Malaysia shuts schools as haze from Indonesian fires chokes Southeast Asia

Malaysia has closed schools in its capital and several states as smoke from Indonesian forest fires pushes air pollution to unhealthy levels.

Schools were ordered to close on Friday across Kuala Lumpur, the administrative capital Putrajaya and in the states of Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Selangor.

The move, which affected roughly two million students, came as Kuala Lumpur recorded an Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of about 170. The API is a government-run measure of air quality.

Singapore, at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula, saw its air quality fall into the “very unhealthy” range, according to IQAir.

“The haze issue is indeed at a worrying level,” said Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. He added that he had spoken to Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto, who had agreed to take “the necessary steps”. However, he offered no details on what that might entail.

Anwar said he had asked Malaysia’s minister of foreign affairs to push for an urgent meeting of ASEAN environment ministers. Kuala Lumpur is stepping up cloud seeding to trigger rain, he added.

“Appropriate measures must be taken by the relevant ministries and agencies to protect schoolchildren and students, including senior citizens and patients with respiratory illnesses,” King Sultan Ibrahim said. He declared that schools should close when API readings hit 150 or higher.

Under Malaysian guidelines, API readings above 100 are classified as unhealthy, above 200 as very unhealthy, above 300 as hazardous, while readings beyond 500 constitute the threshold for declaring a local emergency.

Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek promised parents more advance notice of closures in future.

In August, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for political and security affairs said that El Nino conditions were threatening more fires during the dry season.

A month later, smoke started to blanket the region as the country experienced its worst fire season in over a decade.

Fires have burned across six provinces, with at least 200,000 hectares scorched, Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington reported.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Health has recorded more than 170,000 respiratory infections, but the actual figure is likely higher as it only covers those who sought out healthcare, she noted.

The haze has also worried organisers of Singapore’s Formula One weekend, which is set to start on Friday and end on Sunday.

Organisers have insisted that they will race regardless and will have masks and extra medics, adding that it is “not a threat”.