10 October 2006Yahoo News!
A meeting of Southeast Asian environment ministers is being planned to pressure Indonesia to take action on the haze crisis blighting parts of the region, Malaysia said.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Azmi Khalid said his Singapore counterpart had proposed the talks after haze pushed air quality to unhealthy levels in the city-state and most of Malaysia.
"It is a suggestion we meet with some of the ministers from ASEAN countries to discuss the matter," Azmi told AFP.
"It's just to have some sort of dialogue to put pressure on Indonesia and maybe make them understand others' problems, our problems," he said.
Indonesia's foreign ministry spokesman, Yuri Thamrin, said the meeting would be held in the town of Pekanbaru on Sumatra island's Riau province, near Singapore.
"We are going to host it but there is no set date yet for it," he told AFP.
Azmi said he had gone to Indonesia in June to discuss the problem and was less than impressed with Jakarta's efforts so far.
"They informed me they have all the mechanisms in place to prevent haze and put out the fires," he said.
"Of course, when you see the haze now, the conclusion can only be made that whatever mechanisms they have are not effective."
Anger has been growing in Malaysia over the choking haze from fires raging in Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia, which every year drift over parts of Southeast Asia -- damaging health and disrupting transport and tourism.
In a protest outside Indonesia's embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's opposition on Tuesday criticized Jakarta for its indifference and pressed it to ratify an ASEAN anti-haze pact.
"ASEAN must ensure compliance (with the agreement). We have suffered enough," said the secretary-general of the Democratic Action Party, Lim Guan Eng, wearing a face mask and armed with a banner which read: "Keep our skies blue."
The haze agreement was signed in 2002 and came into force the following year. All ASEAN members have ratified the deal except Indonesia.
Indonesia insisted Tuesday that its efforts to subdue the land-clearing fires have been partially successful, even though conditions remained poor in some areas.
Forestry minister Malem Kaban said the number of the illegal fires had been drastically cut in recent days.
"The minister said that the efforts of people on the ground and the use of waterbombs has helped reduce the number of hotspots from around 6,000 three days ago to just about 600 now," his spokesman told AFP.
"This is a process. You cannot get instant results," he added.
The haze lightened over Malaysia Tuesday, but continued to blanket parts of the Indonesian portion of Borneo island.
In Palangkaraya, the capital of Borneo's Central Kalimantan province, visibility was down to just 150 meters, compared to 200-300 meters on Monday, officials said.
