Malaysia breaks out masks as haze hits

MALAYSIA sent half a million face masks to the eastern state of Sarawak and closed more than 400 schools there yesterday as a haze spread from annual forest fires, officials said.

Smoke was drifting over from blazes in neighboring Indonesia, Malaysian authorities said — although Indonesia dismissed that accusation and said forest fires had also started in other countries across the region.

Indonesia and Malaysia share remote Borneo island with the tiny sultanate of Brunei.

Singapore said its air conditions could reach unhealthy levels over the next 24 hours if the wind kept bringing in pollution, and advised anyone feeling unwell to seek medical attention.

Forest fires have raged through parts of the Indonesian island of Sumatra and the province of Kalimantan on Borneo in recent weeks, forcing the government to send in thousands of military and police to douse the flames.

Indonesia’s neighbors have regularly complained about smog caused by its forest blazes — often started by farmers trying to clear land for palm oil and pulp plantations.

Authorities closed 409 schools in Sarawak, on the Malaysian side of Borneo yesterday, the state education department said.

Malaysia’s national disaster management agency said it had sent 500,000 face masks to the state, after the air pollution index reached unhealthy levels yesterday.

One Sarawak district saw a “very unhealthy” pollution level of 201, while unhealthy readings were seen in five other Malaysian states on the country’s peninsular, the agency said.

Southeast Asia has suffered for years from annual bouts of smoke caused by Indonesian farmers’ slash-and-burn practices, raising fears about health and the impact on tourism.

(Reuters)