Former PAP MP linked to haze?

Just saw this on TOC's Facebook.

Former PAP MP, Leong Horn Kee (who is currently Singapore's non-resident Ambassador to Mexico) is a Director of Wilmar International.

Wilmar International was named by Newsweek last year as the "world's least environmentally friendly company".

Wilmar admits on its website, "While we are committed to No-Burn practice, we cannot prevent local practices of slash-and-burn for agricultural and other purposes. This may lead to high incidences of uncontrolled fires which inevitably spread over to our plantations."

Wilmar is listed on the SGX. So why can't the Singapore Government pressure Wilmar's management to stop their unethical and fucked up practices of allowing slash-and-burn to take place on their plantations??

Who owns Wilmar?
See who the master before you slap the dog.

Patronage politics as a driver of economic regionalisation: The Indonesian oil palm sector and transboundary haze

Recent evidence has linked illegal peat and forest fires in Indonesia to commercial oil palm plantations. Fire is the most cost-efficient way to clear land for planting, but these fires release smoke causing transboundary haze pollution.

The countries worst affected by the haze areneighbouring Malaysia and Singapore. Malaysian and Singaporean investors control more thantwo-thirds of the Indonesian oil palm plantation sector and they have been implicated in the firesalongside local plantations.

Using information obtained from interviews with individuals linked tothe sector, this paper aims to explain why these companies continue to burn despite the direconsequences of the haze.

It identifies patronage politics as a common business culture in South-east Asia, and argues that because these Malaysian and Singaporean investors are already familiar with patronage practices at home, they have easily inserted themselves into existing patronagenetworks in Indonesia.

Hence, these companies enjoy the protection of their Indonesian patronsduring their operations. Furthermore, in a business atmosphere defined by patronage politics,clients are largely motivated by material gain. This explains why Malaysian and Singaporean inves-tors continue to clear land by fire in the interests of cost-efficiency, despite their home countries suffering the worst effects of haze

http://www.academia.edu/2458615/Pat...nesian_Oil_Palm_Sector_and_Transboundary_Haze