It will focus on Selangor and Johor, which are still recording high Air Pollutant Index (API) readings, deputy minister Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis said.

She said the Malaysian Meteorological Department will collaborate with the Royal Malaysian Air Force to carry out the operation at 11am.

Isnaraissah said cloud seeding conducted in Sarawak on Thursday had successfully lowered the API readings in the state. Before this, Sarawak was the worse state affected by the haze, believed to have originated from open burning in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

“Cloud seeding will only be possible if the atmospheric and cloud conditions are favourable,” she said after she and Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow jointly flagged off the Chemistry Department’s 110 Years Heritage Run at Padang Kota Lama here today.

Isnaraissah said data from the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) showed that the haze in Peninsular Malaysia was also due to open burning in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

She said environment minister Yeo Bee Yin had offered assistance to Indonesia to put out the fires but there had been no response yet.

“It is important for us to address the source of the haze (because even) if we carried out the cloud seeding in Malaysia, it can only reduce the haze temporarily. The smoke will return,” she said.