Here is Asean’s best shot at ending the haze

 No single law or country can end the haze from Indonesia that is worrying Malaysians, but Asean has the tools to break some of the links in the chain of causes behind it.

At 2pm on Sept 4, the air pollutant index (API) in Serian, Sarawak, hit 521. Anything above 300 is “hazardous”, and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong consented that same day to an emergency across the Serian division, the first haze emergency this country has declared since Port Klang in 2005, and Sarawak’s first since 1997.

Sarawak shut 647 schools across 12 districts for the week, sending almost 200,000 children home. The emergency was lifted on Sept 7. The following morning, Serian’s API was back at 302.

Indonesia’s ministry of forestry says land was illegally sold and then burned for oil palm. Indonesian police have arrested 72 people over 89 arson cases, and the Indonesian environmental group Walhi found that 74% of Kalimantan’s hotspots sat inside corporate concessions.

El Niño dried the peat, somebody struck the match.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Aug 8 that “if there are Malaysian companies involved, we give room for Indonesia to take action. We certainly will not defend them.”

He is right, but “we will not defend them” is a promise not to obstruct, not a promise to act.

What the smoke is costing us

The health ministry’s sentinel clinics logged 61 asthma cases in the second week of August. By the last week of the month, the figure was 1,811.

The World Bank put the bill for Indonesia’s 2015 fires at US$16.1 billion (RM65 billion), and a study in Scientific Reports estimated that that season caused between 6,150 and 17,270 premature deaths across Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in two months.

So can this be solved for good? Not by one law, and not by one country.

The haze is a chain: fire is the cheapest way to clear land, drained peat lets that fire smoulder for months, the penalties in the country where it burns are rarely collected, and the buyers abroad rarely ask.

Break enough of those links and the odds shift in our favour. Four things would do that, and only one of them is Malaysia’s alone.

1. Make the match the expensive option

Indonesia already has the law but implementation seems to be the problem. Environmental groups say more than US$220 million in environmental fines from plantation and timber companies found liable for fires remain uncollected.

Indonesian courts also tend to demand proof that any named executive intended the harm, which is why arrests on the ground so rarely reach a boardroom.

Enforcement in Jakarta cannot be Malaysia’s job, but Malaysia can close its own gaps. It can pass the Transboundary Haze Act that the Pakatan Harapan Cabinet agreed to in principle on Feb 12, 2020, modelled on Singapore’s 2014 law with fines of up to S$100,000 (RM319,000) a day and a presumption that fire on your concession is your responsibility.

Also have Bursa Malaysia require listed planters to publish their Indonesian concession maps.

Then make burning unnecessary. Asean’s new Investment Framework for Haze-Free Sustainable Land Management could fund mechanical clearing for the smallholders who reach for a match because a machine costs more.

Also, one has to keep in mind that the European Union’s deforestation rules, to be in force from Dec 30, 2026, will demand geolocated proof that palm oil did not come from cleared land.

2. Rewet the peat

Peat burns for months because plantation canals have drained it; the peat watchdog Pantau Gambut warns it will stay flammable year-round as long as those canals are left open.

A 2026 study of 3,840 canal blocks in Kalimantan found the best-placed ones cut fire occurrence by up to 15.6%, with carbon offsets covering up to 30% of the cost of building them.

That is not a cure, but it is measurable, and West Kalimantan is the province whose smoke lands in Kuching.

3. Give Asean’s haze machinery teeth

The Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution has existed since 2002 and every member has ratified it, yet it cannot compel anyone to prosecute anyone.

The body meant to give it operational muscle, a Coordinating Centre in Jakarta, was created by a separate agreement that members were still ratifying as of July, so the centre is not yet in force.

Meanwhile, the second haze-free roadmap promises a haze-free Asean by 2030, four years away.

This is where Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei have to move together, because smoke from Kalimantan lands in Kuching, smoke from Sumatra lands in Singapore and Selangor, and Thailand has its own northern burning season.

Malaysia proposed a bigger Asean haze fund and “science diplomacy” in Bali in July; the parties meet again in Da Nang in October. Ratify the centre, fund it, and get it to publish daily hotspot-to-concession matches across every member’s satellite, the “reciprocal disclosure” Greenpeace Malaysia asked for last week.

4. Protect the children while the rest takes hold

Cloud seeding is a comfort, not a cure, and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi conceded as much when he said Malaysia’s operation continued “depending on the wind direction and location of the clouds”.

What actually protects a child is filtered indoor air. Rather than closing 647 schools, Sarawak could fit them with HEPA filtration; and stockpile N95 masks in every klinik kesihatan before the next El Niño.

None of this guarantees a clear sky in 2027, but breaking four links in the chain of causes is better than breaking none.

If the region does its part alongside Indonesia, the haze has a real chance of becoming what Asean’s own haze-free roadmap already promises on paper: a memory. - FMT

The writer can be contacted at kathirgugan@protonmail.com.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.