The regional haze crisis outlined in a sequence from The Office blows up on Reddit and Twitter

Any respectable fan of The Office (the American version at least) would find it hard to argue that the two-parter episode Stress Relief is the finest hour of the long-running series. 

Anyone living in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore would find it hard to argue as well that the currently ongoing transboundary haze crisis is one of the worst ones seen in years. 

Because it’s 2019 and anything can be meme-ified these days, the haze situation received a hilariously apt treatment via an ill-advised simulated fire drill. You can thank Malaysian netizen and serial Office memelord Izyan (@Izy0122 on Twitter) for this one. 

Some context for non-Office fans. The cold open for this episode — that premiered 10 years ago, damn we’re old — has the company’s Assistant (to the) Regional Manager Dwight Schrute being unhappy with how his co-workers aren’t taking his fire safety talk seriously. Being the lovable sociopath he is, Dwight decides to impart fire safety skills for real by setting the office ablaze, and shenanigans ensue. That scene gets combined with how Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are reacting to the haze.

[embed]https://twitter.com/lzy0122/status/1175285239297429504[/embed]

Surprisingly, everything seems appropriate — from Singaporeans smashing their way through pharmacies in Johor Bahru for stocks of N95 masks to Sri Aman, Sarawak collapsing amidst attempts by Indonesia to downplay the haze. A top-notch meme right here, folks. 

The video was initially posted on the Malaysia subreddit three days ago, and it clearly hit a chord with redditors. So far, u/Izyan’s post received over 3,000 upvotes as well as Platinum, Gold, and Silver Awards bequeathed by other redditors. 

[OC] The haze crisis summed up through The Office from r/malaysia

Izyan then reposted the video with sound on his Twitter page, where it went viral as well with over 55,000 retweets and more than 800,000 views. 

As hilarious as the meme is, it’s probably good to remember as well that the haze-causing forest fires in Indonesia have been gravely hazardous, with millions of people in Sumatra suffering from the thick smog and several deaths in relation to widespread blaze. Singapore and Malaysia were not spared from the noxious blanket of haze in the air as well. 

ilyas@asiaone.com