ChanelNewsAsia.com - PEKAN, Malaysia : Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said on Saturday the ASEAN countries must take concerted action to set up a sizeable fund to tackle the problem of open burning which is seen as the cause of the haze in the region.

He said that the haze problem would persist unless ASEAN member countries were prepared to provide the funds to enhance the capacity to put out the fires.

"The cause is not here but in Indonesia where there is widespread burning and limited means to put out the fires, coupled with the wind direction which blows the haze to our countries.

"The haze will recur during the dry season. It cannot be resolved by one government alone. For example, we cannot enter Indonesia without their consent.

"They give a commitment but we believe that they lack the resources or have limited capacity. We must also sympathise with Indonesia because they already have many problems to tackle and their forests are so huge," he told reporters.

Mr Najib said there had been discussions on the joint fund but no agreement had been reached.

"For example, we may need water bomber planes that can put out forest fires. If we use ordinary equipment like fire engines it won't be effective at all, but water bombers are not cheap. These are the implications that we have to consider if we want to set up the mechanism," he said.