Group plans march to Indonesian Embassy to protest haze

KUALA LUMPUR: A group of citizens are planning to march to the Indonesian Embassy on Friday to protest the haze currently engulfing Malaysia.

The group plans on gathering at the KLCC Park at 9am Friday before marching to the embassy some 2km away.

In a Facebook post addressed to Indonesian president Joko Widodo, they demanded that Indonesia deal with the problem right away.

"We note that this year the haze is as bad as ever, with the unhealthy air quality forcing our authorities to shut schools in four states and divert dozens of flights.

"This is despite the fact that your government finally signed the Asean Haze Agreement after a 14-year delay," it read.

It added that if Indonesia did not deal with the problem, then the group would take the fight to plantation companies it claimed were responsible for the haze.

Lead organiser Lim Teck Wyn said he came up with the idea because he was sick of the haze.

"I'm organising it because I got a bit of a cough. I miss the blue skies and clear air," he said.

He added that he wasn't expecting a large crowd on Friday, and as such wasn't "too worried" about disturbing traffic.

When asked if he informed police of the march, Lim said he was in the midst of doing that.

He said that handing over the memorandum would be the first step, and was not optimistic that the problem would be solved soon.

At 5pm, Terengganu's Kemaman recorded the highest Air Pollutant Index readings in the country at 192.

Large parts of the Peninsular and Sarawak have also been shrouded by haze.