Southeast Asia Battles Hazardous Haze as Indonesian Wildfires Spread
5 sources across 4 countries · Singapore · Malaysia · Qatar · Taiwan · 3 of them are linked to a state
Who reported this
- CNA
- The Straits Times
- Malaysiakini
- Al Jazeera
- Taipei Times
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
A regional air pollution crisis has intensified across Southeast Asia due to wildfires in Indonesia, particularly in Kalimantan and Sumatra. The situation reached a critical point in Malaysia, where a state of emergency was declared for the Serian district of Sarawak after air pollution reached hazardous levels. This emergency order resulted in the closure of 647 schools, as well as government and private offices, plantations, and construction sites. In Sarawak, cloud seeding operations were extended to combat the smog. In Singapore, the 24 hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) entered the unhealthy range for the first time since October 2023, prompting the National Environment Agency to issue daily haze advisories. While air quality in Singapore's central region remained unhealthy, levels in the west and east dipped back to moderate ranges on September 5. The Philippines also experienced the impact, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordering the suspension of classes in Metro Manila and over a dozen provinces. In Indonesia, authorities have stepped up firefighting efforts in Kalimantan as the Air Pollutant Index surged to 3,540, far exceeding the hazardous threshold of 300. Experts suggest that a super El Nino weather pattern and peaking temperatures may intensify and prolong the fires. Center left sources emphasize the broader regional emergency and the specific impact on public health and education, while center and center right sources focus more heavily on the specific PSI fluctuations and government advisories within Singapore.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- Framed the event as a widespread regional crisis with a focus on emergency declarations and the systemic impact of El Nino.
- Centre
- Focused primarily on the technical details of air quality indices and the specific timing of health advisories in Singapore.
- Centre-right
- Emphasized the localized movement of pollution levels across different regions of Singapore and the specific timing of those changes.
Sources
- Centre-left Al Jazeera: Malaysia declares emergency in Sarawak as haze from Indonesia worsens
- Centre CNA: Haze in Singapore: Air quality at unhealthy range in central region
- Centre-left Malaysiakini: Indonesia steps up Kalimantan firefighting as haze worsens
- Centre-left Taipei Times: Singapore’s air quality hit as Indonesia fires worsen
- Centre-right The Straits Times: Air in central Singapore remains unhealthy, PSI in western and eastern regions dip to moderate
93% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.