ANTIDOTE The blanket of haze that drifts across Southeast Asia every year poses important questions about the governance of our region, and our economic policies.

The refusal of regional governments to confront these political and economic challenges means their citizens will continue to be suffocated by the smoke from the burning forests of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Haze has been recorded in the region for decades. Sarawakians remember lighter episodes in the 1970s: a light ashen sky and a bright orange sun in the late evenings of the dry months. Elders called it "the forest-burning season"...