Can we make it rain?
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@ green | July-August. 2026
@ green says...
Can we make it rain?
AS Malaysia battles another spell of haze, the phrase " cloud seeding " has once again entered the national conversation.
But cloud seeding is not quite as simple as pressing a button and making rain appear.
Malaysia has been conducting cloud-seeding operations in haze-affected areas, including Sarawak, where authorities have been working with the Malaysian Meteorological Department( MET), NADMA and the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The operations depend heavily on weather conditions, including the presence and movement of suitable clouds.
In simple terms, cloud seeding attempts to encourage existing clouds to produce more rainfall by introducing particles that help water droplets or ice crystals form and grow. It cannot create rain from a completely cloudless sky. That limitation matters. In the current haze situation, rain can help wash pollutants from the air and dampen fires. But it cannot put out every fire, eliminate every hotspot or address the practices that allowed those fires to start in the first place.
Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas put it plainly when discussing the State ' s cloud-seeding efforts: rainfall could help reduce the haze, but authorities could not promise it would disappear because the source of the smoke also had to be addressed. That distinction is important. Technology can give us tools to respond to environmental crises. But technology should not become an excuse to avoid confronting their causes.
This year ' s haze has already pushed Malaysia into extraordinary territory. Serian ' s Air Pollutant Index( API) reached 519 on Sep 4, triggering an emergency declaration before conditions improved and the declaration was lifted. Yet haze remains a concern, with unhealthy readings continuing across parts of Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.
Cloud seeding may help bring temporary relief.
But no technology can seed away a forest fire, restore a degraded peatland, or replace responsible land management.
Perhaps that is the bigger lesson from this haze season.
We should welcome every tool that can help clear the air. But we should focus even more on ensuring there is less smoke to clear in the first place.
Because the best haze solution is not simply more rain.
It is preventing the fires that create the haze.
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