(Aug 28): Choking haze has forced Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to move the annual National Day speech to an indoor venue from a public square, the Communications Ministry said, underscoring the severity of cross-border pollution from severe wildfires in the region.

Anwar, due to address the country on Aug 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. 

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. The Malaysian capital and surrounding suburbs are blanketed by haze that mostly originates from forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra in Indonesia, which is probing those responsible.

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 Aug 31 at Merdeka Square, but the Meteorological Department said in a statement on Thursday that haze will persist at the capital until Independence Day.

Malaysia has used diplomacy to try and solve the transboundary haze issue, with Anwar seeking regional action through Association of Southeast Asian Nations mechanisms. Datuk Seri Arthur Joseph Kurup, minister of natural resources and the environment, has previously said Malaysia had permission from Indonesia to cross into its border areas’ airspace to carry out cloud-seeding. 

Kuching, in Sarawak state, has also previously ranked as having the most polluted air in the world, as smoke from Kalimantan, Indonesia’s part of Borneo, drifts across the border. The Meteorological Department also warned that Sarawak’s air quality could cross into very unhealthy levels through Aug 31.

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