The Air Pollution Index (API) in Sri Aman, a town in Sarawak, Malaysia, shot up to hazardous levels of 367 as of 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Several parts of Sarawak also registered unhealthy API levels, forcing the closure of close to 300 schools in the Malaysian state, while all schools in Port Dickson were suspended. Thousands of schools in Indonesia's Sumatra and Borneo islands, where forest fires are raging, have also been shut.

The blanket of toxic smog is a yearly occurrence in Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, as farmers in Indonesia clear land using a slash-and-burn method. But conditions this year have been the worst since 2015 due to an El Nino climate pattern causing an extended dry spell.

Governments in the region have kicked into high gear to tackle the smog. Malaysia and Indonesia are looking at cloud seeding to reduce the haze. And both Malaysia and Singapore have offered technical assistance to Indonesia in putting out the forest fires. But beyond immediate firefighting, the governments are looking at legal solutions to the issue, and perhaps a concerted regional effort.

A legal solution to the haze crisis

Indonesia is taking perpetrators to task, and arrested nearly 200 people for involvement in illegal activities that led to out-of-control fires sweeping the country, authorities said on Monday. Four companies are also being investigated. Last week, Indonesia sealed off dozens of burning plantations and warned their owners they could face criminal charges if there was evidence of illegal burning.

Neighboring Singapore, in 2014, enacted a Trans-boundary Haze Pollution Act, which allows authorities to prosecute local companies and individuals that cause severe air pollution in Singapore by burning forests and peat lands in neighboring countries. Companies can be subject to a maximum fine of 2 million Singapore dollars, or 1.45 million U.S. dollars, for flouting the rules.

Malaysia has laws against illegal burning on their lands, but experts are now saying that a tougher law penalizing those operating out of the country is needed, reported the Malay Mail. “In fact Malaysia had once announced that it was considering a similar law after Singapore announced theirs, but this was retracted shortly after,” said Helena Muhamad Varkkey from University of Malaya’s Department of International and Strategic Studies. But a diplomatic tussle ensued over the suggestion,she said, leading to a retraction. 

Helena also noted the limitations of legislation in individual countries. "The challenges of this remain, very much like what Singapore is facing now, in terms of the investigation process. It would depend very much on Indonesia willing to provide access to investigators," she told CGTN. 

A return to the ASEAN Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution?

The return of the smog is forcing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to reconsider its policy of non-interference.

In 2014, the 10 nations ratified a Trans-boundary Haze Pollution agreement, which recognizes that air pollution from forest fires should be mitigated through concerted national efforts and international co-operation. And in 2016, it announced an ambitious roadmap and vision for a haze-free ASEAN by 2020. With just a year left to go, ASEAN nations have not done much in preventing the yearly flames.

"There is need for stronger resolve and cooperation amongst ASEAN countries and stakeholders, in order to achieve our vision of a haze-free ASEAN by 2020," said Singapore's Environment Minister Masagos Zukifli in a Facebook post.

Malaysia will also send a letter to the ASEAN Secretariat on the need to formulate and enforce a uniform trans-boundary haze law across the region, reported the New Straits Times. “It would also be difficult for Malaysia to enforce trans-boundary act locally because we need to have (support) at the ASEAN level," said Energy, Science, Technology, Environment, and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin. She added "that is why the ministry has decided to send the letter to the ASEAN secretariat." 

It remains to be seen if ASEAN can come together to tackle trans-boundary haze. Meanwhile, finger pointing continues as Indonesia and Malaysia trade barbs over who's to blame for the smog, as smoke gets in the eyes of those affected in the region. 

(Cover photo:  Indonesian firefighters battling a fire at a palm oil plantation in Pekanbaru, Riau, September 7, 2019. Indonesian authorities have deployed thousands of extra personnel to prevent a repeat of the 2015 fires, which were the worst for two decades and choked the region in haze for weeks. /VCG Photo)