HAZARDOUS HAZE, DPM ADVISES MUAR SCHOOLS TO TEMPORARILY CLOSE

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 (Bernama) -- Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin
Wednesday advised schools in Muar district in southern state of Johor to
temporarily close as the haze enveloping the district has reached a hazardous
level.

Muhyiddin who is also Education Minister, said this measure was necessary to
prevent the haze from adversely affecting the students' health.

"When the haze has reached a hazardous level, the schools' administration or
principals can close the schools temporarily.

"If the API (Air Pollutant Index) reading has reached 400, it's considered
dangerous, and the schools must close until the situation improves," he said
after chairing a special meeting with the National Security Council on the haze
situation in Muar, at this office in Parliament building, here, Wednesday.

The haze problem in the Muar district over the last few days has worsened, with
the API reading at 432 as at 11am Wednesday, which is categorised as hazardous.

However, API readings at the monitoring stations in other areas so far showed
readings that indicated the air quality to be healthy or moderately healthy.

Muhyiddin said although the API reading had dropped to below 300, schools in the
Muar district were still advised not to carry out any co-curricular activity
outside for the time being.

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment sent 10,000 units of face masks to the
district Wednesday to be distributed, especially to schools.

Bottles of mineral water will also be sent to Muar to ensure the people there
get clean water to drink.

Muhyiddin said the National Security Council would also activate the Central
National Disaster Relief Management Committee to monitor and control the haze
situation, besides activating the state and district-level committees.

"The first step will be to inform the people of Muar to take precautionary
measures to protect their health such as wearing masks."

He said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Douglas Uggah had also been
in contact with his counterpart in Indonesia, seeking the latter's cooperation
in addressing the haze problem.

Muhyiddin said Malaysia was also prepared to provide assistance including
logistics to tackle the problem.

"According to the reports we've received, the haze originates from there
(Indonesia). We are not simply making accusation but we want action before the
haze spreads and becomes even more detrimental to Malaysia," he said.
-- BERNAMA