Report: Haze Problems in Malaysia, Causes, and Potential Improvements

This report examines the critical issue of haze in Malaysia, focusing on its causes, consequences, and potential solutions. The report identifies air pollution as the primary driver of haze, leading to various health problems such as asthma and heart failure. It highlights the role of burn-and-slash practices by farmers and peat fires from Indonesia. The report analyzes the impact on Malaysia, including school closures and unhealthy air quality levels. The report suggests improvements like introducing new environmental protection laws for palm oil companies, promoting water conservation, distributing face masks, and seizing fire-prone lands. The report references various sources and concludes that proactive measures are essential to mitigate haze's detrimental effects on public health and the economy. The report also includes a chart illustrating the flow of haze from Indonesia to Malaysia and its impact on air quality.

Thinking Skills and
Problem Solving

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Description of issues or problems............................................................................................1
2. Suggestions for improvement..................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Haze issues can be defined as the problems which are affecting health of human beings
due to air pollution. It can affect lungs, heart etc. which may result in different issues such as
heart failure, asthma, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). If a person came in to
contact with haze then it can result in health issues in 1 to 3 days (Ahmed, Guo and Zhao, 2016).
Main objective of this report is to analyse different haze issues which are faced by Malaysia. For
this purpose all of them are discussed under this report with suggestions for improvements.
MAIN BODY
1. Description of issues or problems
Haze issues are the problems which are taking place due to continuous enhancement in
air pollution. Due to this human being have to face various health issues such as Asthma,
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Heart failure etc. Malaysia is one of the South east
Asian countries which are highly affected due to this. It is taking place due to burn and slash
practices conducted by farmers in the country. Another cause of haze problems is peat fires
moving with the air from Indonesia. It has chocked the whole nation because the smoke which is
flowing with wind has created various clouds of fume over the region (Haze chokes Malaysia,
2015).
Palm oil and paper manufacturing companies have been blamed for it because a large
forest concession is hold by them. Due to haze all the schools were closed in some of the areas of
Malaysia including Kuala Lumpur. The regions which were highly affected due to this region
were Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Sarawak. It has resulted in decreased quality of air which has
reached at 157 in air pollutant index. In the index 50 points are considered as good, rating
between 51 to 100 is treated as moderate (Caballero-Anthony and Goh, 2015). If it is between
101 to 200 then it depicts that the region is unhealthy. A chart which can depict the situation of
Malaysia due to haze could be understood with the help of following chart:
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Illustration 1: Haze in Malaysia, 2018
(Source: Haze in Malaysia, 2018)
From the above chart it could be analysed that dense haze is flowing with air from
Indonesia to Malaysia. Due to this the air is becoming unhealthy and creating different health
issues for the people that are living in the country (Haze in Malaysia, 2018).
In order to deal with this issue Malaysian Government call on countries which are
member of Asean so that all of them can take proactive measure. With the help of trans boundary
haze could be ignored. The fire in the forests of Indonesia is creating haze for Malaysia and
leaving adverse impacts upon health and economy. Main cause of it is illegal agriculture fire
which has taken place due to industrial scale practices of different companies in Indonesia
(Othman and et.al., 2014).
This issue has resulted in various other economic and social problems. One of them is
delay in planting the crop of rice. Kedah is considered as the largest rice producing sate in the
country and contribute a high amount in the national income (High level of temperature in
Malaysia, 2019). Due to haze issue crop gets affected because it has left negative impact upon
temperature which was increased up to 36 degree. It created dry condition within the country
which encouraged the fire to spread more massively. The legal authorities warned the individuals
to save water and be ready for bad quality of air.
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Continuous increment in haze affected health of people in Malaysia which caused
sickness of various individuals due to toxic smoke. The government has also decided to seize the
lands which may cause fire in future so that environment could be saved from getting polluted.
Palm oil manufacturing companies are burning the forests in order to grow new plants. It is
resulting in continuous increment in haze in Malaysia (Tan and et.al., 2018).
2. Suggestions for improvement
It is very important for Malaysian government to find best ways to deal with haze issue
and make improvements for it so that the health issues and economic challenges which are taking
place due to this. All the suggestions for improvements are as follows:
 Legal authorities can introduce a new environment protection law in which palm oil
companies will be directed to stop burning the forests to grow new plants for production
activities (Suggestions for improvement, 2019).
 People who are living in Malaysia should save water and drink it as it can help to flush
toxics out of the human body (Water to deal with haze, 2019).
 Malaysian government can distribute free face masks to all the citizens so that they can
save themselves from haze.
 Government of Malaysia can pass a legislation that all the places which are having
possibility of catching fire in future will be seized.
With the help of all the above described ways the situations in Malaysia could be
improved and the issues which are affecting the health of individuals and nation could be dealt
properly.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that haze is an issue which takes
place due to air pollution. It affects health of people and result in various health problems such as
asthma, heart failure etc. for them. In order to deal with all of them the legal authority should
find ways for improvement. The options which could be adopted by government are distributing
free masks, seizing the forests which could be burnt by palm oil companies in future etc. While
working on this project I started to research on haze issue and then used various sources to
analyse the situation which is affecting Malaysia. In order to complete it appropriate manner I
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discussed the topic with my peer group. All of us shared information with each other and then I
completed my report.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Ahmed, M., Guo, X. & Zhao, X. M., (2016). Determination and analysis of trace metals and
surfactant in air particulate matter during biomass burning haze episode in
Malaysia. Atmospheric environment,. 141. pp.219-229.
Caballero-Anthony, M. & Goh, T., (2015). ASEAN’s haze shroud: grave threat to human
security.
Othman, J. & et.al., (2014). Transboundary smoke haze pollution in Malaysia: Inpatient health
impacts and economic valuation. Environmental Pollution. 189. pp.194-201.
Tan, S. T. & et.al., (2018). Economic and spatial planning for sustainable oil palm biomass
resources to mitigate transboundary haze issue. Energy. 146. pp.169-178.
Online
Haze chokes Malaysia. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34242311>
Haze in Malaysia. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/parts-of-malaysia-hit-by-unhealthy-levels-
of-haze>
High level of temperature in Malaysia. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/haze-returns-kuala-lumpur-not-indonesian-
fires/>
Suggestions for improvement. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/malaysia-land-grab-law-haze-forest-fire-
palm-oil/>
Water to deal with haze. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.brandsworld.com/sitecore/content/Singapore/Living-Better/Lifestyle-
Articles/5-Ways-to-Beat-the-Haze?sc_lang=en>
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