In vying for votes, political parties in Malaysia routinely tout similar agendas on their platforms: boosting the economy, eliminating corruption, helping their constituents in various ways. Few of them, though, campaign seriously on pledges to protect local environments better. In Penang, that should change, insists the homegrown conservationist group Pelindung…

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…

Ask environmentalists and opposition politicians in Penang, and the island state’s environment is in a parlous state and under constant threat from development. Ask local government officials, however, and Penang is a paragon of environmental protection in Malaysia. To wit: Dominic Lau Hoe Chai, vice-president of the Malaysian People’s Movement…