Haze emergency grips Malaysian Borneo town

Acrid smoke hung heavily over the Malaysian town of Serian, seeping into homes and cloaking roadside stalls, as residents navigated an air‑quality emergency fuelled by transboundary haze from Indonesia's raging fires.

Malaysia declared a state of emergency in Sarawak state's Serian district on Borneo island on Friday, after air pollution readings reached critical levels.

Toxic haze has shrouded parts of Indonesia and Malaysia for weeks as Jakarta struggles to contain fires that have scorched large tracts of Borneo and Sumatra, with the plumes drifting into neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

In Serian, about 65 kilometres (40 miles) southeast of Sarawak's capital Kuching, residents tried to carry on with weekend routines but said the thick haze forced them to plan shorter trips to avoid the worst of the smoke.

"I rarely leave the house when it's like this (the haze). I only come out to buy food and groceries, then I'll immediately head home," said Ajen Anak Kunok, 64, a local retired technician. 

Ajen told AFP he had spent the past week battling shortness of breath and a sore throat due to the ongoing haze, before going to the hospital Saturday for treatment.

But the smoke was difficult to escape even at home, a mere 10 kilometres (six miles) from Indonesia's Kalimantan province where the fires were raging.

"Even when I turn on the air conditioner, I can still smell the smoke in my house," Ajen said.

Sarawak, which shares a border with Kalimantan, has borne the brunt of pollution in Malaysia.

On Friday, Serian became the first district in the country this year to declare an emergency over the worsening air quality when API levels passed 500 and peaked at 512.

Under Malaysian guidelines, API levels above 300 are classified as hazardous, while readings beyond 500 usually trigger consideration of a local emergency.

At the town's markets, the usual bustling throng dwindled, while roadside sellers of Serian's famous durians waited in vain beside their piles of fruit for customers that came in diminished numbers.

The district's scenic Ranchan Waterfall -- usually popular with locals and tourists alike -- was unusually quiet, with just a few visitors dotted around.

Roadside durian seller Siaw Thien Ha, 53, said the emergency has already hit his livelihood hard.

He struggled to earn even half of his usual income of 400 ringgit ($98) for the weekend.

"I'm worried that my income will be affected... But during the durian season, there is money to be made," he told AFP.

"So I don't have a choice but to bring the durians here to sell to support my family," he said.

Friday's emergency declaration will also keep some 647 schools closed until at least the end of the week in Serian district, which has a population of around 154,000 people.

Sister Irmina Peter, 64, who teaches at the St Joseph's Private Primary School in Kuching, told AFP she was worried that the emergency could drag on and spill over to other districts in Sarawak.

Rain in Serian on Friday night and Saturday morning, believed to have been the result of ongoing cloud seeding operations, brought some respite, with API levels dropping to 219.

Serian's state of emergency however remained in place.

Sister Peter said "we don't want the schools to be like during Covid-19 lockdown, where we couldn't do much."

"We can't go on with our normal routine… we have to go to work, children have to go to school. It affects us very much."