| Regional NGOs Explore Possibility Of Suing Haze-Causing Companies |
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By Jackson Sawatan
SINGAPORE, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) around the region are exploring the possibility of suing companies in their country of origins if there were evidence to implicate them with haze-causing fires on their land.
Such a possibility was among the issues discussed Thursday at a three-hour dialogue here which was attended by civil society and think tanks from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei.
Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) Chairman Simon Tay said the those attending the dialogue "had a sense" that the problem could get worse in the future as more land were being opened up for development in Indonesia's Kalimantan and Sumatra, and to a certain extent, in some parts of Malaysia.
He said that the possibility of further suits against the companies concerned was among actions that the NGOs could do on its own in the fight against the recurring problems, besides urging governments to implement what it had promised to do.
"(There were discussions) whether we can overlay the satellite images of the fire with land ownership patterns to see where the fire was coming from and to explore the possibility of suits in countries where the owners are based," he told reporters after the dialogue organised by SIIA.
Chairman and chief executive officer of Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), Malaysia, Datuk Seri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan was among those who attended the dialogue, held amid worsening haze situation in the region.
In Singapore, the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) shot to unhealthy level this afternoon with a reading of 113 at 3pm before improving to moderate level below 100 at 6pm.
Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) expects the hazy condition to persist here as the prevailing winds remained southeasterly, bringing smoke haze from forest fires in Kalimantan.
Answering a question, Tay acknowledged, that the success of prosecutions by NGOs against suspected fire-causing plantation owners had been limited.
"There has been a number of suits attempted by Indonesian NGOs but there has been little satisfaction... they were either thrown out or not led to a strong decision. In our dialogue, we call on the Indonesian government itself to implement its own laws, whether against companies from Indonesia or from other countries.
"We recognised that prosecutions by NGOs in Indonesia have not had a success that they hopefully could have had. So its back to government prosecuting (the companies concerned)," he said.
The NGOs were also exploring other options such as engaging plantation owners to adopt best practices and environmental-friendly methods.
"The dialogue emphasised the need for NGOs to really put forward recommendations for best policy practices in terms of developing the various sectors such as oil palm, forestry as well as pulp and paper, and to recognise many of the Indonesian companies which are doing the right things," Tay said.
Regional cooperation was equally critical in tackling the problem so as not to make Indonesia -- the epicenter of the haze problem -- feel it was being left alone to deal with the problem, said ISIS' Mohamed Jawhar.
"It no longer is a problem caused by Indonesia... it's now our common problem and it's important that we share the responsibility to address the issue," he added.
-- BERNAMA
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