HAZE: Malaysia SUFFOCATES

Much of Malaysia continued to wheeze under a shroud of smoke with its southern half hit particularly hard by smog from forest fires in Indonesia.

In the capital Kuala Lumpur, the pollution index neared the "very unhealthy" 200 level for the first time during the current outbreak.

Attempts by Indonesia to induce rain over the fires have had little success.

"So far, we had two sessions of cloud-seeding, one on Saturday evening and one on Sunday evening. Some rain has fallen over Dumai city (in Riau province)," Indonesian disaster agency official Agus Wibowo told AFP in Jakarta.

"The cloud-seeding technology is meant to speed up rainfall, but with few clouds, there's little we can do. The rain was more like a drizzle."

In Malaysia, schools in Kuala Lumpur and several states were ordered closed and authorities advised parents to keep children indoors or make them wear face masks outside.

In Muar district in southern Malaysia, a state of emergency was declared after the Air Pollutant Index rating soared to 746 on Sunday, the country's highest recording since the 1997-1998 haze crisis.

Pollution levels in Malaysia's south eased Monday but generally worsened elsewhere, with the city of Port Dickson, which lies on the Malacca Strait across from Sumatra, hitting the "hazardous" 335 level.

The elderly, ailing people, pregnant women and young children are the most vulnerable to the effects of what is referred to as "the haze" in Southeast Asia, which last suffered a major outbreak in 2006.

- AFP/fa