Sustainable Development In Malaysia Research Articles

Energy transition and sustainable development in Malaysia: Steering towards a greener future

In the evolving landscape of global energy dynamics, Malaysia stands as a pivotal example of a nation actively transitioning towards renewable energy and sustainable development. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of Malaysia's energy sector transformation, underpinned by the government's commitment to reducing carbon emissions and mitigating the impacts of climate change. The objective of this research is to delve into the intricacies, opportunities, and challenges of steering Malaysia towards a greener future, with a particular focus on the shift from reliance on fossil fuels to the adoption of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and biomass. Employing a mixed-method approach, this study synthesizes existing literature, policy documents, and case studies to examine the current state and historical context of energy use in Malaysia, analyze government initiatives and policy frameworks, explore technological advancements, and assess the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the energy transition. Results indicate that despite facing challenges such as financial investment, technological advancement, and public acceptance, collaborative efforts between the government, private sector, and communities have led to significant progress in promoting renewable energy. The paper concludes that Malaysia's energy transition represents a critical step towards achieving a balance between economic growth and environmental preservation, setting a precedent for sustainable development in the Southeast Asian region. This transition is not only essential for climate change mitigation but also presents opportunities for economic diversification, energy security, and social inclusivity. The study ultimately calls for continued innovation, supportive policies, and international cooperation to overcome remaining barriers and fully realize the potential of renewable energy in Malaysia.

Integrating Safety Practices into the Supply Chain for Sustainable Development in Malaysia's Building Construction Sites

The construction industry plays a vital role in driving sustainable development in Malaysia. However, the sector is also associated with various safety risks and challenges. Safety practices on building construction sites are crucial for the well-being of workers and the overall success of construction projects. This research employs a quantitative approach with descriptive analysis to the extent of the Integration of Safety Practices into the Supply Chain. Utilizing mean and standard deviation calculations, the study analyses rates, compliance levels and other key safety indicators across firms in the construction sectors. Addressing safety concerns at every stage of the supply chain, from sourcing raw materials to final project delivery, stakeholders can mitigate risks, minimize accidents and create a secure working environment. In the context of sustainable development, incorporating safety practices into the supply chain aligns with Malaysia's commitment to achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, it contributes to SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). By prioritizing safety, the construction industry can foster a culture of well-being and productivity, attract skilled workers, and promote responsible business practices. Key safety practices that can be integrated into the supply chain include rigorous supplier vetting, ensuring the use of certified and safe construction materials, implementing proper handling and storage procedures, and conducting regular safety training for all workers involved. Additionally, leveraging technology such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, wearables, and real-time monitoring systems can enhance safety management and enable prompt response to potential hazards.

Reinvestigating the EKC hypothesis: Does renewable energy in power generation reduce carbon emissions and ecological footprint?

For a developing nation such as Malaysia with a significant reliance on fossil fuels for electricity, understanding the environmental consequences of this dependency is crucial. Thus, this study utilizes the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method to explore the impact of electricity intensity (EINT), renewable energy in electricity generation (ERE), and gross domestic product (GDP) on Malaysia's environmental quality, from 1985 to 2020. By using carbon emissions (CO2 emissions) and ecological footprint (EF) as proxies, the study finds a significant long-run impact of these factors on environmental degradation. Notably, the study also observed an inverted U-shaped relationship between GDP and environmental degradation, validating the existence of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The findings also imply that while electricity intensity is associated with increased emissions, the use of renewable energy (RE) sources for electricity generation may contribute to emission reduction. But the results for both variables show reversal signs on EF. The study's adoption of the fully ordinary least square (FMOLS) method reinforces the same results, thus, justifying the cointegrating relationship between studied variables. Drawing from these outcomes, the study advocates for a comprehensive approach to renewable energy management, emphasizing both its utilization and waste in order to improve ecological footprint. Moreover, the pressing need to enact legislation on energy efficiency and conservation is crucial in ensuring decoupling and securing sustainable development in Malaysia.

THE IMPACT OF COMPANY TRANSPARENCY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC LISTED COMPANIES IN MALAYSIA

Transparency is crucial for financial, corporate social responsibility, and corporate governance, fostering company performance and sustainability. The study examines transparency's effect on firm performance, offering insights on how transparent reporting methods can improve financial performance. It's pertinent to Malaysia's corporate sector, especially PLCs, clarifying the significance of transparency in enhancing stakeholder confidence, trust, and financial performance. The study benefits officials, regulators, and investors advancing sustainable development in Malaysia by informing policies and regulations promoting transparent reporting practices in Malaysian PLCs. The study's contribution to knowledge, applicability, and potential influence on investment and policy choices enhance its significance.

Effect of community participation on sustainable development: an assessment of sustainability domains in Malaysia

Introduction: Community participation is also one of the critical factors, in the success of coral reef conservation efforts in Malaysia. The key determinants of community participation in coral reef conservation in the country include awareness, understanding, benefits, and incentives.Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the impact of community participation on sustainable development in Malaysia, specifically in coral reef conservation. The study assessed the relationships between sociodemographic variables and various sustainability domains, including community participation, ecotourism development, and economic, environmental, and social sustainability.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted from July to October 2022 in Setiu, Terengganu and recruited 338 adult local villagers. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis for factors such as employment status, knowledge of coral reefs, practice of coral reef conservation and willingness to volunteer for conservation were analysed using SPSS version 26.Results: An increase in community participation was associated with an increase in all four sustainability domains of ecotourism development, economic, environmental and social sustainability (Unadjusted B range = 0.46–0.77, all p-value <0.001). Participants with acceptable knowledge of coral reefs (AOR = 7.11, 95% CI: 3.84–13.15), good practice of coral reef conservation (AOR = 5.26, 95% CI: 2.54–10.91), and willing to volunteer for coral reef conservation (AOR = 1.98, 95% CI: 1.02–3.83) had higher odds of positive social sustainability, compared to those with low knowledge, poor practice and not willing to volunteer, respectively. However, those employed in marine-related jobs (AOR = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.10–0.72) had less odds of positive social sustainability, compared to those who are not employed.Conclusion: The study highlighted the importance of community participation in promoting sustainable development and the influence of socioeconomic factors and education on community participation. The importance of educational initiatives and engagement and the factors associated with positive economic, environmental and social sustainability have been highlighted. These findings can be used by policymakers and stakeholders to design and implement effective interventions for coral reef conservation, aimed at promoting sustainable development in Malaysia.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORKS FOR SIA AND EIA IN MALAYSIA

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) are the primary assessment tools used to generate information on the likely impacts of a project on all aspects of the environment and society, aiding the decision-making process to achieve sustainable development. While EIA is mainly concerned with assessing the potential environmental consequences of a proposed development, SIA evaluates the potential social consequences. These two mechanisms play a crucial role in promoting resilient and sustainable development in Malaysia. The legal framework for EIA has been enforced since 1988 and evolved through several legislations, including the Environmental Quality (Amendment) Act 2012 (Act A1441), very much earlier compared to the SIA legal framework, which was introduced in 2017 by virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Act 2017(Act A1522). Thus, this paper aims to analyse the legal framework of both assessment mechanisms, employing the qualitative method of library research, content and comparative analysis. The result shows that the EIA framework is more comprehensive and practical and is an effective model for the improvement of the SIA framework in Malaysia.

Unmasking the Action-Oriented ESD Approach to Acting Environmentally Friendly

Since the United Nations’ declaration on education for sustainable development (ESD), countries and universities across the globe aim to enhance sustainability consciousness, knowingness, attitude, and behavior among learners. However, there is no consensus on pragmatic approaches to achieving environmental sustainability. The ESD action-oriented approach unmasks the complexities of sustainable development and develops learners’ action competence to act environmentally friendly. The present research measures the action competence outcomes of learners’ sustainability consciousness in Malaysian universities through the ESD action-oriented framework, which comprised five components: action-taking, student leadership, peer interaction, community involvement, and interdisciplinarity. A survey was carried out to examine the perception of 975 students and 458 faculty members. The findings revealed that the ESD action-based pedagogy is implemented and practiced as a key strategy in teaching methods to prepare students to understand and respond to the changing world and drive sustainable development in Malaysia. Moreover, action-based ESD demonstrated the potential to be successful. Although the classroom teaching and learning practices in Malaysian universities benefit greatly from the adoption of the ESD action approach, the action-taking and interdisciplinarity components of the action-oriented framework are shown to contribute to sustainability consciousness. The present study offered a new insight for sustainability practitioners and stakeholders on the action-oriented ESD approach to sustainability consciousness and how it can promote the action competence of learners.

Energy Efficiency and Optimization of Buildings for Sustainable Development in Malaysia

Energy is the core requirement for all sectors to operate efficiently and successfully. Many sectors in Malaysia progressively uses more energy as its economy grows rapidly. The main four energy expending sectors are Industry, transportation, business and private structures. Decisively, business and private structures contribute about one third of its whole energy utilization. Corresponding to high energy utilization in Malaysia, Building Energy Efficiency (BEE) has been pulling in progressively added enthusiastically by the government of Malaysia. At present state the main difficulties faced by the organizations to achieve the BEE target are due to design restrictions of the constructions and financial obstacles that are faced by the developers. To overcome such obstacles solid energy saving tactics are in reach if early preventions are engaged, that may allow Malaysian government to progress with social and financial development in the next 50 years to come while guaranteeing the energy supply and upgrading nations territorial and global ecological standards. The particular ideal energy prospects won't happen with the current approach of Malaysian government. Recognizing the flaws and barriers met under earlier initiatives, the Malaysian government launched National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP). These activities brought out by the government, thus to ensure the sustainability of the future energy framework of BEE. As highlighted the Malaysian government must focus monitoring on compliance and requirements of the BEE, thus to ensure the sustainability of the future energy framework. This paper uncovers the advancement and current situation of BEE in Malaysia, highlights its focus issues, and propose recommendation for its development which includes choices to improve the energy frameworks designed for better overall maintenance.

The Role of Digital Financial Inclusion and Social Welfare in Realizing Sustainable Development

The goal of this study is to determine how social welfare and digital financial inclusion relate to one another and to how they affect sustainable development in Malaysia. We take data from the World Bank as a secondary source for the years 2000 to 2020, From our estimation results, We find that the variables we estimate have long-term and short-term correlations such as economic growth and digital financial inclusion and economic growth with life expectancy, in the short term digital financial inclusion has a negative effect on economic growth, then life expectancy also has a significant negative relationship with economic growth, but in the long term, it is significantly positive. This shows that between the two variables, with increasing economic growth, the number of digital financial inclusion will actually decrease, although this only applies in the short term, then in the long term with increasing life expectations will increase economic growth in Malaysia.

INVESTIGATING URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY AS MECHANISM TO PLAN FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Urban encroachment into the peri-urban areas has blurred the borders between urban and rural areas. Thus, the urban growth boundary (UGB) has been used to encourage the sustainable development of cities and improve long-term planning efficiency. Studying the understanding of the UGB concept in ensuring sustainable development in Malaysia would be beneficial. This study aimed to investigate the perception and understanding of the UGB concept and function to achieve sustainable urban development. An online survey was conducted involving 82 experts, which comprised planners from PLANMalaysia and academicians in the field of urban planning. Results indicated that the perception of the UGB score was significantly greater by 1.16 than the normal score of 3, which indicated that the experts agreed that UGB could improve the urban development. The findings also indicated that the existing planning policy and inclusion of UGB had protected agricultural and natural land; however, stricter and tighter borderless development should be conducted.

Sustainable Township and Sustainable Home: Public Perceptions


 
 
 Sustainable Townships and Homes (STSH) have become a trend in a number of countries throughout the world. However, being a developing country, Malaysia faces significant challenges in implementing the STSH idea. One of the challenges would be public support for sustainable development for new townships. Previous research has mostly focused on the framework for implementing STSH without taking into account public perceptions and expectations. Thus, this study determines public knowledge, awareness, as well as their perceptions and expectations of the STSH towards the environment and sustainability. A survey questionnaire was administered randomly to the public in Malaysia using convenience sampling. Feedback from 144 respondents indicates their good level of awareness of sustainable and smart living concepts. This awareness is reflected in their knowledge of the advantages of sustainable and smart living in terms of energy-saving, an improvement in the quality of the built environment in creating better places for people to live, and in terms of environmental protection. In general, they have an awareness of the use of energy-efficient and certified appliances, and these matters are echoed by their strong interest in living in STSH. The ranking based on the Relative Important Index (RII) revealed that the public’s most preferred sustainable home features are solar systems, energy-saving appliances, water-saving devices, and rainwater harvesting systems. In addition, the public perceives and expects that a sustainable township should include efficient building arrangements, smart building layout, and the provision of green areas in a township with sustainable and smart home features. It is evident that this study suggests that the public is currently aware of sustainable development in Malaysia. Thus, this study provides a valuable reference for a future property development project to provide better service based on public satisfaction and feedback.
 
 

A framework for integrating sustainable development concepts into the chemistry curriculum towards achieving education for sustainable development in Malaysia

PurposeIn Malaysia, research indicates that there is an interest amongst the stakeholders, namely, administrators and academicians to be engaged in education for sustainable development (SD), but it is rarely implemented as a part of the higher education curriculum due to various barriers. This paper aims to develop a framework for integrating SD concepts into the chemistry curriculum, using a case study approach.Design/methodology/approachThis study was conducted at a local university located in Selangor, Malaysia, offering a foundation programme to students between 17 to 18 years of age. Data was collected using a qualitative approach that involved 12 experts as informants. The collected data was analysed via three coding stages, namely, open coding, category coding and thematic encoding using Atlas.ti 7.0 software.FindingsThe research revealed that six aspects contribute to the integration of SD concepts into the chemistry curriculum, namely, educational policy, awareness, resources, curriculum, pedagogical approach and stakeholders’ engagement. The proposed framework was formulated by considering these aspects.Originality/valueThe findings of this study can be used as a guide to facilitate the integration of SD concepts into the chemistry curriculum. It is expected to encourage the involvement of more teachers in adopting sustainable chemistry teaching.

Distributed Generation: A Review on Current Energy Status, Grid-Interconnected PQ Issues, and Implementation Constraints of DG in Malaysia

Electric supply is listed as one of the basic amenities of sustainable development in Malaysia. Under this key contributing factor, the sustainable development goal aims to ensure universal access to an affordable, clean, and reliable energy service. To support the generation capacity in years to come, distributed generation is conceptualized through stages upon its implementation in the power system network. However, the rapid establishment growth of distributed generation technology in Malaysia will invoke power quality problems in the current power system network. In order to prevent this, the current government is committed to embark on the development of renewable technologies with the assurance of maintaining the quality of power delivered to consumers. Therefore, this research paper will focus on the review of the energy prospect of both fossil fuel and renewable energy generation in Malaysia and other countries, followed by power quality issues and compensation device under a high renewable penetration distribution network. The issues and challenges of distributed generation are presented, with a comprehensive discussion and insightful recommendation on future work of the distributed generation. In accordance with the addressed highlights in this paper, it would serve as the criterion on upcoming revolution of distributed generation integrated along with the traditional network in Malaysia.

An Investigation of Pro-Environmental Behaviour and Sustainable Development in Malaysia

This study aimed to examine the role of environmental commitment, environmental consciousness, green lifestyle, and green self-efficacy in influencing pro-environmental behaviour. Data were obtained through a survey of 72 students at one of the training centers in Malaysia. The hypothesized relationships were tested using partial least squares (PLS) methodology. Results showed that environmental commitment, environmental consciousness, green lifestyle, and green self-efficacy positively influenced pro-environmental behaviour, thereby providing new insights to existing literature on environmental sustainability. The results may be used by educational institutions, the government, and private agencies to strengthen students’ knowledge, attitude, and behaviour that support environment-based education. The scope of the study was limited to students at a training center, so the results may not be generalizable to different settings. Another limitation was that the study used limited contextual elements. The novelty of this study is that it examined the role of environmental commitment, environmental consciousness, green lifestyle, and green self-efficacy as determinants of pro-environmental behaviour among students in an educational setting in Malaysia.

Assessing the suitability of GlobeLand30 for land cover mapping and sustainable development in Malaysia using error matrix and unbiased area Estimation

Global Land Cover (GLC) maps have been extensively used as background data for numerous applications such as land-use planning, climate change monitoring, and urban planning. While countries in Europe and North America have greatly developed land cover maps, several developing countries in Asia and Africa lack such vital data sources. GlobeLand30’s 30 m resolution dataset has the potential to meet the mapping needs of these developing regions. However, differences in accuracy of the dataset between countries can be significant making it unsuitable to adopt regional accuracy directly for assessing individual country’s accuracy level. Therefore, it is critical to develop reliable localized assessments. This research assesses the accuracy of GlobeLand30 for Malaysia using multiple evaluation approaches. Seven classes of land cover data were evaluated using 197 samples in the country. An overall accuracy of 63.45% and 65.70% was obtained from the Error Matrix using sample counts and the new unbiased area estimator respectively. We conclude that the overall accuracy of GlobeLand30 in tropical developing countries like Malaysia is generally lower than the accuracy in developed countries and arid developing countries thereby requiring significant improvement for optimal use. However, despite the errors due largely to misclassification, the GlobeLand 30 data has the potential to complement other LULC data to estimate and monitor vital land-use changes in Malaysia and the ASEAN region in general for sustainable development.

The benefits of Industry 4.0 on Sustainable Development and Malaysia’s Vision

This study contributes further to the existing literature on Industry 4.0 and Sustainable Development (SD). This study reviews and summarizes the achievable goals of sustainable development in Malaysia using Industry 4.0. These achievements in utilizing Industry 4.0 relates directly to (1) maintenance, time and cost, (2) machinery stoppages and downtime, (3) inventory involving space and cost and (4) waste that has a relationship to (a) productivity, (b) quality, (c) resource use, (d) new technology and lead time market acceptance. Industry 4.0 does not relate individual by itself nor is a business discipline. Industry 4.0 can be clustered in the new in operational method, way, approach, or medium to represent in creation of a new platform to improved performance. The idea realization and formation of Industrial 4.0 emerged from the advancements and achievements of technology, communications, internet and controls. Industry 4.0 can contribute towards sustainability encouraging sustainable growth in social, environment, and economy contributing effectively towards Agenda 2030’s target of people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. This paper contributes towards an extensive review on Industry 4.0 in the context of sustainable development globally and in a developing country, Malaysia. Additionally, this study concludes that the new measurement of performance can benefit and should be viewed from the perspective of sustainable development’s pillar of environment, social, and economy by including Industry 4.0 benefits.

Critical green road criteria for Malaysia green rural road index

Malaysia is on its path in adapting the green roadway system. The introduction of green road rating tools such as Malaysia Green Highway Index (MyGHI) for highways and Penarafan Hijau (pHJKR Jalan) for non-toll roads which the value of the projects are more than RM50 million are parts of the green initiatives taken towards the sustainable development in Malaysia. However, there is no specific green road rating tool focusing on rural roads in Malaysia. The rural road falls under the state road category, which contributes the largest proportion of the road network in Malaysia. The absence of specific green road rating tools for the assessment of the largest network of the road in Malaysia is seen as the gap that needs to be filled with a systematic approach. With that, this paper highlight the methodology of the study to develop a specific green road rating tool that suits the nature of rural road in Malaysia which is called Malaysia Green Rural Road Index (MyGreen RRI). It also aims to highlight a thorough comparative review of the established criteria of the existing international and local green road rating tools by using cross-national comparison. This comparative review leads to a set of proposed criteria to be used in MyGreen RRI. The analysis is later will be extended for the development of score and to be used for the assessment of MyGreen RRI. The establishment of MyGreen RRI as the later final output of is expected to benefit the nation in the environment, social and economic perspectives.

LEGAL PERSPECTIVES ON NUCLEAR ENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA

This paper explores the potential of nuclear energy, particularly in the power sector, to solve energy challenges and to address the pertinent issues regarding energy sustainability in Malaysia. The deployment of nuclear energy in various developed and developing countries has conspicuously helped sustaining energy security and sustainability due to its compatibility and protection of the environment. In addition to energy security, nuclear energy also offers significant benefits to socio-economic aspects. Thus, nuclear energy in developing countries, including Malaysia, has the potential to emerge as a new prospect in the energy sector using sophisticated technology and expert personnel to maximize the energy benefits with the least environmental risk. This step would certainly meet future energy demands and help accelerate the country’s development with optimum energy generation in the country. Therefore, Malaysia should aim to resort to nuclear power generation whereby the current power sector is mainly generated by traditional means, with only a small fraction of it being renewable energy. With no experience in this field, Malaysia needs to establish collaboration with some country rich with nuclear-resource in order to build, maintain nuclear reactors and treat nuclear wastes. The development of such facility should also comply with the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Moreover, Malaysia has to introduce legislation and policies related to future nuclear energy. Thus, this paper discusses some of the pertinent issues related to the prospects of nuclear power generation in the country towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
 
 Keywords: Atomic energy, energy security, governance, sustainable development.
 
 Cite as: Ghazali, F., Ansari, A. H., Mustafa, M., & Wan Zahari, W. M. Z. (2020). Legal perspectives on nuclear energy and sustainable development in Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 5(1), 169-188. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol5iss1pp169-188

Structural Breaks, Hydroelectricity and Economic Growth: New Findings from Malaysia

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between hydroelectricity and real output in Malaysia by utilizing a neoclassical model from 1982 to 2015. Long-term behavior between hydroelectricity and real output was identified based on the result of the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration. Meanwhile, the presence of causality between hydroelectricity and economic growth was established according to the results of the Granger causality via the vector error correction model (VECM). The results of the ARDL approach to cointegration indicate that a relationship exists between fossil fuels and hydroelectricity generation on economic growth. However, it is found that the hydroelectric sector has a higher impact on real output both in the short term and the long term. Next, the results of the Granger causality via VECM finds a negative unidirectional relationship from non-renewable to real output, implying that energy dependence on the conventional energy sector does not benefit the economic expansion of the country. Accordingly, it is important for policymakers to prioritize investments in alternative resources, especially in the hydroelectric sector, to ensure sustainable development in Malaysia. Likewise, ensuring availability of adequate labor is also essential for driving hydroelectric projects in the country.

Paving Sustainable Development through Generic Green Skills Based on Desk Research

Generic skills are complementary to technical skills that enable potential employees to secure a place in the job market. A myriad of studies have been conducted on generic skills, and in Malaysia’s ‘greening’ development process, generic green skills have begun to attract many academics and industry players. This paper reviews several articles on generic green skills associated with the green technology industry. Document analysis was conducted to scrutinise initial information extracted from electronic databases viz Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Science Direct, Academia and EBCOHost. The findings showed that endeavours to acquire sustainable development in Malaysia are flourishing and prolific. Government agencies were seen as playing a notable role in strengthening generic green skills among employees in the green technology industry alongside international organisations and regional partners to ensure that development is compatible with maintaining the quality of the environment. In the near future, generic green skills are expected to receive solemn attention from academics and researchers, as well as become key criteria by employers in hiring new employees. Hence, further studies are needed to refine the generic green skills in balancing the development process with environmental sustainability.