S’pore, M’sia and Indonesia to tackle haze issue together

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Jul 1, 2013

(Today Online) – An agreement on the way forward to manage the perennial problem was reached yesterday at a meeting of Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers — a day after Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam met his counterparts from Malaysia and Indonesia to discuss the haze issue and recommend ways to tackle the problem.

To prevent a recurrence of the haze, officials from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia will monitor and examine the situation in Sumatra — where forest fires largely caused by land burning have been widespread — and report to regional leaders.

An agreement on the way forward to manage the perennial problem was reached yesterday at a meeting of Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers — a day after Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam met his counterparts from Malaysia and Indonesia to discuss the haze issue and recommend ways to tackle the problem.

While details of the process have yet to be worked out, Mr Shanmugam described it as a positive development as it gave ASEAN a framework to address the haze, the latest bout of which had caused air pollution in Singapore and Malaysia to hit record levels.

The development comes as the haze continues to recede in the region, thanks to Indonesia’s fire-fighting efforts which have led to a significant drop in the number of hot spots.

Yesterday, the three-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading stayed within the “good” range from noon onwards — following showers in the morning — and reached a low of 17 at 2pm and 3pm. Singapore’s National Environment Agency gave an “all-clear” for the air quality today — the first time since it started issuing daily forecasts on the haze situation more than a week ago. All persons can resume normal activities, it said. Both the 24-hour PSI and the PM2.5 concentration are expected to be at healthy levels.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Mr Shanmugam said the agreement “focuses on the importance of putting out the fires (as well as) monitoring, verifying and preventing recurrence in the future”. “It tasks the officials to look at the issues and report to the leaders on the sidelines of the ASEAN Ministerial Meetings,” he said, noting that “a number of concrete steps” were recommended and agreed upon.

He stressed that ASEAN members “will all work together” on the agreement. “Sovereignty is an exercise of sovereign power within your own country but that doesn’t preclude you from going out to say what you will do in the international arena, how you will cooperate with others,” he said. “But of course, that doesn’t mean other countries can come into your country and do what they like.”

Earlier yesterday, Mr Shanmugam also elaborated on the one-hour informal meeting on Saturday which he initiated with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman. The trio met in a hotel lounge, without the presence of aides.

Writing on Facebook, Mr Shanmugam said his “main objective in suggesting the informal meeting was to try and reach some consensus between the three of us given that our three countries were the most affected by the haze”.