Govt moves against companies over haze

Indonesia has ordered four companies to suspend operations for allegedly causing forest fires that have sent smoke across a swathe of Southeast Asia, an environment ministry official said on Tuesday.

Indonesia has launched investigations against more than 200 companies as it scrambles to bring the fires on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands under control by the end of November, amid complaints from neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

Previous government efforts to halt the seasonal slash-and-burn practices have failed to tackle the problem due to a lack of policy coordination and legal wrangling that can take years to resolve.