{"id":2669,"date":"2026-10-14T13:03:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T08:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2669"},"modified":"2026-10-14T13:03:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T08:03:50","slug":"singapore-air-pollution-hits-2026-high-as-east-timor-closes-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2669","title":{"rendered":"Singapore air pollution hits 2026 high as east timor closes schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Pollution readings in Singapore reached their highest level this year on Wednesday \u200cwhile East Timor shut its schools for three days in response to intensifying smoke and haze from Indonesia\u2019s wildfires.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Singapore\u2019s 1-hour PM2.5 reading hit a high of 284 micrograms per cubic metre in the western part of the island state, entering the National Environmental Agency\u2019s \u201cvery high\u201d band for \u200bthe first time during the current haze period.<\/p>\n

The East Timor government said in a statement that it was suspending \u200bface-to-face learning activities for three days starting from October 15 \u201cdue to contamination by pollutant particles \u2060from wildfires in neighbouring regions or countries\u201d.<\/p>\n

East Timor did not identify Indonesia by name, but it shares an island with \u200ba part of Indonesia\u2019s East Nusa Tenggara province, where several hotspots have been reported.<\/p>\n

Indonesia has been battling its most \u200bintense wildfire season in 11 years, fueled by El Ni\u00f1o-related dry weather conditions.<\/p>\n

The haze has caused a spike in respiratory illnesses at home and a dramatic decline in air quality across the region, with several states in Malaysia also forced to shut down schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In October 2015, Indonesian wildfires \u200bbrought PM2.5 levels in the west of Singapore up to a national record of 471 micrograms per cubic metre.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2018Treat them like an outcast\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Indonesia\u2019s President Prabowo Subianto has ordered additional resources to be deployed to combat the wildfires.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are mobilising all our resources and \u200ccapabilities,\u201d said \u2060Honi Havana, an official at the Coordinating Ministry for Political and Security Affairs, during a Wednesday press briefing.<\/p>\n

He said Jakarta has deployed more than 69,000 firefighting personnel, up from around 44,000 in mid-September, and it was also testing new methods to put out fires more effectively using special chemicals.<\/p>\n

Authorities have been struggling with peatland fires, which smoulder slowly beneath the surface and can re-emerge anytime, said disaster \u200bmitigation agency spokesperson Berton Panjaitan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe \u200bmust recognise that the \u2060only way to resolve this is through sustained rainfall,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As Southeast Asian foreign ministers prepare to discuss the issue of transboundary haze at an ASEAN meeting next month<\/a>, criticism<\/a> of Indonesia \u200bhas continued to mount across the region.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Malaysian lawmaker Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman \u200bcalled on Southeast \u2060Asian nations to lodge a diplomatic protest against Jakarta for failing to do enough to control the fires.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must send a strong diplomatic note that Malaysia objects, and that not only Malaysia objects, but it must also be agreed upon by other ASEAN countries that are similarly affected, such as \u2060Singapore. We \u200bmust send a very clear diplomatic protest,\u201d he told parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to treat them \u200blike an outcast in the region,\u201d he said, adding that Malaysian and Singaporean banks should cut off financing to companies linked to land burning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pollution readings in Singapore reached their highest level this year on Wednesday \u200cwhile East Timor shut its schools for three days in response to intensifying smoke and haze from Indonesia\u2019s wildfires. Singapore\u2019s 1-hour PM2.5 reading hit a high of 284 micrograms per cubic metre in the western part of the island state, entering the National Environmental Agency\u2019s \u201cvery high\u201d band for \u200bthe first time during the current haze period. The East Timor government said in a statement that it was suspending \u200bface-to-face learning activities for three days starting from October…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}