September 2015. View from a swimming pool rooftop. the terrible "haze" which has been suffocating Singapore and Malaysia over the past weeks. The haze is a huge cloud of smoke originating in the near palm plantations of Indonesia, where farmers twice a year set the forests on fire in order to fertilize the soil. The concentration of toxic particles has reached unprecedented high levels this time, causing the schools to be closed and many flights to be canceled, and obliging the citizens of Singapore and many Malaysian cities to wear gas masques in the streets.