Choking cross-border air pollution from Indonesian wildfires forces the Malaysian prime minister to relocate his National Day address
2-MIN READ2-MINBloombergPublished: 11:00am, 28 Aug 2026Choking haze has forced Malaysia to move its leader’s annual National Day speech to an indoor venue from a public square, the communications ministry has said, underscoring the severity of cross-border pollution from severe wildfires in the region.Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, due to address the country on August 30 on the eve of Independence Day celebrations, will speak from a convention centre in the administrative capital Putrajaya instead of at Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka Square, a historic open area where independence was declared.Kuala Lumpur briefly had the world’s most polluted air late on Thursday, according to IQAir, and was second worst after Delhi on Friday morning with an air quality index score of 169. The Malaysian capital and surrounding suburbs are blanketed by haze that mostly originates from forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra in Indonesia, which is investigating those responsible. 01:31Indonesian police arrest 72 in connection with worsening firesDecisions regarding the traditional open-air parade will be made after taking into account views from the health and meteorology officials. The parade is typically held on the morning of August 31 at Merdeka Square, but the meteorological department said in a statement on Thursday that haze would persist at the capital until Independence Day.
Malaysia has used diplomacy to try and solve the transboundary haze issue, with Anwar seeking regional action through Association of Southeast Asian Nations mechanisms. Arthur Joseph Kurup, minister of natural resources and the environment, has previously said Malaysia had permission from Indonesia to cross into its border areas’ airspace to carry out cloud-seeding.
Malaysia’s Kuching city, in Sarawak state on the Malaysian side of the Borneo island, has also previously ranked as having the most polluted air in the world, as smoke from Kalimantan, Indonesia’s part of Borneo, drifts across the border. The meteorological department also warned that Sarawak’s air quality could cross into very unhealthy levels through August 31.
