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Malaysia declares pollution emergency

Students wear masks in their classroom at a Kuala Lumpur school yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Malaysia declared an emergency near the capital yesterday as choking haze from forest fires sent pollution readings into the danger zone, prompting a brief closure of its biggest port.

Peninsular Malaysia is facing its worst pollution crisis in eight years. Acrid haze from Indonesian forest fires on Sumatra island is threatening public health, worrying tourists, disrupting transport and raising fears for the economy.

Malaysia's environment and commodities ministers flew to Medan on Sumatra where they were due to meet Indonesia's forestry minister and officials from its environment ministry.

"I am going there to go on site and see what is happening," Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Peter Chin said before his departure to Medan.

Indonesia and Malaysia agreed yesterday to use man-made rain to battle forest fires shrouding Kuala Lumpur, officials said.

The two sides said they would try to douse the flames by seeding clouds with chemicals in a bid to induce rain, said Koes Saparjadi, a senior official at Indonesia's Forestry Department.

The officials who met in Medan, capital of North Sumatra Province, did not decide when or where the project would begin.

The Malaysian government declared an emergency yesterday for the Kuala Selangor and Port Klang areas with immediate effect, state news agency Bernama reported.

Both areas are part of Malaysia's wealthiest and most densely populated state of Selangor next to the capital Kuala Lumpur. Schools in Selangor would be closed for the rest of this week, state Chief Minister Khir Toyo said.

Bernama said the worsening haze had forced authorities at the country's biggest port, Port Klang, to halt operations for 90 minutes.

But the port would remain closed if the situation worsened, it quoted port authority chairman Yap Pian Hon as saying.

An airport on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur closed as visibility fell below 300m, grounding the small government and private jets that use it.

Asthma attacks have soared and tourists are holing up in hotels or seeking refuge in air-conditioned malls at one of the busiest times for the country's tourism industry, which earned US$8 billion in income last year.

Tour operators said they were in talks to find ways to dispel travelers' fears over the haze.
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