- Severe Indonesian forest fires caused transboundary haze, leading to hazardous air quality, respiratory illnesses, and widespread school closures in Malaysia, Singapore, and Timor-Leste.
- International activists and regional leaders are pressuring President Prabowo Subianto to address environmental governance failures and the accountability of local Indonesian officials.
- Investigations identified 93 companies linked to the fires, prompting Singapore and Malaysia to seek legal action and stricter enforcement against corporate perpetrators.
- The disaster underscores the need for ASEAN to move from symbolic agreements to enforceable protocols for monitoring and penalizing transboundary environmental pollution.
The haze crisis resulting from forest and peatland fires in Indonesia has turned the skies over Kuala Lumpur and Singapore a deep, murky gray. The haze has polluted the air breathed by millions across neighboring countries, escalating what began as a domestic fire disaster into a diplomatic crisis.
President Prabowo Subianto’s environmental policies are facing intense scrutiny, both domestically and internationally.
The Domino Effect of the Haze Crisis.
The haze crisis resulting from forest and peatland fires in Indonesia has triggered transboundary air pollution, severely affecting neighboring ASEAN countries.
According to Malaysia’s Department of Environment, air quality readings in 37 areas fell within the “unhealthy” range of the Air Pollutant Index (API). In Selangor (specifically in Klang and Johan Setia), the API reached as high as 192. Furthermore, there has been a sharp increase in cases of acute respiratory infections (ARI) and asthma across Malaysia.
Consequently, on Friday, October 9, 2026, Malaysia’s Minister of Education, Fadhlina Sidek, announced the closure of schools or the transition from in-person classes to remote learning for over 2 million affected students in the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
Subsequently, on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, Singapore recorded its highest air pollution levels of the year; in the western part of the country, the one-hour PM2.5 concentration reached 284 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) due to the transboundary haze. This prompted Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) to report elevated pollution levels.
Meanwhile, the government of Timor-Leste also suspended in-person classes in all schools for three days, starting Thursday, October 15, 2026, due to deteriorating air quality.
Indonesia is currently facing its most severe forest and peatland fire crisis in recent years, a situation exacerbated by the Super El Niño phenomenon and a positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). This combination triggers extreme weather, causes a drastic drop in rainfall, and leaves forest and peatland areas in Indonesia extremely dry and highly susceptible to fire.
However, data from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI), released on October 14, 2026, reveals a startling fact: WALHI identified 93 companies linked to fire-affected concessions and affiliated with business groups based in Singapore and Malaysia.
International Scrutiny and the Accountability of Regional Leaders.
The current haze crisis has drawn significant international attention and criticism. Among those speaking out is Malaysian Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who has called for ASEAN nations to lodge formal diplomatic protests with Indonesia.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan has confirmed that he will raise the issue of transboundary haze at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, held ahead of the 49th ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines.
Meanwhile, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu have announced plans to take firm legal action, issuing formal warnings to seven Indonesian companies strongly suspected of being responsible for the fire hotspots.
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg has also directly called for an emergency declaration regarding the forest and peatland fires in Kalimantan. On Instagram, she shared footage showing the landscape blanketed in thick, orange-hued haze, emphasizing that the reality on the ground is far worse than what is portrayed in the media.
Spanish Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz has likewise voiced his concern over the poor air quality in Singapore caused by forest and peatland fires in Indonesia ahead of the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix.
Furthermore, Academy Award-winning actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio has once again sounded a global ecological alarm regarding the massive destruction occurring in Indonesia. In an official social media post, DiCaprio expressed his concern over the burning of more than 800,000 hectares of forest across Borneo and Sumatra, which has resulted in the release of massive emissions into the atmosphere.
Amidst this international scrutiny, the disaster also raises serious questions regarding the quality of leadership and accountability among Kalimantan’s governors. The Governor of Central Kalimantan, Agustiar Sabran, drew attention with his quip: "United we stand, divided, we just get married again." The Governor of South Kalimantan, Muhidin, also faced backlash after suggesting that the fires were not severe because he had not seen firefighting helicopters overhead.
In East Kalimantan, Rudy Mas’ud came under scrutiny for asserting that air quality remained safe and under control. In West Kalimantan, Ria Norsan drew criticism after questioning whether the students participating in protests had also helped to extinguish the fires. Meanwhile, the admission by the Governor of North Kalimantan, Zainal Arifin Paliwang, regarding a shortage of firefighting equipment, raises questions about the region's preparedness for recurring disasters.
This raises serious questions about provincial leadership and accountability. These governors in Kalimantan have failed to demonstrate empathy or establish appropriate priorities; emergency response coordination has become ineffective, and law enforcement on the ground has lost its direction.
The failure of these governors does more than exacerbate the suffering of the local population; it directly undermines the credibility of the environmental governance framework that President Prabowo Subianto is championing on the international stage.
ASEAN’s Momentum: From Agreements to Enforceable Action.
More than two decades after the signing of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP), the recurring haze continues to test the seriousness of regional cooperation. While the agreement provides a framework for prevention, monitoring, information exchange, and mutual assistance, ASEAN lacks a supranational enforcement authority capable of directly imposing sanctions on companies or compelling member states to fulfill their obligations. The core issue is not a lack of commitment, but rather the gap between commitment and implementation.
This presents an opportunity for Indonesia to lead a shift. As a nation with vast forest and peatland areas and a primary source of the transboundary haze, Indonesia cannot merely cite its domestic challenges. President Prabowo Subianto has the chance to transform diplomatic pressure into momentum for reforming ASEAN.
President Prabowo could propose a more operational regional protocol, encompassing transparent monitoring of hotspots and smoke movement, near real-time data exchange, expedited emergency assistance procedures, and cross-border investigative cooperation. ASEAN should also establish a periodic evaluation mechanism for the agreement’s implementation, utilizing measurable indicators and ensuring that outcomes are accessible to the public. Such reforms need not undermine the principle of sovereignty or grant unchecked power to regional institutions; rather, the objective is to ensure that sovereignty cannot be used as a pretext to evade accountability for transboundary impacts.
Domestically, the Indonesian government must take action against companies found to be engaged in illegal burning or in violation of environmental obligations. Sanctions must be proportionate and legally sound, ranging from administrative measures to criminal prosecution where the evidence supports it. Furthermore, companies held responsible must be required to fund environmental restoration, compensate affected communities for documented losses, including medical expenses, lost income, and damage to property or businesses, and contribute to a permanent endowment fund for peatland restoration.
President Prabowo’s leadership is being tested as Indonesia seeks to strengthen its position in Southeast Asia. Now is the time to prove it by steering ASEAN from agreements toward implementation, from solidarity toward accountability, and from commitments toward tangible protection for the people through the upholding of environmental justice.
