Indonesia faces growing pressure to hold companies accountable for forest fires as haze worsens

[JAKARTA] Recurring forest fires in Indonesia that send haze across the border to Singapore and Malaysia are intensifying scrutiny of corporate accountability, as regulators, environmental groups and consumers press companies to take greater responsibility for transboundary pollution.

Public frustration over the recurring fires is increasingly spilling onto the streets and social media, with activists demanding stronger government action and greater corporate accountability.

The pressure also puts President Prabowo Subianto’s handling of the haze crisis under scrutiny as he marks his second anniversary in office on Tuesday (Oct 20).

On Tuesday morning, Greenpeace Indonesia activists unfurled a yellow protest banner above Bundaran Hotel Indonesia, a landmark roundabout in central Jakarta.

The environmental group criticised the government’s handling of forest fires and what they described as inadequate action on the climate crisis. The banner remained on display at 6 am local time before police removed it several hours later.

Online boycott campaigns have also targeted products and businesses linked to companies allegedly associated with the fires.

Calls to boycott Sinar Mas Group-linked products and businesses have resurfaced on social media, reflecting public demands for greater corporate accountability.

One Instagram account, @press_un, urged consumers to boycott the group, alleging it was responsible for forest fires in Indonesia and neighbouring countries. It also highlighted the resulting respiratory health impacts.

The campaigns extend beyond the group’s forestry and plantation interests to consumer goods such as food, cooking oil, paper and tissue, as well as businesses in property, finance, telecommunications, energy, healthcare and education.

Suppliers linked to Sinar Mas’ Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) were among those notified by Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) over their alleged links to the haze, although APP denied that the fires originated within its concessions.

Indonesia has been battling forest and land fires for months, with El Nino-related dry conditions exacerbating the threat. The fires are also taking a significant toll on the economy, particularly in the fire-prone areas of Kalimantan and Sumatra.

The growing calls for corporate accountability come as recurring haze episodes continue to affect neighbouring countries, keeping the issue on the agenda for leaders in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.

Indonesian police have named nine palm oil companies as suspects in connection with forest fires affecting more than 25,600 hectares of land. Authorities have also flagged between 97 and 125 legal entities over suspected corporate involvement in the fires.

Recent reports by environmental groups Greenpeace and Walhi have also identified companies based in Singapore and Malaysia whose Indonesian subsidiaries or local operations are allegedly linked to areas affected by fires, highlighting the cross-border corporate structures involved in Indonesia’s plantation sector.

Uli Siagian, forest and plantation campaign manager and co-ordinator at Walhi, said the environmental group had submitted data to the Indonesian government identifying 372 companies suspected of having fires within their concession areas.

Some of the companies are linked to corporate groups headquartered in Singapore and Malaysia. It may be harder for Indonesian authorities to pursue these parent companies because of jurisdictional constraints.

Uli said Singapore and Malaysia could take legal action against parent companies registered in their respective jurisdictions where there are sufficient grounds.

Environmental cost

The scale of suspected corporate involvement has fuelled calls for tougher enforcement to deter repeat offences and ensure companies bear the costs of environmental damage.

The Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) estimates that the economic and health costs of forest fires across Indonesia between January and August 2026 could reach as much as 123.1 trillion rupiah (US$6.8 billion), equivalent to 49.1 per cent of Central Kalimantan’s projected gross regional domestic product for the year.

Bhima Yudhistira, executive director of Celios, said Indonesia needed to move beyond treating forest fires as an annual emergency and establish a system that consistently holds companies accountable for environmental risks and damage.

“Fines alone are not enough if companies can still profit from environmentally destructive practices,” he said, adding that enforcement should combine administrative sanctions, civil lawsuits, environmental restoration and criminal proceedings where the legal requirements are met.

Indonesia already has environmental and forestry laws that can be used to hold companies accountable. The challenge lies in applying them consistently, gathering sufficient evidence and ensuring that penalties are enforced, Bhima said.

“Negligence and violations must carry clear consequences, otherwise enforcement will remain reactive and companies will have little incentive to invest in prevention,” he said.

Singapore’s NEA has issued legal notices to 10 Indonesian companies under the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, asking them to stop land burning and submit plans to prevent recurrence.

The companies hold plantations in South Sumatra and Kalimantan, where many haze-related hotspots are located.

NEA used concession maps, satellite imagery, wind patterns and meteorological data to trace potential sources of haze reaching Singapore. Companies found guilty under the Act face fines of up to S$100,000 a day, capped at S$2 million.

The city-state last invoked the law during the 2015 haze crisis, issuing notices to six firms. Two cases have since been closed, while four remain under investigation.

Ronny Sasmita, senior analyst at Indonesia Strategic and Economics Action Institution, said Singapore’s notifications should prompt Indonesian authorities to verify the findings and open or expand investigations where there are sufficient grounds to suspect wrongdoing.

He added that NEA’s findings should serve as investigative leads rather than conclusive evidence of criminal liability. “Each company’s liability must be established through due process under the applicable law,” said Sasmita.