KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Malaysia closed more than 1,000
schools nationwide Wednesday and air quality worsened in Singapore days
before the city’s Formula One race, as toxic haze from Indonesian forest
fires engulfed the region.
Illegal fires to clear land for agricultural plantations are blazing out
of control on Sumatra and Borneo islands, with Jakarta deploying thousands of
security forces and water-bombing aircraft to tackle them.
The Indonesian blazes are an annual problem but this year’s are the worst
since 2015, when they caused a serious environmental crisis, and have added
to concerns about wildfire outbreaks worldwide exacerbating global warming.
On Wednesday, air quality deteriorated to “very unhealthy” levels on the
government’s air pollutant index along the west coast of peninsular Malaysia,
to the east of Sumatra, with the Kuala Lumpur skyline shrouded by dense smog.
Over 1,200 schools were closed due to air pollution across the country,
according to a tally of figures from local education officials.
The two worst-affected states were Selangor, outside Kuala Lumpur, where
538 schools were closed, and Sarawak on Borneo with 337 closures. Hundreds of
schools in several other states in peninsular Malaysia were also affected.
Borneo island is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
Air quality in Singapore worsened to unhealthy levels, with a white smog
hanging over the city-state, increasing fears that this weekend’s Formula One
race may be affected.
Race organisers have said the possibility of haze is one of the issues in
their contingency plan for Sunday’s showpiece night race.
The Indonesian government has insisted it is doing all it can to fight the
fires, with President Joko Widodo saying during a visit to a hard-hit area on
Sumatra on Tuesday that “we have made every effort”.
But this year’s fires have been worsened by dry weather and experts
believe there is little chance of them being extinguished until the onset of
the rainy season, in October.
Indonesia’s meteorology, climate and geophysics agency said Wednesday that
over 1,000 hotspots — areas of intense heat detected by satellite that
indicate a likely fire — had been sighted, most of them on Sumatra.
Air quality has reached dangerous levels in the worst-hit areas of
Indonesia, prompting school closures and flight cancellations due to low
visibility.