Asean's lackluster leadership undermines Asian cohesion

Southeast Asia's haze crisis is symptomatic of the weakness of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at a time when the 10-country grouping most needs cohesion.

As ASEAN becomes riven by intramural tensions, domestic political volatility, lackluster leadership and overshadowing great-power rivalry, its role as Asia's honest broker and institutional bridge for regional peace and stability is being compromised, raising the stakes for the upcoming trilateral summit between China, Japan and South Korea in Seoul.

For parts of Southeast Asia, the haze challenge is a seasonal nuisance, triggered by forest dwellers on the Indonesian island of Sumatra clearing land for palm oil, which fetches handsome prices in major markets such as China and India. While the farmers' slash-and-burn approach is a cheaper method of forest clearance than excavation, the pollution caused by smoke drifting across the Straits of Malacca has long upset Singapore and Malaysia, where it causes serious air quality problems.

This year, the problem has spread to southern Thailand, extending the environmental damage and adding to the social and economic toll caused by cancelled flights and closed schools. As in past years, Singapore has complained loudly, but has been largely ignored in Jakarta, where its protests appear to be regarded as products of a pampered population living in a nanny-state.

Malaysia and Thailand have been less voluble, but Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok want to address the issue at the regional level, particularly through a decade-old ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Yet no collective action has been taken so far. It appears that, as in past years, the haze will subside only when rain and shifting wind directions combine with a slowdown in Sumatran forest clearance to reduce the nuisance.

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