The 2015 haze crisis has affected countries across the region. But the ones who have suffered the most are Indonesians closest to the fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan. On 23 November 2015, the SIIA held a public seminar featuring perspectives from Indonesians from the worst-hit...
When Mr Prayoto was born in Riau in 1980, oil palms occupied less than 10,000ha in the Indonesian province in central Sumatra. When he turned 21 and started working at the Riau Provincial Forestry Service, the figure breached one million hectares. It has since grown...
When China’s President Xi Jinping arrives this week in Singapore, his first state visit to the city-state will do more than commemorate the past 25 years of diplomatic relations. Singapore was an early interlocutor for Beijing, following the first historic meeting in Singapore between Deng Xiaoping...
Some weeks ago, the social media and the South-east Asian academic circle were abuzz in response to a speech by Singaporean diplomat Bilahari Kausikan, who likened Asean to a cow. He chided critics of Asean for not recognising Asean as it is, a cow, and wishing...
In all the finger-pointing over the transboundary haze, some banks in Singapore have come under the spotlight for allegedly financing the culprits behind Indonesia’s forest fires. Now the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) has a new set of guidelines for banks to incorporate responsible financing...
It remains essential to work with the Indonesian government to address the haze. However, while intergovernmental cooperation remains key, there is every reason to expect corporations to do their part to stop the fires and haze or risk being taken to task. The first steps towards...
The Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) held our Haze: Know it. Stop it. Exhibition on Oct 16-18 at nex @ Serangoon Central, with presentations from the SIIA, PM.Haze, Singapore Environment Council, Relief.sg, and Haze Elimination Action Team (HEAT) on their respective anti-haze efforts. Efforts to...
There are reasons to be frustrated and angry about the haze pollution, caused by fires in Indonesian provinces. There are also reasons to question whether real action will be taken and can be effective. The problem is driven not by natural causes, but by man-made deforestation...
SIIA Assistant Director Cheong Poh Kwan was quoted by TODAY in a report on the move by the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) to release guidelines on responsible financing. The Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) had told TODAY that it has reached out to...
By Audrey Tan The joint campaign on "We Breathe What We Buy" or #XTheHaze by WWF Singapore, PM.Haze and supported by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs was featured in the Straits Times on 1 Oct 2015. An excerpt from the article is below. Activists say the...