Niniek Karmini, Pekanbaru – Southeast Asian nations Friday urged Indonesia to ratify a regional treaty to fight annual brush fires that have sent choking smoke across parts of Malaysia and Singapore, saying only then would it get financial help.
Even as emergency talks were held, a thick haze from brush fires on Indonesia's Borneo and Sumatra islands, which have been burning for about two months, continued to disrupt flights and trigger health warnings in the neighboring counties.
Environmental ministers from Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore urged Indonesia in a statement released after their daylong meeting "to urgently finalize the ratification of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution." Only then would a regional firefighting fund be discussed.
"Nothing can move forward unless Indonesia ratifies the agreement," said Malaysia's Environment Minister Azmi Khalid. "Details of the fund can only be worked out once the agreement is signed."
Indonesia is the only country in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations that has yet to ratify the agreement, which would result in the establishment of a regional coordinating center capable of reacting quickly to the smoke.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono earlier this week apologized for the haze and his spokesman said Thursday his country was prepared to sign on, but did not provide a time frame.
Though Indonesia stressed that 300 individuals have been arrested and lawsuits filed against six companies suspected of using illegal slash-and-burn methods, Singapore said it was getting frustrated.
"We do complain," said the city-state's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Yaacob Ibrahim. "I think each country has the right to complain."
Talks were held in the Indonesian town of Pekanbaru on Sumatra island, one of the areas hit hardest by the annual haze that has plagued the region since the 1990s. The fires are mostly set by farmers or companies as a cheap way to clear land for plantations. The peaty soil can smolder for weeks or months.
"We are truly ashamed by this haze, but are unable to fight it alone," Chairul Zainal, head of Riau province's environmental impact agency, told The Associated Press. "It is really disturbing the health of the people and hitting the economy."
Residents of Pekanbaru said the air had improved because of recent rainfall, but many were skeptical the government could solve the problem.
In Malaysia, air quality was in the "moderate" range for most areas Friday, according to the Meteorological Department. It said hazy skies would linger over the country's largest state, Sarawak, while rain was expected to bring some relief to other areas.
The land-clearing fires resulted in Southeast Asia's worst haze in 1997-98, when smoke from Sumatra blanketed much of the region and was blamed for losses of nearly $9 billion in tourism, health costs and business.