Air Pollutant Index reading for the country fared much better today with only one area being listed as 'unhealthy'. This is a far cry from 13 areas in the same category two days ago.

The sole unhealthy spot was Bukit Rambai in Malacca at 111. Earlier in the day, the reading at this area was 124.

Reading for Malacca city which was listed as 'unhealthy' with an API of 134 in the morning was not available in the evening.

Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya both showed 'moderate' readings in the evening, 69 and 67 respectively. In the morning, their readings stood at 71 and 73.

In all, the 5pm readings by the Department of Environment showed 33 'moderate' areas, 14 areas with 'good' air quality and one area in Malacca 'unhealthy'.

Readings for three areas - Malacca city, Tawau and Sandakan - were not available at 5pm. In the morning, their API stood at 134, 67 and 56.

The change in the air quality is attributed to heavy showers and directional winds in the past two days.

The latest API reading by the Department of Environment can be seen here .

Regional meeting

Meanwhile, AFP reports that Singapore has invited regional environment ministers to discuss "urgent" ways of tackling the smoke haze blighting the region at a meeting on Friday.

"We've invited them to come to Singapore for a meeting," a spokesman for the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources told AFP.

A separate government press release issued late Tuesday said Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim had invited his counterparts from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei to the meeting on Friday.

"The meeting will discuss urgent and long-term measures that the countries could undertake to tackle the regional haze problem," the statement said.

Indonesia's foreign ministry spokesman, Yuri Thamrin, said the meeting would be held in Pekanbaru city on Sumatra island's Riau province, near Singapore.

The Singapore ministry spokesman said he had no further information.

Malaysia's Natural Resources and Environment Minister Azmi Khalid said his Singapore counterpart had proposed the talks after haze pushed air quality to unhealthy levels in the city-state and most of Malaysia.

"It is a suggestion we meet with some of the ministers from Asean countries to discuss the matter," Azmi told AFP , referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"It's just to have some sort of dialogue to put pressure on Indonesia and maybe make them understand others' problems, our problems," Azmi said.

Anger has been growing in Malaysia over the choking haze from illegal fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia, which every year drifts over parts of Southeast Asia - damaging health and disrupting transport and tourism.

Azmi said he went to Indonesia in June to discuss the problem and was less than impressed with Jakarta's efforts.

"They informed me they have all the mechanisms in place to prevent haze and put out the fires," he said.

"Of course, when you see the haze now, the conclusion can only be made that whatever mechanisms they have are not effective."

Partial success

Indonesia insisted on Tuesday that its efforts to subdue the land-clearing fires have been partially successful.

Forestry minister Malem Kaban said the number of illegal fires had been drastically cut in recent days.

The haze lightened over Malaysia today but continued to blanket parts of the Indonesian portion of Borneo island.

On Saturday Singapore's environment agency issued a health advisory as a thick haze from fires in Indonesia choked the city-state and surrounding region.

Indonesia's annual burn-off causes a haze that typically smothers parts of Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as well as Indonesia itself.

The Indonesian government has outlawed land-clearing by fire but weak enforcement means the ban is largely ignored.