Malaysia's haze-haters go online
Malaysia's haze-haters go online
Furious at a worsening haze fouling the skies over Kuala Lumpur, Malaysians launched on Thursday an online protest pleading with neighboring Indonesia to "stop choking our guts out" with its forest fires.
Internet users posted photographs of themselves standing in front of smoke-shrouded skylines, wearing face masks and holding up signs that urged Indonesian authorities to stamp out the fires that are threatening Malaysians' health.
"This is to send a message to our Indonesian friends and those responsible, to let them know what is really going on and how we feel," said the website for "Haze Haters in KL" (http://hazeinmy.blogspot.com). "Perhaps the authorities would be more inclined to act if they hear all our voices."
Officials have warned the haze could last until October, when rains would help wash it away after the current dry spell, and urged people to cut down on outdoor activities. Schools in and around Kuala Lumpur were closed on Thursday and Friday.
Some of the people in the photographs carried posters that read, "You are choking us every year. Please stop", "Don't burn your forests: A warning from Malaysians", "Stop choking our guts out" and "We have to wait for this to clear in October? Intolerable!"
Snapshots taken by office workers in Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Twin Towers, once the world's tallest buildings, showed barely visible structures nearby blanketed in smog.
The website, which was set up anonymously and is being aggressively publicized through online word-of-mouth, said Malaysians are falling sick, the air in the city stinks and "things are generally depressing."
The haze has turned into Malaysia's most intense ecological crisis since 1997, when similar forest fires led to weeks of haze.
On Thursday, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar acknowledged people were upset, but said he hoped there would be no conflict or tension with Indonesia.
"We must sit and discuss this," Syed Hamid was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama. "If we cannot completely resolve (the haze situation), we'll reduce it to a minimum."
Malaysia has offered to dispatch firefighters to help extinguish hundreds of forest fires and blazes set by local farmers trying to clear land in the Indonesian provinces of North Sumatra, Riau and Central Kalimantan. -- AP