The government should convene an urgent regional conference to discuss the haze situation in the region and come up with concrete and long-term solutions, Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) said, according to Bernama. Its president, Ramon Navaratnam, also questioned the effectiveness of the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP) signed in 2002 in tackling the issue. "In recent years, the haze has been an annual feature in Malaysia and other neighbouring Asean countries causing significant economic and social difficulties. "Regional economic activities such as tourism and air travel are also affected," he said in a statement. The AATHP was a reaction to an environmental crisis that hit the region in the late 1990's which was mainly caused by land clearing via open burning in Sumatra, Indonesia. He urged the Asean governments to view this matter seriously and take concrete measures to overcome the situation. He also said that the Asean governments did not disclose enough information on the cause of the haze or actions taken to overcome them. "TI-M believes the people are entitled to more accountability and transparency from the government of the countries concerned as to what had been done and will be done to reduce, if not eradicate the causes of the recurrent problem," he said.
