KUALA LUMPUR: Haze in Malaysia's northern Penang state worsened on Sunday with the government's Air Pollutant Index (API) reading going higher and visibility being reduced. Malaysia's State Health, Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee Chairman Phee Boon Poh told Bernama news agency that moderate API readings of 76 to 96 were recorded up to 11 AM on Sunday compared to only 64 to 94 at 5 PM on Saturday. “Sumatra has more than 200 hotspots that can catch fire during hot weather. Monsoon winds blow the smoke over the border to Peninsular Malaysia,” he told Bernama here Sunday. Seberang Jaya recorded reading of 96 with 2 kilometers of visibility, Perai 85 with 6 kilometers visibility and Bayan Lepas 68 with 4 kilometers visibility. The new warnings over air standards come less than two months after the country was hit by a black cloud of poor air that saw the government tell residents in the country to remain indoors. The haze has been a major problem facing Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries in recent years. The main culprit of this haze is the slash and burn practice by farmers and peat fires in Indonesia, experts say. But also in Malaysia, the government is not doing enough to reform farming practices, which Yussif Hassan, an environmental consultant in Selangor told Bikyamasr.com, “is a major issue that is seeing haze become more prominent in recent times." He argued that “the Malaysia government must work to end the practices that throw debris and dust into the air, because if we don't do this soon, it will debilitate the environment and people's health." The first major crisis to hit the country was in 2005 in Port Klang, where the Air Pollution Index rose to above 500, a devastating and extremely dangerous level. Both Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta are, however, working together on new policies to end the problem, but Hassan says movement is too slow. “They need to move faster if this is to be solved, because although the recent problem was not terribly dangerous, it has the potential if nothing is done," he added.
