Dr Asma Zafirah doesn’t need satellite images to know when Kalimantan is burning. She sees it in the watery eyes and laboured breaths of the patients at her clinic in Sarawak, and the children who are kept home from school to protect them from the toxic air.Southeast Asia’s transboundary haze crisis was meant to have been brought under control six years ago.But Borneo is once again belching out dangerous emissions, as fires in the peatlands and forests of Kalimantan – Indonesia’s section of the island – send a wall of pollutants across Malaysia’s Sarawak and on to the wider region.
SRCSouth China Morning Post
LANGEN
LEANCenter-Right
WORDS100
ENT8
SAT · 2026-09-12 · 00:00 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0912-110669
NSR-2026-0912-110669News Report·EN·Public Health
Up in smoke: why Southeast Asia failed to halt the haze
Southeast Asia is experiencing a renewed haze crisis, with fires in Kalimantan, Indonesia, releasing dangerous emissions across Malaysia's Sarawak and the wider region. Dr.
Aidan Jones,Iman Muttaqin Yusof,Kolette Lim,Ushar DanieleSouth China Morning PostFiled 2026-09-12 · 00:00 GMTLean · Center-RightRead · 1 min
South China Morning PostFIG 01
Reading time
1min
Word count
100words
Sources cited
1cited
Entities identified
8entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01
Briefing Summary
AI-generatedNEWSAR · AI
Southeast Asia is experiencing a renewed haze crisis, with fires in Kalimantan, Indonesia, releasing dangerous emissions across Malaysia's Sarawak and the wider region. Dr. Asma Zafirah in Sarawak witnesses the health impacts firsthand through her patients' symptoms and children staying home from school. This transboundary haze crisis, which was intended to be resolved six years ago, is again affecting the region due to fires in Kalimantan's peatlands and forests. The article highlights the ongoing failure to control these emissions despite previous commitments.
Confidence 0.85Sources 1Claims 4Entities 8
§ 02
Article analysis
Model · rule-basedFraming
Public Health
Environmental
Tone
Mixed Tone
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.70 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
1
Limited
FewMany
§ 03
Key claims
4 extracted01
Children are being kept home from school due to the toxic air.
quoteDr. Asma Zafirah
Confidence
1.00
02
Fires in Kalimantan's peatlands and forests are releasing dangerous emissions causing haze in Sarawak and the wider region.
factual
Confidence
1.00
03
Southeast Asia's transboundary haze crisis was intended to be under control six years ago.
factual
Confidence
1.00
04
Dr. Asma Zafirah observes the effects of the haze on patients in her clinic, including watery eyes and breathing difficulties.
quoteDr. Asma Zafirah
Confidence
1.00
§ 04
Full report
1 min read · 100 words§ 05
Entities
8 identifiedKey playerOppositionContextPositiveNeutralNegative
Locations6
§ 06
Keywords & salience
8 termssoutheast asia haze crisis
1.00
kalimantan fires
0.90
peatland fires
0.80
toxic air
0.70
transboundary pollution
0.70
sarawak
0.60
public health
0.50
environmental regulation
0.40
§ 07
Topic connections
Interactive graph Network visualization showing 44 related topics
View Full Graph Person Organization Location Event|Click node to navigate|Edge numbers = shared articles