PUTRAJAYA, Sept 8 (Bernama) — ASEAN needs to review the existing mechanisms in dealing with the issue of transboundary haze to avoid adverse impacts on the people’s health, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He said ASEAN ministers need to pay serious attention to the matter as the haze can have a direct impact on the health and lives of the people, especially children and babies.
“There is room for improvement. I think the ASEAN ministers must seriously look at it, because this is affecting lives, particularly of children, and babies, and if we have seen in Serian (it) is really concerning,” he said.
Anwar, who is also the Minister of Finance, said this to the media after attending a Meeting with the staff of the Ministry of Plantations and Commodities here today.
Air quality in Serian was reported to have returned to hazardous levels when the monitoring station at the district police headquarters (IPD) in the area recorded an Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of 302 this morning.
Last Friday, His Majesty, Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia declared a haze emergency in the entire Serian division following air pollution that was hazardous to public health, before the declaration was lifted yesterday. – BERNAMA
