A haze in Sarawak caused by forest and ground fires from neighbouring Indonesia has improved, but two districts continue to post unhealthy levels, a senior official said today.

"Two stations in Sarawak Kapit and Samarahan posted unhealthy readings," Lee Heng Keng, control director of the department of environment told AFP .

He said the air quality in four other monitoring stations Kuching, Sarikei, Sri Aman and Petra Jaya now showed moderate readings. These stations posted unhealthy readings yesterday.

An early downpour helped clear the haze, a department official in Kuching told AFP . But he warned that it was only temporary since the forest fire in Indonesia's West Kalimantan has not been put off.

"The haze is from forest fires burning out of control in Kalimantan. If the fire is not put out, the haze will return. I think it is only a temporary reprieve, thanks to to Mother Earth's intervention," he said.

The official said some motorists in Sarawak's capital have put on face masks to protect themselves from the choking air.

Release API readings

Gurmit Singh, adviser to the Environmental Protection Society Malaysia urged the government to release a regular pollution index advisory so that the public can protect themselves.

"The public will have to don gas masks and not just some other mask against gasses and other particles," he said.

The government has been reluctant to release the air pollution index, fearing it may scare away tourists.

But Malaysia has also expressed fears of a repeat of the 1997 smog crisis that enveloped parts of Southeast Asia.

Environment Minister Law Hieng Ding will lead a team of Malaysian experts to West Kalimantan later this week to determine the cause of the forest fires, and meet his Indonesian counterpart Nabiel Makarim.

Earlier this month on the sidelines of the Earth Summit, Law voiced Malaysia's concern to Makarim over fresh fires on Indonesia's Borneo and Sumatra islands blamed on illegal loggers and farmers.

Law last month wrote a letter to Makarim to complain about the annual haze hazard, which has also hit Brunei, Singapore and Thailand.

'What can he do?'

Gurmit downplayed the significance of Law's visit. "What can he do?. The haze problem has now become an annual feature."

Southeast Asia has been battling the smog problem annually since 1997 when parts of the region were blanketed for months, causing serious health problems and economic losses estimated at RM35 billion.

Although this year's haze is less serious than in 1997-98, Indonesia is still under pressure from its neighbours to act.