ChannelNewsAsia.com - SINGAPORE: As ASEAN's Environment ministers meet in Indonesia's Pekan Baru to discuss the haze situation, its secretary general says it is time for Indonesia to get into action.

Mr Ong Keng Yong believes that effective control of the haze situation will also highlight the region's solidarity in tackling its problems.

The ASEAN secretary general is hopeful the meeting among the environment ministers will yield some concrete, practical step forward.

"We already have the ASEAN haze agreement. We feel that the solution is there. The measures are already identified. And it is a question of enforcement," said Mr Ong.

He says the agreement, if implemented, will benefit the region, as a whole, as it will instill confidence among investors.

"It is all there in the agreement. And they have already signed it. So the process is now a ratification in Parliament. That is the legality and, in many ways, a formality. So all that they are now requested to do, by the ASEAN member countries, is to implement and here, I believe, it can be done," said Mr Ong.

Mr Ong was speaking to Channel NewsAsia at the book launch ceremony of Mr Rodolfo Severino, a former ASEAN Secretary-General.

The 500-page tome presents an insider view of ASEAN and its machinations.

More importantly, the author feels what is lacking, among the ASEAN community, is the sense of empathy among its citizens.

"What ASEAN still lacks is a sense on a part of the people of ASEAN, a sense that they belong to the region, a sense of regional identity and without that sense of regional identity, it would be difficult for ASEAN to move forward, particularly in terms of regional economic integration," said Mr Severino.

The book also talks about the challenges facing the 10-member grouping.