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.