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View all search resultsThe haze makes us angry, but our anger needs to be directed
The negative energy from anger over haze must be turned into positive action for supporting the people on the front lines battling forest fires and for bringing to account the companies found responsible for starting them.
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Buildings in the Central Business District loom beyond the Singapore Flyer amid a shroud of haze Sept. 15, 2026, along the island-state’s Marina Bay prime waterfront area. (Reuters/Ore Huiying)
I
wake up at home to a view of the city skyline. These days, all I see is a murky gray mess. My eyes itch. My throat is sore. And like millions of people across the region, I am infuriated that we are going through this once again.
On social media and in WhatsApp groups, fingers are pointed at agribusiness companies allegedly using fire to clear land for new plantations, with oil palm the most frequently cited.
Some of that anger is deserved, but on the ground in Sumatra and Kalimantan, the reality is more complicated. Communities are living through a severe El Nino drought. In these conditions, any spark from any source can become an uncontrollable fire.
On the peatlands of Kalimantan and southern Sumatra, fires burn deeper and longer and are far harder to put out. The government has recognized this: Under the new presidential instruction on forest and land fires, regional rules that permit burning are being reviewed and revoked where they conflict with national law, and even the narrow customary exception that lets smallholder farmers burn subsistence plots has been suspended until the emergency is declared over.
Are some companies and individuals taking advantage of the situation to clear land with fire? Almost certainly. But facing them are plantation staff, smallholders, villagers and NGO crews who have been battling fires for weeks alongside the government, working in shifts and eating and resting where they can.
As my colleague Aryo Gustomo described in his recent article in business intelligence platform Eco-Business, RSPO Certified members are devoting extensive efforts and resources to fighting these fires alongside their neighbors and government counterparts.
Companies have trained and deployed thousands of emergency response team personnel to respond at a moment’s notice. In areas where rivers have dried up, companies are flying in water by plane and helicopter to protect their own and their neighbors' land.
