Malaysia secures Indonesia's airspace approval for cloud seeding as haze blankets region

Indonesia grants airspace access for cloud seeding

Indonesia has given Malaysian agencies official permission to enter its airspace to conduct cloud seeding operations, Malaysia's environment minister said on Monday, as part of both countries' efforts to combat the haze blanketing the region.

Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Arthur Joseph Kurup said in a statement that Malaysia's national disaster management agency and its meteorological department are currently preparing schedules for cloud seeding operations in shared border locations, to be coordinated with the Indonesian military. Malaysia was also prepared to offer assistance to Indonesia in extinguishing fires, with any specific requests to be brought to Cabinet for further action, said Kurup.

The minister added that both countries would be escalating their firefighting and fire prevention programmes ahead of national holidays in the coming weeks, including the Malaysia Day celebrations in Sarawak state on September 16.

The agreement to step up measures was reached during a phone call on Monday between Kurup and his Indonesian counterpart Jumhur Hidayat, as reported by the news agency Bernama. Kurup said in a statement that with the El Nino phenomenon expected to intensify towards October 2026, coinciding with the Southwest Monsoon, both nations are fully committed to stepping up prevention and early suppression measures. He also expressed the Malaysian government's appreciation to Indonesia for granting official clearance for cloud seeding operations to cross its airspace, targeting areas along their shared border.

Haze spreads across Malaysia

Sarawak, which borders Indonesia's Kalimantan province on Borneo island, has been worst hit by the haze. Six districts in Sarawak recorded unhealthy air pollution index (API) readings on Monday, according to data released by the environment department. Unhealthy API levels were also recorded in eight other districts across four states on the Malaysian peninsula, the data showed.

As of Wednesday morning, sixteen areas in Malaysia had "unhealthy" Air Pollutant Index (API) readings, including parts of Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, local media reported. A day earlier, about 30 areas had unhealthy air quality. In Sarawak, Sri Aman registered an API reading of 166, followed by Serian at 164 and Samarahan at 162. In Kuala Lumpur, the API level was 159 in Cheras and 158 in Putrajaya, while Shah Alam recorded an API of 157, reported news outlet The Star.

By Thursday afternoon, the situation showed slight improvement but remained widespread. Nine areas nationwide recorded unhealthy API readings as of 4pm on Thursday, including three in Sarawak, according to Department of Environment (DOE) deputy director general (development) Azuri Azizah Saedon. She said air quality had deteriorated mainly in the west coast states of Peninsular Malaysia and several areas in Sarawak amid haze movement from various directions.

In a statement on Thursday, she said Samarahan recorded the highest API reading in Sarawak at 158, followed by Sri Aman (157) and IPD Serian (156). In Kuala Lumpur, the affected areas were Cheras (153) and Batu Muda (107), while in Selangor, Johan Setia recorded 151 and Shah Alam 103. Putrajaya recorded 114, and Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, 109.

Under Malaysia's API, readings of up to 50 are classified as good, 51 to 100 as moderate, 101 to 200 as unhealthy, and 201 to 300 as very unhealthy. Levels above 300 are hazardous.

The Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre, based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite images on Tuesday, detected 266 hotspots in Kalimantan and 164 in Sumatra, while four hotspots were detected in Malaysia, one each in Kelantan and Terengganu, and two in Sabah, Azuri Azizah said.

Government response and precautions

Following the situation, Azuri Azizah said the DOE had increased daily enforcement and patrols in areas at risk of open burning, besides monitoring API readings regularly. The National Open Burning Action Plan and National Haze Action Plan had also been activated to coordinate government agencies' efforts to address open burning and the haze situation.

This includes preparations by the National Disaster Management Agency to activate the Disaster Management Committee if API readings exceed 150 for more than 24 hours, as well as measures such as suspending outdoor classroom activities, closing schools, kindergartens and nurseries, and conducting cloud seeding operations. The public can monitor the latest API readings via the DOE's APIMS website or MyJAS EQMS application.

Indonesia has been stepping up efforts to slow the spread of haze caused by forest and land fires across several provinces, which this month led to dozens of school closures, including in neighbouring Malaysia.

National Day events affected

Haze has forced Malaysia to move its leader's annual National Day speech to an indoor venue from a public square, the communications ministry has said, underscoring the severity of cross-border pollution. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, due to address the country on August 30 on the eve of Independence Day celebrations, will speak from a convention centre in the administrative capital Putrajaya instead of at Kuala Lumpur's Merdeka Square, a historic open area where independence was declared.

Malaysia's 69th National Day celebration is set to take place at Dataran Putrajaya on Aug 31 while the Malaysia Day celebration will be held in Kuching, Sarawak on Sep 16.

Decisions regarding the traditional open-air parade will be made after taking into account views from the health and meteorology officials. The parade is typically held on the morning of August 31 at Merdeka Square, but the meteorological department said in a statement on Thursday that haze would persist at the capital until Independence Day. The meteorological department also warned that Sarawak's air quality could cross into very unhealthy levels through August 31.

Kuala Lumpur briefly had the world's most polluted air late on Thursday, according to IQAir, and was second worst after Delhi on Friday morning with an air quality index score of 169. Malaysia's Kuching city, in Sarawak state, has also previously ranked as having the most polluted air in the world, as smoke from Kalimantan drifts across the border.

The haze mostly originates from forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra in Indonesia, which is investigating those responsible. Indonesian police have arrested 72 people in connection with the worsening fires.

Malaysia has used diplomacy to try to solve the transboundary haze issue, with Anwar seeking regional action through Association of Southeast Asian Nations mechanisms. Kurup has previously said Malaysia had permission from Indonesia to cross into its border areas' airspace to carry out cloud seeding.