Sumatra Blazes Too Hot to Handle for ASEANThe Association of South East Asian Nations, grouping 10 countries, prides itself in having maintained peaceful relations between its members for the 33 years of its existence.
When it comes to action, the ASEAN record shows a little progress towards a regional trade area, reams of politely expressed good intentions and not a lot else.
With narcotics trafficking, human rights abuses, ethnic violence and simple, grinding poverty facing many ASEAN members, a bit of smog seems hardly the bloc's most pressing issue.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Smoke from Sumatra's recent fires -- many started illegally to clear land -- briefly sent smog over parts of neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore and even southern Thailand.
Two years ago, smog from slash-and-burn forest fires in Indonesia blanketed parts of Southeast Asia, taking a heavy toll on health and tourism.
A Jakarta official said on Tuesday the government would soon order 12 plantation firms to cease operations after accusations they started fires.
Indonesia said it was happy for ASEAN foreign ministers to address the issue during their two-day event in the Thai capital.
ASEAN HOT AIR UNABLE TO CLEAR HAZE
Even so, the best ASEAN ministers could do in their final communique, a draft of which was seen by Reuters on Monday, was to mouth a few vague words noting progress towards an agreement on cross-border pollution.
It may be unrealistic to expect action by ASEAN, or any international body, to have much impact on Indonesia's environmental problems at a time when it faces various ethnic conflicts threatening to tear the country apart.
Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto, director of forest campaigners Telapak Indonesia, said solutions to his country's problems lay in the hands of the Jakarta government.
He told Reuters on Tuesday that burning logged-out areas was only one step in a process that began with government seizure of peoples' land to give to local and foreign timber barons.
Once the most valuable trees were illegally logged out, he said, the remaining scrub was set ablaze to clear the way for commercial forestry, palm-oil plantations and other crops, with untouched forest often being torched in the process.
"What the government has to do is to stop the conflict between the industry and the local people who originally owned the land," he said.
"What we want to see is the political will to deal with this problem. There should be investigations into companies that clear land and punishments for cases of illegal logging. That's the only hope that the Indonesian people can expect now."
It was the arrival of the rains and an end to the drought conditions brought on by El Nino that ended the fires of 1997/1998.
A couple of years later the only viable fire brigade would still seem to be the one stationed in the clouds.