Singapore has urged fellow ASEAN members to take “firm and decisive action” against the lethal haze still spreading across the region ahead of a group summit in Malaysia next month.
The city-state, one of the most badly affected by recurring smog from land fires in Indonesia, issued the call after Singaporean troops and fire fighters returned from an international assistance mission in Indonesia’s Sumatra Island.
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said that “ASEAN must take firm and decisive action, through enhanced regional cooperation, to help prevent the recurrence of this trans-boundary problem,”
The haze has killed at least 19 people in Indonesia and caused respiratory illnesses for an estimated half million this is according to Jakarta authorities.
Meanwhile the winds have carried the smoke to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Paper and palm oil firms have been blamed for deliberately setting off fires to clear land — including flammable peat-rich terrain — for cultivation, a traditional practice aggravated this year by drier-than-usual conditions due to the El Niño weather phenomenon. (Eagle News Service)
