Haze to lessen today - Madius Tangau

The problem of haze is expected to ease today evening following the shift in wind direction since the Dujuan Typhoon is forecasted to hit Taiwan and eastern China.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Madius Tangau said Malaysia would again experience the wind and weather prevailing between the monsoon season with weak multi-directional winds and more humid weather, especially for states on the west coast of peninsula Malaysia.

He said the acute haze in several places especially in the central and southern parts of the peninsula, and west Sarawak several days ago were caused by winds from the south and south west.

"The direction of the wind had caused the country to experience cross-boundary haze," he said.

However, Madius said Malaysia still posed a risk of the cross-boundary haze returning if the wind directions were from the south and south west.

"Our country is fortunate as the wind direction from the forest fire in Mount Lokon in North Celebes, Indonesia is not towards our region. The fire is also far away," he said.

In the meantime, Madius stressed that the Malaysian Meteorological Department was responsible for monitoring the elements of weather including visibility via stations nationwide specifically for flights operations and not monitoring the Air Pollutant Index which was under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environment.