Indonesia has apologised to Malaysia and Singapore for the choking haze over both countries and agreed to convene a meeting of regional environment ministers to tackle the problem.

Anger had been growing in Malaysia and Singapore over the choking haze from fires raging in Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia, which every year drift over parts of Southeast Asia - damaging health and and disrupting transport and tourism.

"On behalf of the Indonesian government, I have to apologise to the neighbouring countries for this incident even though clearly this is not an intentional (act) by Indonesia," said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"Clearly, this is not a problem we intend to inflict to our neighbours and we are continuously trying to tackle it and prevent it in future," Yudhoyono told a press briefing at his office in Jakarta.

Singapore's foreign ministry earlier yesterday said that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had written to Yudhoyono to "express his disappointment" over the choking smoke.

Lee's comments followed criticism on Tuesday from Malaysia's Natural Resources and Environment Minister Azmi Khalid, whose country has also suffered unhealthy air quality levels because of the haze.

Meeting tomorrow

Singapore has invited environment ministers from affected nations Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei to a meeting on Friday to discuss "urgent" measures to deal with the problem.

But Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda insisted the meeting should be held in his country, possibly in Pekanbaru city on Sumatra island's Riau province, near Singapore.

"We want the meeting to be held nearer to the where the problem is being handled," he told reporters in Jakarta.

Wirayuda did not say when the meeting in Sumatra would take place, but his comments were greeted with immediate satisfaction by Singapore.

"We are delighted that Indonesia has heeded calls from the region to take urgent action to deal with this serious problem," said a statement from the the island state's foreign ministry.

"We commend Indonesia for taking responsibility and agreeing to convene this meeting. Singapore was happy to agree to shift the meeting to Indonesia."

Affected countries attending the meeting could help Indonesia "prevent a recurrence of the problem in the future and take immediate action to mitigate the fires" causing the haze, Singapore's foreign ministry said.

Annual burn-off

Large corporations clearing forests for palm or timber plantations and small farmers using slash-and-burn methods have been blamed for the annual burn-off that causes the haze.

Yudhoyono vowed to punish the culprits.

"Plantation firms are still violating the law in reopening their fields by setting fire ... or known to us as illegal land clearing. This is clearly a crime that must be punished," he said.

Earlier this week, Malaysia issued a hazard warning for ships in the Malacca Strait that split it from Singapore after haze caused visibility to drop along the vital waterway.

In Kuala Lumpur, the Air Pollutant Index hit an unhealthy reading of 159 on Monday, forcing people to wear face masks.

On Saturday, Singapore's environment agency issued a health advisory because of the fog-like haze.