T

he Indonesian government on Tuesday warned neighboring countries to settle the issue of haze through regional negotiation rather than by raising it at international forums.

In 2006, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was forced to sign a regional apology after neighboring countries protested internationally about the export of Indonesian haze.

State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said the haze problems should be resolved in internal ASEAN member country meetings.

"We have done our best to tackle forest fires. If problems still exist, we ask for understanding as it is not easy to control the haze," Rachmat told reporters Tuesday.

He said the warning had been addressed during the meeting of a ministerial steering committee made up of five countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei Darussalam last week.

An official from Singapore complained about the haze problems exported from Indonesia in a session at the United Nations in 2006.

There were 145,000 fires hotspots in 2006 when El Nino hit the country and conditions were as bad as the 1997 forest fires.

At the time, thick haze blanketed Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and parts of Thailand, forcing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to apologize to neighboring countries.

There are fears that a similar incident could occur this year due to the expected return of El Nino.

Rachmat said that following the complaints in 2006, several foreign countries had canceled their financial aid directed at helping protect Indonesian forests.

Rachmat said the government had taken efforts to stop forests fires as well as preventing them by deploying all necessary equipment, including helicopters and water-bombings. Forestry Minister M.S Kaban said earlier the government would only take firm action to control forest haze if it disturbed flights and sparked protests in Malaysia and Singapore.