A sad part of development in Malaysia is that it rarely if ever comes without environmental costs. And so it has proved with the East Coast Rail Line. Aware of the hazards the new rail link will pose to wildlife, environmentalists have been calling on policymakers to put the project on…

A chicken farm making fertilizer from chicken droppings in Johor let large amounts of ammonia leach into the Johor River sporadically. As a result, much of the river’s water became badly polluted, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without clean tap water. A local waterworks also had to close down…

The sooner young Malaysians become aware of environmental issues, the better. And we can’t just expect children to develop a passion for the environment on their own. We have to teach them to appreciate the natural bounty of Malaysia and we have to teach them how to be good stewards…

On a relatively small and already overdeveloped island like Penang, any further development may have negative environmental repercussions. That is why it is important that no decisions are made on such new developments without proper environmental assessment and public consultation. The dangers of ill-advised and haphazard developments have come into…

One day, warns Ahmad A Talib, chairman of the environmentalist group Yayasan Salam Malaysia, the pleasant blue and green world we’ve long known as our home planet will have ceased to exist as a haven of natural wonders. Instead, it will be a largely barren and dismal place with runaway…

Negligence. Incompetence. Corruption. Impunity – long is the usual litany of complaints about Malaysian government officials. And not without cause, either. But then, there’s Natural Resources and Environment minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. The elderly politician, who was appointed to the post a year and a half ago, has emerged…