Malaysia again shuts schools due to Indonesia smoke haze
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia closed schools in several states and the capital Kuala Lumpur today due to choking smoke from Indonesian slash-and-burn farming that has smothered much of Southeast Asia in smog for weeks.
Malaysia has repeatedly ordered students to stay home as a health precaution as the current smog problem, an annual dry-season occurrence, has become one of the worst in years, exacerbate by tinder-dry conditions from the El Nino weather phenomenon.
On Friday, Indonesia launched its biggest operation ever to combat the crisis, with dozens of planes and thousands of troops battling the illegally started agricultural and forest fires in its territory on the huge islands of Sumatra and Borneo.
Thirty-two planes and helicopters including six aircraft from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia were deployed to back up more than 22,000 personnel on the ground.