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ndonesia has rejected claims by the Singapore government that the latter did not receive an official complaint over plan to prosecute Indonesian businessmen for their alleged involvement in the annual problem of air pollution caused by fires in Sumatra.

Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) recently obtained a court warrant against the director of an Indonesian company who failed to turn up for an interview with Singaporean authorities despite being served a legal notice when in that country.

The businessperson, who has since left Singapore, may be detained “for the purpose of investigations” if he or she tries to reenter the country, an NEA spokesman said, without naming the executive or the company.

“The Indonesian ambassador has conveyed [a protest] to the Singaporean environment minister,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said on Sunday.

The spokesman disclosed last week that the government had conveyed an official protest to Singapore. Another senior Indonesian diplomat said the Indonesian ambassador conveyed the protest on May 6.

However, a spokesperson for the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied receiving any such protest. “Mr Arrmanatha’s remarks are puzzling.  He reportedly said that the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore had ‘strongly protested’ against the NEA’s actions.  We have, however, not yet received any representation from the Indonesian Embassy,” the spokesperson insisted last week.

Singapore argues it is entitled to take such legal action as a result of the Trans boundary Haze Pollution Act (THPA) that its parliament passed in 2014.

The law enables regulators to sue individuals or companies in neighboring countries that cause severe air pollution in Singapore through slash-and-burn agricultural practices.

It was first proposed in 2013 after a huge rise in the number of forest fires on the neighboring Indonesian province of Riau caused thick smoke that blanketed Singapore in a choking haze.

Arrmanatha said the government had strongly protested against what it considered to be an encroachment on Indonesian sovereignty.

“[We protested at] the way they interviewed or interrogated the Indonesian executive because we regarded it as inappropriate,” Arrmanatha said.

While it is Singapore’s prerogative to enact its own laws, Indonesia could not allow its own citizens to be adversely affected, he asserted.

However, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs has defended the move.

“The THPA is consistent with international law, which allows a country to take appropriate action to protect itself from external acts that cause harm within the country. It does not encroach upon the sovereignty of any specific country,” the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Singapore argues the THPA adds to the collective efforts to hold errant companies accountable for their irresponsible actions that have been detrimental to the well-being of people in the region, including the people of Indonesia who have been the worst affected.

“We are therefore puzzled as to why Indonesia does not welcome these efforts,” said the ministry.
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