PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to step up measures to tackle transboundary haze as Putrajaya gears up for National Day celebrations amid unhealthy air quality levels linked to fires in neighbouring Indonesia.
Sixteen areas in Malaysia had “unhealthy” Air Pollutant Index (API) readings as at 9am on Wednesday (Aug 26), local media reported. They included parts of Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia. A day earlier, about 30 areas had unhealthy air quality.
Malaysia’s 69th National Day celebration is set to take place at Dataran Putrajaya on Aug 31 while the Malaysia Day celebration will be held in Kuching, Sarawak on Sep 16.
Malaysia’s Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) Minister Arthur Joseph Kurup said the commitment to ramp up measures with Indonesia was reached during a phone call on Monday with his counterpart Jumhur Hidayat, news agency Bernama reported.
“With the El Nino phenomenon expected to intensify towards October 2026, coinciding with the Southwest Monsoon, both nations are fully committed to stepping up prevention and early suppression measures,” Arthur said in a statement.
He also expressed the Malaysian government’s appreciation to Indonesia for granting official clearance for cloud seeding operations to cross its airspace, targeting areas along their shared border.
Sarawak, which borders Indonesia’s Kalimantan on Borneo island, has been worst hit by the haze.
As of Wednesday morning, three areas in Sarawak had unhealthy air quality.
Sri Aman registered an API reading of 166, followed by Serian at 164 and Samarahan at 162.
Under Malaysia’s API, readings of up to 50 are classified as good, 51 to 100 as moderate, 101 to 200 as unhealthy, and 201 to 300 as very unhealthy. Levels above 300 are hazardous.
In Kuala Lumpur, the API level was 159 in Cheras and 158 in Putrajaya. Shah Alam recorded an API of 157, reported news outlet The Star.
Read the full article here
