Malaysia and China have entered discussion about partnering to produce a car especially for Southeast Asia. Referred to as the ASEAN car, it would be produced within the region and lower the currently prohibitive cost of automobile purchase for nearby countries. Being the second most expensive place in the world to…
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is at the center of a scandal involving what could be billions of dollars, and the case has blown up into a multinational episode of epic proportion. The case of Najib’s allegedly smuggling well over $700 million of government money into his personal accounts through…
For the first time ever, four baby orangutans were born in close succession at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The achievement is a proud one for the orangutan conservation effort, but these four baby orangutans give hope to more than their species. Baby orangutans Spike, Camelia, Daniel…
Early this year a ship loaded with bauxite suddenly capsized and disappeared beneath the waves, leaving just one of its 19 crew members alive and spilling its entire shipment into the ocean. Bauxite mining in Malaysia is intensely controversial for several reasons, and this capsizing raises yet another – the…
An organic farm and resort in Malaysia has been teaching food health, sustainable agriculture and green eating to all comers for the past 18 years. This kind of education is hard to find in Malaysia, but is a breath of fresh air for a country struggling to achieve sustainability. Nestled…
In the past year, Malaysia has emerged as one of the world’s leading producers of bauxite, the raw ore used to create aluminum. The discovery and feverish exploitation of bauxite in Malaysia (a reaction to Indonesia’s drop-out as a supplier to bauxite-hungry China) has been a boon to the nation’s…
Waste management in Malaysia is a serious problem, but local communities are fighting back. One program at a time, responsible citizens are investing their time and effort into cleaning up the communities, streets and parks in Malaysia. Just east of Kuala Lumpur, a neighborhood campaign in south Klang is working…
A research team at University Malaysia Pahang (UMP) has just developed the world’s first stable perovskite solar module. This might not mean much to the casual reader, but perovskite cells could be the future of solar power, and Malaysia has just found the key to unlocking their power. The reason…
The Malayan sun bear is a little-known species. The smallest bear in the world, it is a playful, honey-loving tree-climber that once roamed much of Southeast Asia. Now, though, it lives mostly in Indonesia and Malaysia, where it is threatened by deforestation and poaching. Thanks to these two threats, the…
A recent sizing-up of illegal logging in Malaysia revealed that the Forest Department of Sarawak conducted 240 raids, confiscated 12,000 cubic meters of timber and submitted a total of 122 investigation papers to the state government as of July this year. Much of this legal action has to do with…
As Malaysia’s flagship green technology conference and exhibition rolls onward, the disposition of all things green business are looking sunnier and sunnier for the country playing host. Aggressive green tech goals are being set, groundbreaking deals are being made and IGEM 2015’s theme of ‘Powering the Green Economy’ is being…
The Borneo elephant, otherwise known as the pygmy elephant, lives in the tropical forests of the island for which it is named. The pygmy elephant’s primary habitats are the wooded areas of northeastern Borneo. Most of these reaches are located in the Malaysian state of Sabah, and are also prime…
Malaysian residents are in their fourth year of protest against the world’s largest rare earth mineral processing facility. Built in Kuantan in 2012 by Australian mining company Lynas Corporation, the facility has been met with vigorous opposition for its entire existence – but despite public opposition, plummeting mineral prices and…
In order to teach sustainability and nature connection to the next generation in Malaysia, a grass roots environmental group is taking 30 urban youths in the bustling state of Pahang from their concrete jungle into the tropical rainforest surrounding it. The Eco Leadership Program, as the weekend-long event is called, will…
Mass flooding, environmental devastation and the displacement of countless indigenous people have characterized a hydroelectric dam campaign ramming its way through public opposition in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Construction of the Baram dam (the most recent of 12 proposed dams) has begun, but locals – having seen thousands of…
The Malaysian state of Sabah is pulling out all the stops in its campaign to save the Sumatran rhinoceros from extinction. According to human knowledge, there are only a handful of Sumatran rhinoceros left in the world. The announcement that wild Sumatran rhinos are extinct in Malaysia has already been…