Malaysia Cancels Kuching Marathon, Weighs Haze Law as Smog Blankets Southeast Asia
Malaysia has canceled a major marathon and is weighing new legislation to combat transboundary haze, as smoke from wildfires in Indonesia continues to blanket parts of Southeast Asia.
Organizers said the Kuching Marathon, which had been scheduled for Sept. 27 in Malaysia’s Sarawak state, was called off because of haze affecting the city.
The Kuching Marathon Association said the difficult decision came after continuous monitoring of Air Pollutant Index readings and consultations with authorities and medical advisers, according to The Straits Times.
“After careful assessment, the health and safety of all parties, including participants, crew members, volunteers, officials, medical teams and the general public, must take precedence,” it said in a statement.
Kuching has recorded unhealthy API readings above 100 for the past week, including 158 at 3 p.m. Thursday. Registered participants can collect their finisher medals and T-shirts from Plaza Merdeka starting Friday, with a detailed collection schedule to be announced on the association’s social media platforms.
The haze originates largely from forest and peatland fires burning across Indonesia’s Kalimantan and Sumatra islands. For weeks, the fires have sent toxic smog over Indonesia and neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.
Indonesia’s Health Ministry says more than 170,000 people have suffered respiratory illness since August as a result. The haze has also reached parts of the Philippines, where officials have urged residents to stay indoors, as well as Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Haze shrouds the Petronas Twin Towers and other buildings in Kuala Lumpur. (AFP/Getty)
The cancellation is the latest disruption in a region long plagued by dry-season fires, underscoring how cross-border pollution can test national responses and pressure ASEAN governments to find a coordinated fix. As health and economic costs mount, Malaysia’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability said it is examining mechanisms to draft specific legislation on transboundary haze, including Singapore’s approach. Singapore already has its own Transboundary Haze Pollution Act.
Dr. G. Pubadi, undersecretary of the ministry’s environmental management division, said Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Arthur Joseph Kurup had directed the formation of a special committee to study ways to strengthen efforts against the haze, The Edge Malaysia reported.
“The ministry is indeed examining the mechanisms already in place in Singapore to draft a specific act to address the haze issue. However, drafting an act is not a simple matter,” he said Thursday night on the Bernama TV program Ruang Bicara.
Pubadi said Malaysia had presented a proposal for a “science diplomacy” initiative and a sustainable haze fund at a regional meeting in Bali, Indonesia, which received support from Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
The proposal will be reviewed by the ASEAN Secretariat before it is taken to a meeting of 11 countries in Vietnam in December. Malaysia has also proposed more open sharing of haze-related data between countries in the region.
Rosli Zul, enforcement director at the Department of Environment, said the department operates 68 official air quality monitoring stations and advised the public to rely on its readings rather than other platforms using different measurement methods.
He said nearly 80 percent of complaints the department receives each year relate to open burning, which remains a major contributor to the haze, and that enforcement against it is being intensified.
Rosli said the onset of the northeast monsoon, expected around mid-October, could help ease the haze’s impact on Malaysia as wind patterns shift, even though fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan have not yet stopped. He said monitoring would be strengthened to ensure domestic fires do not become a source of haze after the monsoon’s arrival, using weather forecasting collaboration and satellite imagery.