Haze: This is ecological warfare, says Anwar Ibrahim

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim considers the haze situation enveloping parts of Southeast Asia as "ecological warfare".

In an interview with Bloomberg Television today, Anwar called for the big companies responsible for the forest fires in Indonesia, which caused the haze over the region, to be held accountable.

"We should feel outraged and I consider this an ecological warfare. It is not a small matter. It is affecting essentially millions of our people.

"We have to be stronger, regardless of whether it's Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia - I mean these are big companies.

"Why are we not making sure they are being held accountable and at least bear part of the cost?" he told Bloomberg.

Yesterday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo had taken to Facebook to vent his frustration on the handling of the matter.

"What's the problem? Ineffective cooperation and lack of initiative to activate the machinery, although I had reminded several times that the forest fires prevention is compulsory," Widodo said.

He stressed that eliminating one fire hotspot before it multiplies into hundreds is crucial and acknowledged that the government machinery was not effective in doing so.

The Indonesian government also named four palm oil companies with Malaysian links as the culprits behind the forest fires in the country.

However, Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar claimed that the haze affecting Malaysia originated from Sarawak.

This is despite the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre's tracking showing that the haze in Peninsular Malaysia primarily originated from Sumatra while the haze in Sarawak came from Kalimantan.

Following the critical Air Pollution Index (API) readings this morning, about 538 schools in Selangor have been ordered closed, while up to 288 schools in Perak and all schools in Putrajaya were closed.

Up to 584,595 students have been affected by the closures.