Haze: Agong decrees school closures for areas with API above 150, Anwar reaches out to Prabowo

PUTRAJAYA, 9 OCTOBER 2026 —

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar has decreed that schools in areas where the Air Pollutant Index (API) remains between 150 and 180 for prolonged periods should be closed, while Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he personally contacted Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to address the cross-border haze that has pushed air quality into unhealthy territory across 38 locations nationwide as of 9am on Thursday.

“The Education Ministry must take this matter seriously. Appropriate measures must be taken by the ministry and relevant agencies to protect students, the elderly and those with respiratory illnesses,” Bernama reported His Majesty saying. Sultan Ibrahim also urged the public to take health precautions, including wearing face masks and reducing outdoor activities.

The decree followed a decision by Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim on Wednesday to order a two-day closure of schools across the state as air quality worsened.

Anwar, speaking to reporters after inspecting preparations for the tabling of Budget 2027 at the Finance Ministry in Putrajaya on Thursday, said he had reached out directly to Prabowo. “I have personally contacted Prabowo, and he agreed to take the necessary steps,” Anwar said. According to Bernama, Anwar added that Malaysia has expressed readiness to assist Indonesia in tackling the haze. “Various steps have been taken to mitigate the impact.

For instance, the air force and relevant agencies have increased cloud seeding operations almost daily, but the situation remains worrying,” he said.

The prime minister said he has instructed Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan and Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Arthur Joseph Kurup to engage their Indonesian counterparts. Mohamad was further tasked with requesting the Asean Secretariat to convene an urgent meeting of regional environment ministers to address the recurring transboundary pollution.

The diplomatic outreach coincides with mounting legal and public pressure inside Indonesia. The Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (Aman), alongside several other non-governmental organisations, has filed a lawsuit alleging “gross negligence” by the Indonesian state over prolonged forest fires that generate the haze.

Prabowo and the governor of West Kalimantan are among the 10 defendants named in the suit, which demands comprehensive environmental restoration and rehabilitation measures as well as full funding for local residents’ medical costs incurred from haze-related health issues.

A hearing scheduled for Wednesday at the West Kalimantan provincial capital of Pontianak was adjourned to Oct 21 after none of the named defendants or their representatives appeared in court. “We are disappointed by their absence... but we also understand that the severe haze may have prevented their flights from landing in Pontianak,” plaintiffs’ lawyer Glorio Sanen told reporters outside the courthouse.

Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, continues to face international scrutiny for failing to curb illegal “slash-and-burn” land clearing practices despite official promises of strict enforcement and military deployment to extinguish fires. The forest fires have escalated to crisis levels this year, aggravated by a severe El Niño weather pattern that brought prolonged drought across the region, creating conditions that allow fires to spread rapidly through peatlands and plantations.

The API readings released by the Environment Department’s Air Pollutant Index Management System (Apims) showed the breadth of the impact, with unhealthy readings stretching from southern Johor through Negeri Sembilan into the heavily populated Klang Valley. The Agong’s directive specifically cited the 150-180 API band as the threshold for school closures, a standard that would capture all 38 areas currently listed if the readings persist.

Anwar’s phone call to Prabowo marks the highest-level bilateral engagement on the haze issue since the Indonesian president took office. The prime minister’s decision to task Mohamad with seeking an urgent Asean environment ministers’ meeting signals an attempt to elevate the matter to a regional framework, though previous such meetings have produced limited concrete outcomes.

The cloud seeding operations referenced by Anwar have been a recurring mitigation measure deployed by Malaysian authorities during haze episodes, though their effectiveness remains dependent on weather conditions.

The lawsuit in Pontianak represents a rare domestic legal challenge in Indonesia linking the haze directly to state responsibility. By naming Prabowo as a defendant, the plaintiffs are testing the extent to which the new administration can be held accountable for fires that have persisted for decades despite repeated pledges.

The adjournment to Oct 21 means the legal process will continue while the current haze episode unfolds, with the next hearing set to occur nearly two weeks after the API readings that triggered Thursday’s school closure orders and diplomatic calls.