Nationalist rhetoric clouds Indonesia’s haze accountability

Indonesia's diplomatic spat with Singapore and Malaysia over transboundary haze due to local fires has sparked worries that the government is leveraging nationalist sentiment to deflect criticism of its response to the crisis. The heated rhetoric from Indonesian officials toward Singapore and Malaysia has led to concerns about the government using patriotism to discredit legitimate criticism of its handling of the haze issue.

Indonesia's forest and peatland fires, which have been raging across Sumatra and Kalimantan, have produced thick, toxic haze that has spread beyond the country's borders into Singapore, Malaysia, and even as far as the Philippines, exacerbating air quality problems and raising the risk of respiratory illnesses. In recent weeks, the haze crisis has turned into a diplomatic dispute, with Indonesian officials, both current and former, adopting more aggressive nationalist language in response to neighboring countries' concerns.

Coordinating Downstream and Energy Transition Minister Bahlil Lahadalia recently proposed cutting gas exports to Singapore in favor of domestic consumers, and signaled a possible reconsideration of a plan to sell electricity to the island nation. These moves came after Singapore's Sustainability and Environment Minister Grace Fu announced that the city-state would be warning seven companies operating in Indonesia about the fires and resulting transboundary haze.