(Sept 30): Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are choking under severe haze spewing from wildfires in neighbouring Indonesia, with air quality deteriorating dramatically ahead of major sporting events.
The two cities currently rank among the top five most polluted in the world, according to data compiled by IQAir. Forecasts show that the conditions driving the latest haze episode, including widespread dryness and prevailing east-to-southeast winds, are expected to persist for another week.
Malaysia is due to host its first Formula One race in nine years this weekend at the Sepang International Circuit, alongside the Standard Chartered Marathon in Kuala Lumpur, and the acrid conditions could disrupt both events. Organisers of the long-distance running race said they are weighing contingency plans should conditions deteriorate. Le Tour de Langkawi, a multi-stage bicycle race that’s currently underway, is also due to end on Sunday.
“We hope the haze will clear up with recent rains as there are three major events this weekend,” Malaysia’s Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil said in a statement. “As of now, they will proceed.”
The organisers of the F1 event and Sepang International Circuit didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Last weekend, poor air quality prompted organisers to shorten a half marathon in Singapore at the last minute. The city-state is due to host an F1 race after the Malaysian event, starting Oct 9. Organisers of the Singapore Grand Prix didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Singapore’s air quality will vary day to day depending on wind direction and local showers, but at this stage, there is no clear sign of a sustained pattern change that would quickly end the haze,” said Fergus Keatinge, founder and director of WeatherMapping.com.
Transboundary haze is a near-annual problem in Southeast Asia, but this season is the worst in years as a powerful El Niño brings abnormally hot and dry conditions to Indonesia, fanning wildfires stemming from slash-and-burn land clearing and complicating efforts to bring the blazes under control.
Rainfall across the archipelago since June has been about 80% below normal, and wet-season rains that usually help extinguish the fires are expected to arrive late this year, according to meteorologists.
The Indonesian Forestry Ministry’s fire-monitoring platform has recorded 15,461 hotspots this month, exceeding levels seen in 2019 and second only to 2015. The fire weather index, a measure of conditions that influence the risk and behaviour of fires, remains very high across large parts of Kalimantan and southern Sumatra, according to the country’s weather agency.
In 2015, another strong El Niño year, haze from Indonesia’s catastrophic fires caused school cancellations, flight diversions and diplomatic tensions across the region. Singapore enacted the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act a year earlier, allowing it to fine companies that cause or condone fires as much as S$100,000 (US$78,000 or RM319,380) a day, though enforcement has proved challenging.
As of early Wednesday, four of Singapore’s five regions recorded “unhealthy” levels of air pollution, according to the National Environment Agency. In its latest outlook, the agency said the “hotspot and smoke haze situation may improve in areas experiencing showers but also continue to stay elevated in areas experiencing prolonged periods of dry weather”.
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