Protection against the haze must go beyond telling Malaysians to mask up, especially when the effective variants do not come cheap, said former DAP MP Charles Santiago, who urged the government to hold plantation companies accountable and address the plight of those who cannot afford to stay indoors.

He said Malaysian companies with investments in Kalimantan, one of Indonesia’s main haze hotspot areas, should voluntarily disclose their concession areas and relevant subsidiaries.

“The government should cross-check these disclosures against fire hotspots and land records, investigate credible links to the fires, and publish its findings.

“We cannot keep asking the public to bear the health costs of haze without investigating who is contributing to it,” he said in a post on X, tagging Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who last week defended Putrajaya’s response by saying “we have done everything we can”.