These two South Asian countries are at loggerheads. Reason: Poor air quality

Indonesia's forest fires have caused haze that has worsened air quality in parts of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur's top environment official said. The claim has been denied by Jakarta. Outbreaks of forest fires in 2019 caused Malaysia to say it would pressure Indonesia to combat the annual problem. Malaysia's department of environment director-general Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaffar said that the fires were worsening air pollution on the country's west coast and in Sarawak on the Malaysian part of Borneo island.

"Overall air quality in the country shows deterioration," he said, adding, “Forest fires that occur in the southern part of Sumatra and the central and southern parts of Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia have caused haze to cross borders.”

Satellite imagery showed 52 forest fire "hotspots" in Sumatra and 264 in Borneo, according to a report from the Singapore-based ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC).

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What Indonesia has said?

Indonesia's environment minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar told AFP, “The fact is that there is no transboundary haze," adding, "They (Malaysia) refer to hotspot data? Don't they know the difference between hotspots and firespots? If (you) don't know exactly, don't talk carelessly."

Jakarta would review and punish companies if the government found wildfires in their concession areas, she said.

Forest fires in Indonesia

On the western Indonesian island of Sumatra, large fires were witnessed this month that covered Palembang in haze for weeks. The fires take place every year during the dry season but these are the worst since 2019. Fires in 2015 were also among the deadliest on record as they cloaked Southeast Asia in toxic smoke for weeks. The vast majority of Indonesia's forest fires take place on Sumatra and Borneo- divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

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