Malaysian govt hit for hiding haze

Malaysian govt hit for hiding haze

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): The Malaysian government came under attack on Friday for being secretive about the extent of hazy conditions over large parts of the Southeast Asian nation.

"This decision is ... completely indefensible when warnings are being sounded in Indonesia that the haze disaster this time around could be as catastrophic as two years ago," said Lim Kit Siang, the opposition leader in Parliament.

On Wednesday, the government said it would not disclose the Air Pollution Index (API) because it might scare away tourists.

The haze badly hurt Malaysia's tourism in 1997, with the number of visitors falling by 13 percent to 6.2 million, compared with 7.1 million in 1996.