In Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan province, winds helped blow away the thick smog around 9:00 am, said Donny, of the local meteorology office.

"We have been inconvenienced by this smoke haze for about one month, with a burning smell and increasing ash content in the air," Donny said.

Thick haze also restricted visibility to below 100 meters (330 feet) in the early hours in several towns in neighbouring Central Kalimantan province, including Muara Teweh, Palangkaraya and Muara Kapuas.

But strong winds pushed the smog to the northeast and the heat of the sun reduced humidity, officials there said.

Sunardi, a meteorology official in Muara Teweh, said the heaviest haze was recorded September 9-18 when morning visibility was less than 100 metres.

"It looks like the haze is caused by smoke from forest and field fires in South Kalimantan province, especially around Pulau Pisau district," Sunardi said.

In the Central Kalimantan capital of Palangkaraya, morning visibility remained at 50 to 100 meters around 6:00 am but winds helped clear the sky by mid-morning, said Hidayat from the local meteorology office.

In West Kalimantan haze was thinner, reducing visibility to just under 500 meters in the morning hours before the sun and wind dispersed it, said Giri Darmoko of the local meteorology office.

Officials have blamed the choking haze on burning conducted for land clearing by both small farmers and large plantation businesses. Although the government has banned the practice since 2000, enforcement has been weak.

Last month, Kuala Lumpur and surrounding districts as well as the west coast of Malaysia were smothered with a choking layer of haze from forest fires on Indonesia's Sumatra island.

In 1997 and 1998 haze caused mainly by Indonesian forest fires enveloped parts of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Singapore, for months.

related report
Southeast Asia Aims To Tackle Fire Haze
Kuala Lumpur, Sept 20 (AFP) - Southeast Asian environment ministers will try to find a long-term solution to the region's annual fire haze problem at a meeting in Manila next week, Malaysia and Singapore said Tuesday.

Malaysia's Environment Minister Adenam Satem said the talks would tackle the transboundary air pollution problem and ways to prevent it, the Bernama news agency reported.

The choking haze - blamed on forest and peat fires and open burning on plantations in Indonesia and parts of Malaysia - again enveloped both countries and the south of Thailand this year.

Singapore's Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, in Malaysia for a bilateral meeting, said that in spite of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) haze agreement, there was a need for improved prevention.

He said discussions at the ministerial meeting might lead to haze making the agenda at an ASEAN summit in December, Bernama reported.

"We want to take concrete steps to tackle the problem," Yaacob said, adding that the haze problem had adversely affected tourism in the region.

ASEAN environment ministers and their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea are due to meet in Manila for four days from September 26.

Malaysia and Singapore have called for a more coordinated response from ASEAN to the annual haze problem, which in 1997-98 cost the region some 9 billion dollars by disrupting air travel, tourism and other business.

Malaysia has been worst hit by the smoke and dust, which in August sent air pollution to extremely hazardous levels and forced schools and an airport to close.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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