Malaysia Complains of Smoke Haze Due to Indonesian Forest Fires, Minister of Environment and Forestry Denies

A high-ranking official from the Malaysian Environment Department said hundreds of forest fires in Indonesia had caused smoke haze to reach the country's territory. Forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan are also said to have worsened air quality in Malaysia. As reported by AFP, Saturday (30/9/2023), the spread of forest fires that triggered haze in 2019 prompted Malaysia to say it would pressure Indonesia to tackle this annual problem, which is often caused by burning activities to clear agricultural land.

Director General of the Malaysian Environment Department, Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaffar, said that the forest fires worsened air pollution on the west coast of Malaysia, and in the Sarawak region which is located in the Malaysian part of Borneo. "The overall air quality in this country is showing a decline," said Wan Abdul in a statement released Friday (29/9) local time. "Forest fires that occurred in the southern Sumatra region and the central and southern Kalimantan regions in Indonesia have caused smoke haze to cross state borders," he said. Wan Abdul in his statement said that satellite imagery in the ASEAN Special Meteorological Center (ASMC) report showed 52 forest fire hotspots in Sumatra and 264 forest fire hotspots in Kalimantan.

The Singapore-based ASMC is tasked with tracking the haze affecting Southeast Asia. Minister of Environment and Forestry Denies Malaysia's Claims! The Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya, denied Malaysia's report regarding the presence of cross-border haze. "The fact is that there is no cross-border haze," stressed Siti when speaking to AFP on Saturday (30/9) local time, while sharing ASMC images, which she said only showed haze in Sumatra and Kalimantan. "They (Malaysia-ed) are referring to data on hot spots (hotspots)? Don't they know the difference between hot spots (hotspots) and fire spots (firespots)? If you don't know exactly, don't talk carelessly," he said.

Furthermore, Siti said that the Indonesian government would review and punish companies if the government discovered forest fires in their concession areas. Firefighters in Sumatra managed to extinguish a large forest fire in a peatland area this month, which left the city of Palembang shrouded in smoke for weeks. The AFP report states that forest fires in Indonesia occur every year during the dry season, but this year was the worst since 2019 when forest fires forced nearly 2,500 schools to close in various regions of Malaysia. According to AFP, the 2015 forest fire was one of the deadliest forest fires ever recorded.

The situation at that time left the Southeast Asian region shrouded in toxic smoke for weeks and caused many people to fall ill, schools were closed and flights were cancelled. Most of the forest fires in Indonesia occur on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, which are divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Previously, Indonesia and Malaysia jointly carried out 'cloud seeding' using chemicals in an attempt to trigger rain to extinguish the fires.