KUALA BERANG, Sept 5 — The government is ready to propose declaring an emergency for any area that records an Air Pollution Index (API) reading of more than 400, in line with the standard operating procedure for haze management in the country.
Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Datuk Seri Arthur Joseph Kurup said the measure could be considered if the API reading was at a very dangerous level, as happened in Serian, Sarawak which recorded a reading of more than 500, leading to the declaration of an emergency.
“If it is more than 400, it is considered very dangerous and can be considered to declare an emergency,” he told reporters after officiating the Handover Ceremony of the Madani Adoption Village and Madani Adoption School Project in 2026 at Dataran Kampung Basong, here today.
Arthur said so far only three of the 68 API monitoring stations nationwide had recorded very unhealthy readings, namely in Kuching, Samarahan and Sri Aman in Sarawak, while Serian recorded readings at a dangerous level.
He said the declaration of emergency would remain in effect until the API readings showed a drop to a safer level with safety measures to be taken during that period such as school closures and wearing face masks.
It was reported yesterday that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim declared an emergency in the entire Serian Division, Sarawak following the haze conditions which had reached levels of air pollution that were hazardous to the health and safety of the public.
The Prime Minister’s Office in a statement announced that the decision was made after taking into account the advice of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Sarawak Premier, Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, as well as relevant agencies on the level of air quality in the area.
In a related development, Arthur said the cloud seeding operation carried out yesterday in Sarawak and the northern peninsula, namely in Kedah and Perlis, showed positive results with several areas recording rain starting yesterday evening until early this morning.
He said Malaysia had also received written permission from the Indonesian Government allowing the country’s air assets to enter the republic’s airspace for the purpose of cloud seeding operations.
“We have carried out cloud seeding operations in Sarawak and sometimes for wider operations, our air assets need to cross the border to ‘shoot’ at the clouds and the wind will bring the clouds to our country,” he said.
In addition, Arthur said Malaysia had also offered assets and manpower to assist in the process of extinguishing the open fires that are currently taking place in Indonesia, but so far there has been no official request from the republic in this regard.
