Indonesia’s President Jokowi says he is “embarrassed” by fires

More than 328,000 hectares of land have been burned so far, mostly in Sumatra island, hundreds of residents evacuated, and more than 9,000 army and government personnel deployed to battle the fires.

Fires, and and side-effect of smoke haze and air pollution, are a persistent problem during the summer months caused by burn-offs to clear the land, the same practice that led to fires in the Brazilian Amazon earlier this year.

The Singapore and Malaysian governments have expressed their official concerns, and insults, as the two nations have choked in a dense haze for the past week as a result of the fires. More than 600 schools have closed in Malaysia because of the air pollution affecting hundreds of thousands of students, according to the Straits Times.

Schools in Sumatra and Borneo islands have also shut, with air quality considered “hazardous” to health in several areas, although the Indonesian government is playing down the effects of the burn-offs.