historically, ASEAN had an agreement commitment to giving priority to dialogs and avoid all kinds of rhetoric and provocative actions.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and Singapore need to foster solidarity and avoid blaming each other over the haze problem as a result of forest fires in Sumatra, international observer Makarim Wibisono said.

"They need to heed the commitment and agreement among ASEAN members in handling a problem. They should remain solid and observe the agreement of amity and cooperation in Southeast Asia," Makarim, who is also Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation, said here on Thursday.

He said that historically, ASEAN had an agreement commitment to giving priority to dialogs and avoid all kinds of rhetoric and provocative actions.

The responsive attitude of the two countries which directly had coordination and had their technical officials meet on Thursday was a form of solidarity that needed support from all parties, Makarim said.

"They must have common perception and clear mind in the first place. Both countries should focus on finding the causes and their solution of the forest fires, not exchanging statements or actions without solutions," Makarim said.

However, Indonesia needs to be wise regarding the forest fires in Sumatra which caused pollution in Singapore and Malaysia.

The Singapore government has conveyed its concern over fires in Sumatra that has caused haze in that country, Indonesia`s foreign minister Marty Natalegawa said.

"Singapore`s foreign minister (K. Shanmugam) has communicated with us and each of us has conveyed information about the impact of the cross-border problem and measures would be taken," he said here on Wednesday.

In line with that, he said, the office of the coordinating minister of people`s welfare and other institutions concerned including the environment ministry have started conducting coordination and taking efforts to tackle the problem.

The Singaporean authorities have also conducted cooperation with the Indonesian government with regard to it, he said.

In view of that Marty called for prevention of any impression as if Indonesia has taken no concrete action or ignored it with impunity to cause a problem in Southeast Asia.

The two governments will to hold a senior official meeting to discuss the issue soon, he added.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2013