The word 'haze' acquired an unpleasant connotation in Southeast Asia in 1997, quite unlike the mild image it usually conjures up. 'The Haze' that blanketed parts of Indonesia, all of Singapore and most of Malaysia for more than four months was not the 'thin atmospheric vapour' depicted in the Pocket Oxford Dictionary but, at its worst, a thick, noxious, if not toxic, brew of smoke, ash and exhaust fumes. The first two ingredients, which were carried on the wind from forest, scrub and peat fires in Indonesia, raised air pollution levels to health-threatening levels when they blended with vehicle and factory emissions in Singapore and urban areas of Malaysia. In Kuala Lumpur, for days on end, the haze was thick enough to obscure the sun and reduce buildings to shadowy shapes. The elderly, children and people suffering from chest and nose complaints were advised to stay indoors or move to safer areas when the Malaysia Air Pollutant Index rose above 101, the level at which the air quality was deemed to be unhealthy. But the reading climbed above the 200 mark in the capital and other centres, touching 300 on several occasions. The air quality is considered to be very unhealthy when the MAPI stands between 201 and 300 and hazardous when it is between 301 and 500. In Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, in September, the reading soared through the official top limit of the MAPI, hitting 800, as thick smoke rolled across the border from fires in adjacent Indonesian Kalimantan. The government declared a state of emergency and closed schools as most commercial activity came to a halt for a week. Throughout the region, many people were taken ill with respiratory problems. In Singapore, clinics reported a 20 to 30 per cent rise in the number of patients with ailments of the upper respiratory tract and eye infections. Doctors expressed concern that people in the worst affected areas of the region could experience serious health problems over the next few years arising from their exposure to the haze. Environmentalists worried over the damage done to forests and to wildlife. The Indonesian Government said the forest fires destroyed more than 165,000 hectares of forest and caused an estimated loss of 132 billion rupiah (HK$96.5 million). The cost elsewhere has not yet been estimated. The haze also disrupted air and sea traffic and caused tour operators and individual tourists to cancel planned visits to the region. But the fires and haze were harmful not only to the environment, people's health and the tourism industry but also to regional relations. Indonesia was strongly criticised in the Singapore and Malaysian media for not doing more to prevent the slash-and-burn method of land clearing by loggers and farmers. Officials of Indonesia's neighbours said Jakarta had not honoured promises made three years earlier to tackle the problem. President Suharto formally apologised to his Asean partners. Meanwhile, the environment ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last month agreed on a plan to collectively combat the haze through prevention, monitoring and fire-fighting. But whether the haze returns this year depends on the will Indonesia can summon to stop the burning of its forests. Malaysia will be watching with interest as it hosts the Commonwealth Games in September.
