Sabah on high alert as haze blankets Tawau and Kota Kinabalu with unhealthy air quality

Sabah woke Monday morning to air thick enough to see. Tawau, the district that sits along the border with North Kalimantan, had recorded an air pollution index of 153—well into unhealthy territory. Kota Kinabalu, the state capital, was not far behind at 122. Both readings came as of 11 a.m. on August 31, marking the moment when the state's environmental authorities formally shifted into alert mode. Sandakan and Keningau, by contrast, remained at moderate levels, suggesting the haze was concentrated in the northern and eastern reaches of the state.

The source of the problem was twofold. Across the border in Kalimantan, forest and peatland fires had been burning for weeks—over 1,000 separate fire hotspots had been detected by satellite. The smoke drifted north across the water and into Sabah's airspace, a phenomenon known as transboundary haze that the region has learned to expect during dry seasons. But Sabah had its own fire to contend with as well. On August 30, a fire tore through Kampung Numbak in Kota Kinabalu, destroying 202 stilt houses in a single incident. The blaze displaced residents and sent additional smoke into an already compromised atmosphere.

Nor Rashidah Mohd Ghazali, a representative of the Sabah Environment Department, confirmed that authorities were tracking the situation closely. She noted that the Kampung Numbak fire had directly worsened local air quality, though she emphasized that no other major fires had been reported in the immediate vicinity of Kota Kinabalu. Two smaller bush fires that had been detected by satellite imagery on August 29 in Tuaran and Kota Belud had already been fully extinguished, with no active hotspots remaining.

The timing was particularly precarious. Hot and dry weather across the state had created ideal conditions for fires to spread and for smoke to linger. In response, the Department of Environment intensified its enforcement operations, deploying patrols to areas historically prone to open burning. By the time the alert was issued, 474 patrols had already been conducted as part of the Open Burning Prevention Operation. The message from authorities was unambiguous: do not burn, and do not allow others to burn on your land.

The legal stakes were substantial. Under Section 29(A) of the Environmental Quality Act 1974, anyone convicted of open burning faced fines ranging from 25,000 Malaysian ringgit to 1 million ringgit, imprisonment of up to five years, or both. Compound penalties—a faster administrative route—could reach 2,000 ringgit or up to 500,000 ringgit. The department urged the public to report any open burning or fire incidents immediately to the Fire and Rescue Department at 999 or to the Environment Department's toll-free line at 1-800-88-2727. Residents were also encouraged to help extinguish small fires if they encountered them.

Sabah's situation stood in contrast to its neighbor Sarawak, which had managed to maintain relatively good air quality despite the dry spell and despite sitting equally close to the fires burning across the border in Kalimantan. The difference suggested that local fire prevention and enforcement made a measurable difference. The question now was whether the intensified patrols and public warnings would be enough to prevent the haze from deepening further as the dry season continued.