First haze..1997

Of late here in and around Selangor- all schools are declared closed till Friday because the API is 200 and more....i too can actually inhale the smoke. Every year for the past 22 years since 1997( this was the year that it got pretty bad)  the haze is accepted as a normal thing that happens annually. 
When the haze arrives the blaming game just starts and as the haze goes off the blame goes off too. Top to be blame is always oil palm plantations, then the dry spell causing underground peat fires in mangrove area, bush fires and rubbish fires, the list goes on...  No preventive actions will go in place despite many expert views were considered during the haze. The solutions like the haze clears with no preventive actions ....just like that and we wait for next year !!! 
1997......it was also when the economic downturn was equally bad when currency traders devalued the ringgit making Malaysia's economy very bad until the government decided then to peg the ringgit to the USD at 3.8, much to the dislike of world bank ( many was super sceptical of the move then) BUT it did help stop the ringgit from falling further .
the stock market was hit pretty bad too.
The haze was no better then and business of face mask suddenly a boom where it normally cost just 20 sens goes up to retail at RM 2.50 ...at one time my hometown Kuching ( in the island of Borneo) recorded the API reading of over 1,000 which was higher than the stock market. I was feeling really scared for my family there then.
it took time for the haze to clear and to this days , solutions and options were aplenty during the haze but it clears as fast as the haze clears and next year will be another 'new' haze year...no sure preventive action in place to minimised or rid of the haze. it is like a norm now....how crazy can that be !!!