ASEAN agreements on haze lack bite

Ati Nurbaiti and Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Sanur, Bali

Civil society groups in the Southeast Asian region are urged to increase pressure on governments in the region to do more to mitigate the impacts of the haze currently blanketing some parts of the region.

The secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Rodolfo C. Severino, said here on Friday that ASEAN governments had agreements and action plans on their hands to tackle haze problems, but their implementation needed the support of civil society groups.

Severino was referring to the agreement reached by ASEAN ministers following the dramatic haze from land and forest fires in l997-l998, and the comprehensive program to monitor fires and haze, to fight fires and to minimize their effects.

Speaking in his opening address at the second ASEAN People's Assembly (APA), Severino said the haze problem was among the number of pressing issues and concerns faced by people in ASEAN countries that should be addressed jointly and comprehensively.

The ongoing haze problems, Severino added, had raised fears of repetition of the damage by the forest fires of l997-l998 which caused billions of dollars in economic damage, and much suffering for hundreds of thousands of people in terms of health and children's education.

He said ASEAN could not work alone on such a diverse issue and needed the help of people's organizations.

Speaking at the same forum, a member of Thailand's Parliament, Sukhumbhand Paribatra, agreed that civil society groups must inspire ASEAN but he said this would be not easy given "ASEAN officialdom."

In the first years of its establishment, ASEAN focused more on the issue of security and stability, he said.

"But now, ASEAN should give priority to human agenda given that it is now facing non-traditional security problems such as human rights abuse, mass migration, transnational crimes, environmental problems and transmission of diseases," he said.

One of the founders of the ASEAN People's Assembly (APA) Carolina Hernandez described the long process of "an impossible dream" to bring together ASEAN and peoples' organizations in the region.

Hernandez said that the aim was to bring a sense of belonging to ASEAN.

The brochures of APA cite the need to make ASEAN more known and accountable to the people, and to foster a sense of community across borders.

A participant from Malaysia said that it was sad that after thirty-five years, ASEAN remained very much closed to involvement from people's organizations.

This second APA 2002 meeting hopes to create a number of regional networks (APA networks) focusing on a number of issues, including terrorism, human rights, health, gender, NGO- governance, transnational crimes and information technology.

The second APA is jointly organized by the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) of Indonesia and the ASEAN Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ASEAN ISIS) in Sanur resort complex in Bali.

Some 300 participants are attending the three-day meeting, from Aug. 30 through Sept. 1. Among the attendees are former foreign minister Ali Alatas and members of parliaments from ASEAN countries, various NGOs and scholars.

The first APA meeting was held in Batam in Riau in 2000.