Singapore’s prime minister has said that the thick smog shrouding the city could last for weeks, as the smoke drove air quality “hazardous” levels and disrupted business and travel in the region. Air quality has deteriorated to “hazardous” levels in both Singapore and Malaysia over the past few days as smoke from forest fires in Indonesia obscured skies and disrupted businesses and travel.
“It can easily last for several weeks and quite possibly longer until the dry season ends in Sumatra,” Lee Hsien Loong said on Thursday, warning of action if Singapore-linked companies were behind the burning. “On the scale of it, it’s unlikely to be just small stakeholders slashing and burning.” Earlier on Thursday, Agung Laksono, the minister who is coordinating Indonesia’s response to the haze crisis, accused Singapore of “behaving like a child” by complaining about severe haze from raging forest fires on Sumatra island that has cloaked the city-state.
“Singapore should not be behaving like a child and making all this noise,” he told reporters in Jakarta.
Laksono was responding to Singapore’s demands earlier on Thursday for “definitive” action by Indonesia to quell forest fires raging in Sumatra.
A technical meeting between Indonesian and Singaporean officials is scheduled during which Indonesia will share information on what it has been doing and will listen to concerns from Singapore.
