without anyone making a serious claim to accountability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n