Business Council for Sustainable Development in Malaysia: a dormant entity?

Taken from their website, The Business Council for Sustainable Development in Malaysia was formed because the business community was concerned for the Environment. BCSDM strives:

To create awareness in sustainable development (SD) To get the business community involved in SD To be the main link between the Government and the business community To be an information exchange on successful SD practices To work with national and global bodies towards attaining SD The reality of the current state is that the organisation website I visited is very much dormant. Last activity recorded was in July 2009. Even the President Dato’ Saw Choo Boon is no longer the Chairman of Shell Malaysia. How can this organisation play a genuine role of a sustainability change agent when information on the virtual platform is not up-to-date?

The first Chief Sustainability Officer in Malaysia?

In the corporate world, you've heard of of the title CEO, COO, CFO, CTIO and here is a cute one, CHCO (pronounced as Cheeco or the Chief of Human Capital Officer). All the top management positions carry specific roles and responsibilities in the organisation.

Sustainability is so crucial in the corporate world today it justifies not to be put under the same division in Corporate Communication or Health Safety and Environment.

Sime Darby is well known to be the leader to champion the sustainability cause in Malaysia Corporate Sector. Such cause must be driven by a dedicated leader with support by a multi diverse group of talents. Mr Puvan J Selvanathan assumed the position of Chief Sustainability Officer of Sime Darby on 1st Nov 2008. I would love to know from him the achievement to date and the future plans of Sime Darby sustainability journey.

 

Is development in Malaysia sustainable?

Is development in Malaysia sustainable? That is the common question that will be asked on anything pertaining to the SD subject matter. In general, the answer will vary from one stakeholder to another. For example, when the government decides to build a new airport in the country, majority of the local residents that will be affected with potential "noise pollution" will be the first to object the idea. On the other hand, different groups will see this as an opportunity like creating new jobs and further expansion to boost the tourism industry.

Sustainability practitioners will tell you that there will never be a direct YES or NO answer to this question. A simple explanation to this is that we will never be able to satisfy all stakeholders. In fact, it is impossible to predict accurately if our development will satisfy the need of our future generations.

Do not feel despair to know that there will be no straight answer to this. Those who wish to embrace sustainability principles must be prepared with the right knowledge, tools, awareness and most importantly PASSION to strive in making any development as sustainable as possible. This is the main problem that Malaysia will face in trying to grasp the essence of sustainable development in the country. We have so many people talking about the subject without really knowing the content. We are still focusing on the form rather than the substance. This blog will try to take one issue at a time to discuss and find a better solution which will be more sustainable.

I will end this posting on a positive note by sharing with you Malaysia current status to achieve UN Millennium Goal, which is one of the established sustainable development indicators around.

source: http://www.mdgmonitor.org/country_progress.cfm?c=MYS&cd=

In comparison to other countries, the results indicate that we are certainly in the right direction.

Malaysia boleh!

Go Green!

Let's all local sustainable players join hands and put all our collective efforts into this noble course!!!

SD Challenges: The boiling frog syndrome

In Malaysia, we normally associate the frog with politicians who jump from one party to another. Based on past trends, they will jump whenever the opportunity arises. On the contrary, a boiling frog syndrome is when a frog jumps out too late from the water and meet its death. Sadly, Sustainable Development have a tendency to face the boiling frog syndrome. When we don't see the potential problems coming, we tend to ignore them. I put down a list below on some of the SD challenges that are relevant in Malaysia. These can be categorised in the 3P (people, planet, profit) dimension.

A. People

- Poverty

- Poor quality in education system

- Multi racial harmony

B. Planet

- Overfishing

- Deforestation

- Depleting Crude Oil

- Climate Change (rising sea level, drought)

C. Profit

- The middle income trap

- Over reliance in subsidy

These challenges happen because of the conflict between different stakeholders. An important point to note in addressing SD challenges would be to encourage stakeholder engagement more frequently. Stakeholder engagement is an effective tool if it is well coordinated. There are a few experts in Malaysia that can be a third party to conduct this. I plan to list them in this blog in the near future.

For now, I hope that there will be less jumping by Malaysian politicians and greater awareness for all in appreciating the boiling frog syndrome.

So what is actually Sustainable Development?

For a start, I think we need to be clear with the definition of Sustainable Development (SD) in order to get everybody on the same page. And let me be clear to all of you that sustainability is not just about being "green" and taking care of the environment!

Lately, we hear the words like "sustainable / sustainability" in slogans and taglines in Malaysian companies. Click here for example: http://www.simedarby.com/default.aspx

Even Politicians and Celebrities are excited to use the the word "sustainable" at least once or twice in their public speeches. More examples from them in a different posting.

If you ask me, there is no standard definition for SD. To support this, you can wiki here to gain a better appreciation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development

This concept is not new. For example, Red Indians have a saying on SD that goes like this:
"We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children"

Nonetheless, a universal definition of sustainable development is development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This is the United Nation definition.

In Bahasa Malay translation, I think we are still confused in using the term pembangunan lestari or mampan. Dewan Bahasa officials, please confirm this.

I would simplify SD by using John Elkington explanation on development that strike the triple bottom line sweetspot, i.e. people, planet & profit. It is all about the act of balancing.

The sexiest SD tagline to me would go to one designer watch : "You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation."

One would realise that when it comes to SD, the topic is very broad but at the same time very clear in terms of its ultimate direction. Solutions in any development will look into a longer term horizon. Most often than not, development in the past have compromised fundamental aspects which resulted negative impact in the social, economic or environment dimensions.

I have been lectured many times that there is no silver bullet to address SD. What is more important is that with the knowledge we acquire, we are able to ask more intelligent questions and make better decisions based on a holistic view of the problem in question.

I hope I have answered the question raised in this posting.

Time to be serious and genuine with sustainability in Malaysia

Dear all,

This will hopefully not going to be another new blog created without purpose.

The objective is crystal clear. This blog has a mission to discuss the topic of "Sustainable Development" in Malaysia context. The discussion will allow us to really address genuine sustainability issues and seperate those actions which are merely act of "greenwashing".

I welcome positive feedback to ensure active participation in this blog. Let's hope we can make this sustainable!

Cheers!