KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 — Closed schools, shuttered sports centres and mass mask handouts. Indonesian wildfire haze has caused a regional pollution crisis and prompted growing frustration in neighbours, including Malaysia.
“You need to treat them as an outcast in the region,” Malaysian parliamentarian Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman railed this week talking about the Indonesian fires.
His comments go much further than the gentle diplomatic pressure Malaysia’s government has so far applied, but they reflect a simmering frustration with Indonesia’s inability to control the fires.
“Malaysia and Indonesia are close neighbours, but that relationship must also come with responsibility,” Malaysian parliamentarian Syerleena Abdul Rashid told AFP.
