Indonesia to host Singapore’s foreign minister as tensions rise over haze and gas supply cut

INDONESIA: Indonesia’s decision to reduce pipelined gas exports to Singapore has opened a new front in a relationship already strained by months of transboundary haze, after Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan visited Jakarta on Tuesday, the New Straits Times (NST) reported.

Jakarta reduced gas piped to Singapore by about 8%, saying it needed to safeguard domestic supplies. The cut followed remarks by Indonesia’s energy minister, Bahlil Lahadalia, that his country would review export contracts with countries “that are not cooperative and do not treat Indonesia with mutual respect.” He did not say which countries he meant.

The reduction is small in practical terms, amounting to less than 2% of Singapore’s daily demand, NST reported, but it touches a sensitive point. Singapore relies on natural gas for up to 95% of its electricity.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Sunday that he expects contract signatories to “honour their commitments.”

Bahlil responded, saying the volumes now flowing to Singapore still met the minimum required under the agreement. Outlining gas exports to what he called “so-called brothers and sisters,” he said: “Our nation is a nation that honours contracts, rules. So don’t teach Indonesia how to honour contracts.”

Bilahari Kausikan, a veteran Singaporean diplomat, described the cut as an “attempt at intimidation” that would fail. “The cost to Indonesia will far, far outlive any twinge we may feel,” he wrote.

The gas dispute lands on top of growing frustration in Singapore and Malaysia over haze from Indonesia’s worst forest fires in 11 years. The blazes have burned for months, driving up pollution and respiratory illness across Indonesia and sending smoke into Singapore, Malaysia and East Timor.

Singapore has avoided directly criticising the Indonesian government and has offered help, while issuing notices to companies it says are responsible for the fires.

That restraint showed signs of strain last week, when Senior Minister K Shanmugam responded to an Indonesian official’s remark that Indonesia’s forests supply Singapore and Malaysia with oxygen. “Frankly, it is not right to say this when this entire region is suffering as a result of the bad behaviour of companies breaching regulations,” Shanmugam said, as quoted by NST. “The people suffering the most are Indonesians themselves.”