Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa has said the Indonesian government will not issue an apology to Singapore for the haze crisis.
Singapore has never asked for an apology from Indonesia, only action to stop the haze.
According to a report in The Straits Times, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said he hoped the Indonesians would adopt a neighbourly spirit. This came after remarks from an Indonesian minister saying that Singapore's reaction to the haze was childish.
Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam said Singapore had offered assistance at all levels, from aircraft to manpower, to Indonesia to combat the haze.
But unlike in 2005 when the Indonesians accepted assistance from Singapore, the current offer has yet to be taken up.
Mr Natalegawa insisted the Indonesian government would do everything it could to tackle the problem, reports The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network.
“The Singaporean government must be aware that we have done all we can to tackle this haze problem. Indonesia has been dealing with this for years and improvements have been made,” Mr Natalegawa said.
Mr Natalegawa added that both governments had worked together to tackle the problem, sharing information regarding the latest situation on the ground.
For example, he said, Singapore’s environment minister had been sent here to discuss the best possible solutions with his Indonesian counterpart.
Current visibility in Singapore is very limited and air pollution has breached ‘hazardous’ levels.
Similar conditions are also being seen in Indonesian cities like Pekanbaru in Riau and Jambi.
The haze is coming from fires in many locations in Sumatra and West Kalimantan.