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Toxic haze from Indonesian fires chokes Malaysia’s Sarawak

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Iqra News Desk2026-09-01
Toxic haze from Indonesian fires chokes Malaysia’s Sarawak
play Live Sign up Show navigation menu Navigation menu News Show more news sections Africa Asia US & Canada Latin America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East Explained Sport Opinion Video More Show more sections Features Economy Human Rights Climate Crisis Investigations Interactives In Pictures Science & Technology Podcasts Travel Sponsored Content play Live Click here to search search Sign up News | Climate Crisis Toxic haze from Indonesian forest fires chokes Malaysian Borneo Respiratory illnesses surge in Malaysia as hazardous air settles over Borneo in the region’s worst smoke crisis in a decade. x whatsapp-stroke copylink google Add Al Jazeera on Google info Tourists look at the city skyline, shrouded in haze from wildfires in Indonesia, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on August 12, 2026 [Hasnoor Hussain/ Reuters] By Patrick Lee and Zaheena Rasheed Published On 1 Sep 2026 1 Sep 2026 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Smoke from forest and peatland fires burning across Indonesia has pushed air quality in parts of Malaysian Borneo to hazardous levels, triggering a surge in respiratory illness and forcing the cancellation of outdoor Independence Day celebrations. The smoke – drifting from fires in Kalimantan in the Indonesian portion of Borneo – has settled over the Malaysian state of Sarawak, which is located on the same island, for much of August. It has also reached peninsular Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. It is the region’s worst haze episode since 2015, when fires in Indonesia exposed tens of millions of people to toxic smoke and caused more than 500,000 people to suffer respiratory ailments. On Tuesday, six areas in Sarawak recorded hazardous air quality, with readings above 300 on Malaysia’s Air Pollutant Index. Anything above 100 is considered unhealthy. In Kuching, the state capital, the index hit 407, while in Serian, a town close to the Kalimantan border, it hit 408. Mia Emylia Hassan, 33, a mother of two in Kuching, said the smell of smoke was inescapable. “The air here is very thick,” she said. “It smells like smoke, and it’s just white all over.” Visibility from her house, she said, had dropped to about a kilometre, or roughly half a mile. “We have not seen blue sky for over a month,” she said. The haze arrived in early August, shortly after her 10-month-old daughter came home from the hospital after a lung infection. “She’s not healing properly because her lungs are still developing,” Hassan said. “She’s been on medication this whole month, and she has been coughing and vomiting.” Twice, the family has had to rush the infant back to the emergency room because she could not breathe. Malaysia’s Ministry of Health has reported a sharp rise in illness nationwide. During the week of August 23 to 29, asthma cases climbed to 1,811, up from 219 the previous week, the ministry said on Saturday, while conjunctivitis cases also rose to 720, from 146. In peninsular Malaysia, Karen-Michaela Tan, an asthma patient who lives near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, said she was “wheezing audibly” last week and feeling “breathless when climbing the stairs”. The 52-year-old said she needed two nebuliser treatments back to back to stop the wheezing, along with a heavy dose of steroids. “Doctors are erring on the side of caution when it comes to asthma patients, choosing to up dosages rather than risk a patient being hospitalised for shortness of breath,” she said. Her house is sealed, and two purifiers run continuously. Still, “I battle throat scratchiness and nasal dryness even with these measures”, she said. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional bloc, has activated a Level 3 transboundary haze alert – its highest – for the southern part of the region. The alert signals a high risk of severe cross-border haze. ASEAN cited an increase in fire hotspots and prolonged dry weather, fuelled by an intensifying El Nino weather pattern. *Source: aljazeera.com — [read original](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/1/toxic-haze-from-indonesian-fires-chokes-malaysian-borneo?traffic_source=rss)*
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