Jakarta. The Indonesian government has not received any formal complaints from its ASEAN neighbors over the weeks-long transboundary thick smoke, according to a senior diplomat, while expressing Jakarta’s openness to working with other countries.

Choking haze coming from Indonesian forest fires has blanketed Malaysia and Singapore since early August, even forcing school closures. Despite the severity, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahd Nabyl A Mulachela told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday night that other countries had not officially filed protests.

“The Indonesian government has not received formal objections from the neighboring countries over the forest fire and haze,” Nabyl said via text.

“Regardless, Indonesia continues to uphold cooperation with our neighbors and maintain good relations, including in addressing environmental issues and their potential transboundary impact.” 

He went on to say that the mechanisms under the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution are already underway, citing regular meetings between the members. Signed in 2002, this document binds the Southeast Asian nations to tackle the smoke via information exchange, consultation, and monitoring. It led to the establishment of a regional command center for easier exchanges and assistance deployment, although it has only had its secretariat in Jakarta since April. Nabyl said Jakarta would continue to push for the command center to quickly be “fully operational”.

“We proactively share the data on hotspots, environmental conditions, and indications of smoke movement with other ASEAN member states.”

The grouping had its haze committee meeting in early July. Members at the time agreed to “examine the feasibility of enhancing” the bloc’s planned pollution control fund, even opening up its use for scientific research and science diplomacy initiatives, according to its statement. The Foreign Ministry did not respond to the Globe’s question on the progress of this fund.  

Experts agree that the fund could help ASEAN’s war against haze in the long run. International relations analyst Aswin Ariyanto Azis, however, called on the group to also involve “development partners and private funding” instead of solely relying on the voluntary contributions of the members. 

Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam — despite not being as severely affected as the former — had agreed to use the ASEAN mechanism to tackle the air pollution. 

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