Malaysia declares state of emergency on air pollution at hazardous levels

A state of emergency has been declared in two parts of the southern Malaysian state of Johur on Sunday. Smoke from land clearing fires in neighboring Indonesia pushed up air pollution to dangerous levels. The illegal burning of forests on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island to the west of Malaysia and Singapore were to blame for the smoke.

 The burning of land for palm oil plantation during the June to September dry season is a regular problem in the area. The smoke haze caused by the fires in the Sumatran Riau province has also caused air pollution in Singapore, but air quality there began to improve over the weekend.