Malaysian Journal of Environmental Management 12(1) (2011): 3-14

The Environment as Our Natural Heritage: Issues and Challenges for

Sustainable Development in Malaysia
JAMALUDDIN MD. JAHI

ABSTRACT
There is nothing more natural as a heritage than the natural physical environment. The air, water, flora
and fauna and the land and soil are all the important components of the natural physical environment.
They are the natural heritage that has been handed down to us by our ancestors and the same will be
handed down to the present and future generations. However, human beings in their quest for a better
standard of living and quality of life have often forgotten that their utilisation of the physical
environment also leads to environmental degradation. A number of issues related to environmental
degradation can be traced even as far back as the beginning of rapid growth of human population and
their activities. Human habitat development from mere simple dwellings to present mega cities have
impacted on and transformed the natural physical environment and threatening not only our natural
heritage, but also human security. Such a situation certainly poses an added challenge on how to
manage our environment in a sustainable manner. This article deals with three main aspects namely the
natural physical environment as a heritage; various issues resulting from human utilisation of the
physical environment; and challenges for sustainable development in this country.
Key words: natural physical environment, natural heritage, environmental deterioration, sustainable
development

ABSTRAK
Tidak ada yang lebih semula jadi sebagai warisan selain daripada alam sekitar fizikal semula jadi.
Udara, air, flora dan fauna serta tanah dan tanih kesemuanya merupakan komponen penting alam
sekitar fizikal semula jadi. Kesemuanya adalah merupakan warisan semula jadi yang telah diturunkan
oleh nenek moyang kita kepada kita dan perkara yang sama akan kita turunkan kepada generasi
sekarang dan yang akan datang. Bagaimanapun, dalam rangka untuk memperoleh taraf dan kualiti
hidup yang lebih baik, manusia selalu lupa bahawa dalam rangka mereka menggunakan alam sekitar
fizikal mereka juga menyebabkan kemerosotan alam sekitar. Terdapat banyak isu berkaitan
kemerosotan alam sekitar sejak dari permulaan pertumbuhan pesat populasi manusia dan aktiviti
mereka. Pembangunan habitat manusia dari tempat tinggal yang mudah kepada bandaraya mega pada
masa ini telah mengimpak dan mentransformasikan alam sekitar fizikal dan mengancam bukan hanya
warisan semula jadi, tetapi juga keselamatan manusia. Keadaan tersebut tentunya menambahkan
cabaran bagaimana untuk mengurus alam sekitar dengan mapan. Artikel ini menyentuh tentang tiga
aspek utama iaitu alam sekitar fizikal sebagai suatu warisan; pelbagai isu disebabkan oleh penggunaan
alam sekitar fizikal oleh manusia; dan cabaran untuk pembangunan mapan di negara ini.
Kata kunci: alam sekitar fizikal, warisan semula jadi, kemerosotan alam sekitar, pembangunan
mapan

4 Jamaluddin Md. Jahi

INTRODUCTION
A large number of people do appreciate about the environment. However, lesser number of
people actively realise the importance of the environment to our life and willing to protect it,
and further, very few of us would pause and ponder that the environment is a natural heritage
that has been handed down to us by our ancestors and need to be protected to be utilised and
handed down in its most natural form to the future generations. For centuries the natural
environment has been utilised by human beings in their quest to achieve a better standard of
living, more often than not, at the expense of degrading the natural physical environment.
The natural physical environment is very fragile, but unfortunately its utilisation and
exploitation has led to severe environmental damage and degradation. Topping the list of the
loss of natural heritage throughout the world is deforestation. The quest for land either for
agriculture, settlement, mining, industry, or building of infrastructure has led to the clearing up
of forest land. Coupled with these, forests have been logged down for timber either for export
or domestic consumption. Actually, deforestation also leads to a number of other problems
such as the loss of top-soil due to erosion, pollution and silting up of rivers, reservoirs and
estuaries, loss of water retention in the watershed, loss of flora and fauna and changing the
local climate. The losses and the consequences of deforestation are interlinked, so as also the
components of the natural physical environment.
Realising the importance of the natural physical environment to human survival various
efforts have been carried out by a number of countries and the world governing body, the
United Nations since the 1970s. Starting with the United Nations Conference on Human
Environment held in Stockholm in 1972, the agenda was picked up in the 1980s by the World
Commission on Environment and Development. The work of the World Commission resulted
in the Brundtland Report which was published in April 1987, and has been heralded probably
as the most important document ever compiled last century to guide human usage of the fragile
environment. The report introduced the concept of sustainable development that is defined as
meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs (Starke 1990). The eight principles that govern the concept of
sustainable development highlight the needs to include environmental consideration in all
development undertakings (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987). The
concept of sustainable development was further reinforced in Agenda 21 during the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and during
Rio +10 Conference in Johannesburg.
The subsequent inclusion of the concept of sustainable development in the National
Environmental Policy (Ministry of Science, Technology & the Environment 2002) and
prioritized by the Department of Environment in its efforts at managing the environment will
certainly augur well for the environment. However, there are a number of issues related to the
environment that have been of concern where some are not only threatening, but also depleting
the natural heritage.
The development process in the quest to achieve a fully developed nation status by the
year 2020 will certainly be further intensified and if there is no improvement in terms of
environmental management efforts and strategies it is envisaged that the environment will
further deteriorate. In fact, it has been mentioned a number of times in various environmental
forum that at the speed the country is presently being developed (despite the present economic
woes) and at the rate of environmental management efforts trying to keep pace with the
development, a number of environmental problems still cropped up. Therefore, it is imperative
that new strategies and plans are required to handle environmental issues in the light of more
intensified development activities. The new strategies and plans to manage the environment
would perhaps require a change in attitude and outlook of environmental managers, policy
makers, project proponents, and even politicians.

Malaysian Journal of Environmental Management 12(1) (2011): 3-14

Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 5

THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT AS A NATURAL HERITAGE

The natural physical environment can easily be regarded as a natural heritage as it has
withstood the forces of nature ever since the earth was formed thousand millions of years ago.
The natural physical environment consists of four major components or subsystems namely the
atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the biosphere and the lithosphere that are uniquely interactive in
nature. The various subsystems are closely inter-linked through their own natural processes and
the myriad of interactions ensures an equilibrium condition is achieved through space and time
(Jamaluddin Md. Jahi & Ismail Ahmad 1988).
Interactions between the various subsystems are of vital importance to human beings. In
fact, each individual component of the physical environment has the ability to fulfil a variety of
human requirements. The atmosphere supplies the most vital gas in the form of oxygen directly
to human beings for respiration and there are also other gases in the atmosphere such as carbon
dioxide and nitrogen that are important to human life, indirectly. The atmosphere is also used
for aviation for connecting people from far away places. Lithosphere, which forms the surface
of the earth is not only important as a platform where societies can build settlements and carry
out their activities, but also forms a base for the growth and livelihood of various species of
flora and fauna. It is also used as a base for agriculture and various other human activities and
embedded in it, either on land or under water, are many natural resources such as minerals that
can fulfil human needs. The hydrosphere supplies water to support life and are used in various
other forms such as for the purpose of navigation, to support agriculture, recreation and as a
source of numerous varieties of aquatic foods. The biosphere, where human being is part of it,
supplies societies with food and other resources in the form of flora and fauna. Therefore, it is
very clear that the various physical components rely on each other to form a natural process
system and in turn they are linked to the human use system.
Over the past several decades, scientists understanding of the complexities of the earth
system has evolved to a point where they now recognise that the components of the system are
inextricably intertwined. A change in one part of the earths system has repercussion for other
parts often in ways that are neither obvious nor immediately apparent. Indeed, the physical
environment is very sensitive to disturbance either natural or due to human activities
(Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 1996; Jamaluddin Md. Jahi & Ismail Ahmad 1988). Natural disturbances
always exist. However, in most cases the natural disturbances always act towards achieving a
dynamic equilibrium state. In fact, according to Odum (1971) and Turk et al. (1978), dynamic
equilibrium can be achieved naturally, but the time frame of the whole process depends on the
magnitude of the disturbance. In the case of disturbance as a result of human activities, the
physical environment will still have the ability to upset it as long as the disturbance does not
exceed its optimum ability to achieve equilibrium. Once the optimum level is exceeded, the
physical environment starts to deteriorate.
The physical environment that we inherited must have obviously been utilised by our
ancestors in the past. The question is what natural physical environment have we inherited?
Obviously it is not the same as when it was formed. It should also be realised that the damage
that society causes to the environment is a product of three factors: the total number of people,
how much each person consumes to maintain his or her standard of living, and how much
environmental damage is incurred in producing the goods consumed. Apparently our ability to
change the natural physical environment increases along with our numbers, our quest for and
achievement of affluence, and our technological and institutional capabilities. Human
utilisation of the physical environment was started only about 2.5 million years ago which is
just a small fraction of the time frame of earths geological history (Jamaluddin Md. Jahi
2010a). Even then, human number was small and their activities were very minimal to have
any impact on the natural physical environment.
However, since the last century, especially after the Second World War, the world
population started to increase manifolds from about 2.3 billion in 1945 to about 6.2 billion in
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6 Jamaluddin Md. Jahi

2005, and is expected to reach more than 9 billion by the middle of this century (Gore 2006).
Parallel with the increase in population is also the increase in human activities that carry with
them greater use of material, technology and energy for development. The rate of development
alongside the rapid increase in population has led to environmental quality deterioration.
Unfortunately, we often forget that the natural physical environment is the most important asset
to human beings. Human beings cannot possibly survive without air, water, food and shelter.
Therefore, it is important that the natural physical environment is protected and conserved as
natural heritage in order to overcome some of the environmental problems and issues that are
threatening human very existence (Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 2010a, 2010b).
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES DUE TO DEVELOPMENT
The changes facing the environment today are distinguished from previous changes by the scale
and pace with which they are occurring or are likely to occur. Over the geologic past,
conditions in the atmosphere, ocean, and biosphere have for the most part followed natural
cycles. Now, human activities are a significant force driving changes that lead to
environmental quality deterioration (Buchholz 1998), which is a manifestation of the
interaction between natural process system and human-use system (Figure 1).

NATURAL PROCESS
SYSTEM

HUMAN USE SYSTEM

Atmosphere

Respiration, aviation.

Hydrosphere

Water supply, agriculture, fisheries,

navigation.
Settlement, agriculture, transport,
mineral etc.
Food & natural resources

Lithosphere
Biosphere

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY DETERIORATION

Deforestation, soil erosion, siltation, flood, drought; Air & noise
pollution; River & marine pollution; Solid waste pollution;
Toxic & hazardous waste pollution etc.

Figure 1. Environmental quality deterioration resulting from interactions between

human use system and natural process system
Source: Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 1996, 2004

We need to develop to improve quality of life however, since the industrial revolution
when the world population stood at about 1 billion, human beings started to use more material,
utilised more energy, and introduced improved technology and started to really change the
scenario of the natural physical environment. More and more natural products were utilised,
more fossil fuels were burnt through discoveries of new and improved technology. All in all
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Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 7

technology advancement has enabled human beings to achieve further social, cultural and
economic development. Nevertheless, alongside human progress and development there is also
the presence of issues in the form of environmental degradation which leads to the loss of
natural heritage, problems with legislation and enforcement, and human-related issues.
Environmental Degradation and Loss of Natural Heritage
Actually, issues related to the physical environment are easily identifiable. In terms of the
biosphere, deforestation is said to be one of the contributors to the depletion of global carbon
sinks and affect temperature, soil erosion, deposition in streams and causes increased intensity
and frequency of flooding. Disturbance on the biosphere system also leads to the loss of water
resources, drought, desertification and the extinction of flora and fauna. The hydrosphere is
also affected through water pollution that will disrupt the supply of clean water for domestic
and industrial use. Human utilisation of the litosphere and pedosphere have been known to
cause hazards in the form of landslide, mudslide and subsidence.
In Malaysia, the exploitation of forest and forest products (whether legal or illegal) have
resulted in the loss of biological diversity. In fact, development process has also endangered
certain endemic species of trees in the country (Abdul Latif Mohamad 2000). Such losses in
biological diversity is a great lost to our natural heritage which could have been avoided or
prevented if environmental management is carried out properly (Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 2002).
The problem of soil erosion and silting in rivers and water courses started with the
opening-up of land for tin mining and shifting agriculture activities for cash crops during the
earlier part of the colonial period (Aiken et al. 1982). This was further intensified when more
forested land was cleared to make way for rubber estates towards the end of the 19th century
and the beginning of the 20th century. The situation became more serious with mining activities
in the beginning and subsequently with logging activities, the opening up of land for agriculture
and settlements, urbanisation, housing, industry and infrastructure development (Jamaluddin
Md. Jahi 2002). Even hill slopes were not spared resulting in landslides and massive soil
erosion. Further consequences of deforestation due to various activities have affected water
resources, water supply due to the silting-up of reservoirs, changing water courses and flooding
due to sedimentation and water pollution.
River pollution has also led to hardships and disruption of activities when reservoir and
water intake points had to close operation and disrupting water supply to domestic users and
industries (Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 1999; Jamaluddin Md. Jahi et al. 2009). Even coastal areas are
not spared due to development activities such as eco-tourism where inadequate freshwater, saltwater intrusion, poor sanitation, destruction of corals and other attractions, over-fishing are
common (Chan 2008).
Actually the destruction of forests due to development not only leads to loss of biological
diversity for both flora and fauna, but also the problem of air pollution in the form of haze due
to open burning and forest fires. Haze pollution is said to have caused stunted growth and
reduced yield of both natural and planted species. The loss of natural forest and its subsequent
impacts on other natural physical components of the environment is in reality a loss of natural
heritage which calls for a sound and comprehensive environmental management system.
Problem with Legislation and Enforcement
An early form of management response to impending environmental problems was legislation.
The initiative began with the introduction of the Straits Settlement Ordinance No.3, 1904 which
was gazetted to protect certain species of wild birds from being threatened. This was followed
by a number of other legislation including the Waters Enactment 1920. Presently there are at
least 45 federal environment-related legislation in Malaysia (Table 1). Most of the legislation
were not formulated to deal with the environment in general. Most of them seek to regulate
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8 Jamaluddin Md. Jahi

human activities that may directly or indirectly affect the quality of the environment. Some are
preventive in nature for the purpose of controlling or reducing any possible environmental
deterioration. Most of them are legislation dealing with policy with respect to certain
environmental resources to ensure uniformity in use by the various states. They were enacted
to promote sound house-keeping practices in specific sectors. However, most of the legislation
formulated before the Environmental Quality Act, 1974 do not contain criteria and standards.
Even those that contain standards such as the Mining Rules, 1934, were inadequate.
Table 1. Federal environment-related legislation

1. The Straits Settlement Ordinance, No.3, 1904

2. Water Enactment, Chapter 146, 1920 (Revised), Act 418, 1989
3. Mining Enactment, Chapter 147, 1929
4. Forest Enactment, Chapter 153, 1935
5 Natural Resources Ordinance, 1949
6. Poisons Ordinance, 1952 (Revised) Act 366, 1989
7. Merchant Shipping Ordinance, 1952
8. Sales of Food and Drugs Ordinance, No. 28, 1952 (Revised) Act 368, 1989
9. Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, No. 30, 1952 (Revised),1980
10. Federation Port Rules, 1953
11. Irrigation Areas Ordinance, No. 31, 1953 (Revised), 1989
12. Drainage Works Ordinance, No. 1, 1954 (Revised) Act 354, 1988
13. Medicine (Sales and Advertisement) Ordinance, No. 10, 1956
14. Explosives Ordinance, 1957
15. The Road Traffic Ordinance, 1958
16. Land Conservation Act, Act 3, 1960 (Revised), 1989
17. National Land Code, Act 56 and P. P 474, 1965
18. Housing Development Act (Licensing and Control), 1965
19. Radioactive Substances Act, Act 17, 1968
20. Civil Aviation Act, Act 3, 1969
21. Malaria Eradication Act, Act 52, 1971
22. Continental Shelf Act, Act 83, 1966 (Revised), 1972
23. Petroleum Mining Act, Act 95, 1966 (Revised), 1972
24. City of Kuala Lumpur (Planning Act), Act 107, 1973 (Repealed), 1982
25. Environmental Quality Act, Act 127, 1974 (Amended 1985; 1996)
26. Geological Survey Act, Act 129, 1974
27. Street, Drainage and Building Act, Act 133, 1974
28. Aboriginal Peoples Act, 1954, Act 134 (Revised), 1974
29. Factories and Machinery Act, 1967, Act 139 (Revised), 1974
30. Pesticides Act, Act 149, 1974
31. Destruction of Disease-Bearing Insects Act, Act 154, 1975
32. Municipal and Town Boards (Amend mend) Act, Act A289, 1975
33. Protection of Wildlife Act, Act 76, 1972, (Revised) 1976
34. Antiquities Act, Act 168, 1976
35. Local Government Act, Act 171, 1976
36. Town and Country Planning Act, Act 172, 1976
37. National Parks Act, Act 226, 1980
38. Malaysian Highway Authority Act, Act 231, 1980
39. Atomic Energy Licensing Act, Act 304, 1984
40. Exclusive Economic Zone Act, Act 311, 1984
41. National Forestry Act, Act 313, 1984
42. Fisheries Act, 1963, Act 317, 1985
43. Sewage Services Act, Act 508, 1993
44. Occupational Safety and Health Act, Act 514, 1994
45. Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) Act, Act 515, 1994
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Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 9

46. Mineral Development Act, Act 525, 1994

47. Public Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act, Act 672, 2007
Source: Revised from Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 1991, 1996, 2001

Management of matters related to the environment is actually guided by the Federal and
State Constitutions and the legislation made under the purview of these constitutions. However
clear the provisions in the constitutions and the individual enabling legislation are, without
clear knowledge of the constitutions and without cross-reference on the use of the numerous
legislation, there are bound to be issues and problems in their implementation.
Prior to the Environmental Quality Act, 1974, most of the legislation, which were sectoral
in nature, do not contain standards for enforcement purposes. Under Section 51 (1) of the Act,
the Minister of Science, Technology and Environment, after consultation with the
Environmental Quality Council, is allowed to make various regulations for the protection of the
environment. These regulations can prescribe standards and criteria for pollution such as in the
case of water, air, noise, toxic and hazardous wastes, and determine the quantum of fines to be
imposed. This is not always the case with other legislation (Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 1991).
The situation looks more awkward whereby early legislation to control mining activities
were not actually enacted for the effluents discharged by mines, but for the control of timber
used in smelting. Additional laws were aimed at limiting tree species that could be logged.
These legislation had helped in curbing some of the problems of deforestation (Jamaluddin Md.
Jahi & Mohd Nordin Hasan 1996).
State Governments have jurisdiction over their own forest resources: the Federal
Government only provides guidance on management and development, undertaking research
and development, and promoting industrialization and marketing. In 1984, the National
Forestry Act was enacted to standardize and strengthen administration, management,
conservation and development of forest in the Malaysia states.
Other than the establishment of forest reserves, the National Forestry Act, 1984 contains
provisions on procedures for the exploitation of forests and imposes penalties for various
offences, especially with regards to the Permanent Forest Reserves. Section 81 (1) prohibits
any person from felling and / or damaging any tree, removing any forest produce or minerals,
clearing or breaking up land for cultivation or any other purpose, or using poisonous substances
on rivers or lakes in the Permanent Forest Reserves. A provision under Section 82 (1) says that
no person shall kindle, keep or carry fire, or leave any fire burning, within a permanent
reserved forest in such a manner as to endanger such reserved forest. Any person who
contravenes any of these provisions shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be
liable to a fine or imprisonment or both.
The control of soil erosion which is a major source of river and waterways siltation is also
provided for in the National Forestry Act which requires a logging license holder to take action
to reduce soil erosion. However, enforcement is sometimes hard to be carried out due to
jurisdictional powers between state governments and federal government as stipulated in the
Federal Constitution and overlap in legislation which leads to nobody taking any action because
of the thought that others are responsible to act. Furthermore, most of the legislation are not
equipped with criteria and standards to be effectively enforced (Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 1991;
Jamaluddin Md. Jahi & Mohd Nordin Hasan 1996).
Environmental resources like land, forestry, wildlife, fisheries, mining etc., which have
many environmental implications other than pollution itself are not dealt with except under the
Environmental Quality (Prescribed Activities) (Environmental Impact Assessment) Order,
1987. An Environmental Law Review Committee which was formed in 1991 identified
weaknesses and inadequacies of the Environment-related legislation. The amendments have
been approved by the Attorney-Generals Chambers paving the way for stricter regulations and
stiffer penalties for environment related offences. Nevertheless, we can have the best of laws

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10 Jamaluddin Md. Jahi

and regulations on the environment, but the enforcement efforts have to be beefed-up to ensure
the environment is well conserved and guarded.
Human-Related Issues
Most of the issues related to the environment are actually old and recurrent problems. Studies
have shown that in general Malaysians are aware of the importance of the environment in their
daily life (Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 1993a). However, during that period a number of them were
just not willing to report to the relevant authorities of any environmental problem because most
of the time there was no action taken by the authority concerned.
Insofar as enforcement officers are concerned they are also aware of the importance of the
environment and their duties. However, there have been cases where the enforcement officers
are not aware of the laws and regulations they were enforcing (Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 1993b).
They were actually not appropriately trained in their job and most of them had very low
qualification to carry out enforcement duties (Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 1993a, 1993b).
All in all, a great number of the population just could not care less and some project
proponents are working without environmental ethics when they disregard environmental laws
and regulations (such as when they carry out illegal logging or development on hilly lands) as
long as they achieve what they want in terms of economic gains. Such is probably related to
their attitude.
CHALLENGES IN ENSURING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Actually, there are too many issues related to the natural environment and development which
pose challenges for sustainable development in this country. The environmental quality, the
countrys development, societys well-being and quality of life (Economic Planning Unit 1999)
are some of the priorities for the realisation of Vision 2020 and its challenges. Though national
environmental policy and a substantial number of environment-related legislation are available,
there are still problems in environmental management in Malaysia.
The National Environmental Policy (Ministry of Science, Technology and the
Environment 2002) which was finally gazetted in 2002 is for the protection, preservation and
conservation of the environment. If the policy is adhered to and the environment-related
legislation are enforced, there should not be any problem insofar as the natural heritage is
concerned. In fact, the various issues related to the environment would not be so serious if
there is a fool-proof system on environmental management in this country. As such the
challenge is in continuing and beefing-up management agenda which has not been able to
really resolve environmental and even development management issues in certain sectors.
Further, since most part of the physical environment is under the jurisdiction of the state
government, the question is how to get the state governments to observe requirement of
protecting and conserving natural heritage, especially the forest.
The challenge in management involves the right technique to manage the physical
environment effectively to ensure societys well-being and also on how to manage the success
of development. However, to achieve these objectives, do we really know about our physical
environment? Hitherto, detailed knowledge about our physical environment is still incomplete.
If it is true, the environmental management efforts thus far have not been carried out on the
right track because the environment is not only about air pollution, water pollution, solid waste,
toxic and hazardous waste, and noise pollution alone. The word environment in this case should
take into consideration all the components of the physical environment, social, economic,
culture and aesthetics. All these aspects are interrelated just as the interactions within the
components of the physical environment and thus environmental management should be carried
out in an integrated manner (Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 2000, 2001, 2002) because there is no single
action taken that will result in non reciprocal action or response.
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Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 11

Figure 2 shows a suggested framework for an integrated environmental management

system. Malaysia already have development master plan in the form of its successive five-year
plans. Although a chapter on the environment is included in the plans since 1076 (except in the
Fourth Malaysia Plan), not sufficient information on the environment is available. The write-up
on the progress and prospects in environmental management does not really give a clear picture
of the geographical context of the environment that is to be managed. Clearly the geographical
base of the environment to be managed is missing.

POLICY &
LEGISLATION
ENVIRONMENT
MASTER PLAN

DEVELOPMENT
MASTER PLAN

RESEARCH &
DEVELOPMENT

PLANNING

FEDERAL-STATE
RELATIONSHIP
EDUCATION &
ETHICS

MASS MEDIA

NGOs

PRIVATE SECTOR
GENERAL PUBLIC

Figure 2. Integrated environmental management system

Perhaps what is required is a complete inventory of the environment in this country.

Presently, the database can be done easily with the help of remote sensing data and geographic
information system with ground check. With the detail information on the environment
Malaysia can come up with an environment master plan that can be used to develop the
development master plan (Jamaluddin Md. Jahi 1999, 2001). In developing an environment
master plan there must be agreement between the federal government and the state
governments. Both should be very clear about the need for environmental conservation and
economic and social development. They should be able to clearly identify areas that need to be
preserved, areas that need to be conserved, areas that can be developed and also areas that can
handle various types of development. The agreement between federal and state governments is
essential as most matters related to the physical environment are under the jurisdiction of the
state governments as stipulated in the Constitutions.
The available environmental legislation has to be thoroughly reviewed covering all aspects
of matters related to the environment. In fact they should be consistent and should reinforce
and complement laws and policies in other sectors. Above all, they should be cross-referenced
in order that action may be taken through a particular legislation without any doubt or
hindrance. Laws and planning should be based on available policy that will lead to the
formation of an integrated environmental management system. Nevertheless, if anything were
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12 Jamaluddin Md. Jahi

to be sustainable there should always be constant monitoring and review of the management
strategies. The above-mentioned framework if it were to be implemented there must be a
paradigm shift not only in capacity building (Sham Sani 2000), but also environmental ethics in
everyone concerned because awareness alone is not enough if not followed by positive action
by every individuals.
According to Jamaluddin Md. Jahi (1999), the greatest challenge to sustainable
development, be it for a small area, a nation, or for the world, is to find a balance between
development and environmental conservation. This is especially true for developing countries
trying to play catch-up with the developed world. This sentiment is also mirrored by Chan
(2004, 2010).
CONCLUSION
It is all too clear that the natural physical environment is the most important asset handed down
from generation to generation. Natural resources which are abundant and plentiful have been
utilised by human beings right from the beginning of human existence. The utilisation has
more often than not lead to environmental deterioration which leads to numerous issues which
need to be tackled and solved.
Despite some success this far in the management efforts, there were also a number of
failures experienced. The failures were mainly due to support mechanisms such as in institution
set-up, finance, relationships between federal and state governments and basic information
about the environment. This article suggests that there must be an environmental master plan
that should be formulated with agreement between federal and state governments. The
environment master plan should be used together with development master plan to formulate
policy, law and planning towards creating an integrated environmental management system.
Even the recently gazetted National Green Technology Policy (Kementerian Tenaga, Teknologi
Hijau dan Air 2009) still does not have the support of an environmental master plan.
While efforts to manage the environmental issues have become challenges themselves,
there are added challenges in the management efforts especially through the enforcement of
legislation and proper planning and monitoring and environmental governance to ensure
sustainable development and at the same time protecting and conserving the natural heritage.
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Jamaluddin Md. Jahi, Ph.D.

Principal Research Fellow
Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation (ATMA)
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 UKM, Bangi, Selangor, MALAYSIA.
E-mail: jamalmj1949@gmail.com / jamalmj@ukm.my
Malaysian Journal of Environmental Management 12(1) (2011): 3-14