There is no argument that haze pollution is antisocial, anti-green, a health hazard and should not be condoned.

The writer of “Attack on profits from haze pollution better than education, labelling” (Jan 7), however, is over-optimistic to think the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act is the answer to all problems and that the haze will be consigned to history.

Penalising related operators that do business in and market palm oil products here may not stretch to their ultimate principals in Indonesia, whose plantation-burning contributes to the haze.

These local, Indonesian-owned operators could fold, and new ones would sprout up. Palm oil is fungible; the supplies can be blended and their origins difficult to trace holistically. These are some of the obstacles, besides corruption, to enforcing the law.

Also, the law must be fair. How does one trace products in shops to burnt land that not only created haze, but specifically haze blown towards Singapore and not in another direction?

After all, we have the haze for a month each year, but palm oil is produced all year round. Last year, there was a boycott, which is within Singapore’s rights, but to enforce the new law may be a challenge. Should it succeed, the fines, even in millions, may be inconsequential compared with the Indonesian principals’ profits.

And they would find new ways to get their products to the market — if not to Singapore, which is a small market, then globally. And the annual haze would still come.

A permanent solution must be found regionally, with Indonesia, Malaysia and the ASEAN Economic Community, and even internationally. The United Nations and the global community must find the hard truth behind the need to burn land and assist technically and financially to minimise or eliminate such activities.

Also, Indonesia should consider imposing an annual levy on the plantation owners and channelling the funds especially to the numerous smallholders, to subsidise alternatives such as using tractors and excavators for land clearance. Lastly, the cultivation of peat land, which is the chronic cause of haze, must be controlled and eventually eliminated.