Haze has darkened the skies across Southeast Asia for decades. While the smoke keeps returning, our response to it has changed over the years. From investigating and collecting evidence of corporations linked to transboundary haze, and challenging the banks financing forest destruction, and pushing for stronger laws, to mobilising public pressure, demanding corporate accountability, and recognition of a healthy environment as a human right not just in Malaysia but at the ASEAN level.
This timeline looks back at the moments that helped turn haze from a recurring crisis into a wider fight for clean air and environmental justice. Follow the journey through investigations, creative resistance, people-powered action, and policy breakthroughs, to see what changed, who helped change it, and why the fight for haze-free air is far from over.
Now our NRES minister is talking about monitoring the situation, having discussions to increase efforts, and old tactics like cloud seeding operations to patch the symptoms of a persistent problem rather than addressing it at its roots or figuring out long-term measures to stop what’s affecting all of us.
