Study on Sustainable Development of Malaysian Township

I attended a workshop discussing the framework and scope of a study on entrenching sustainable development in Malaysian Towns undertake by SUDI, a think tank of CETDEM last Saturday. The study will identify sustainable indicators, existing practices and issues and possible future challenges for the 4 towns in Malaysia. PJ is one of the study area. While it is an honour to have the experts to examine level of sustainability in PJ, it is also an uphill task of finding exact level of sustainability. One of the reason being lacking of data. As we always said, data collection is never a top priority for local authorities, hence getting a reliable and update information will remain a big challenge for the research team. Similarly, getting data from other agencies also might not be that easy as many might not have the centralised data bank. Even though they have, the data might be disintegrated and presented in different geographical area or unit. Perhaps, if time and resources permitted, collecting primary data is rather easy than going for the secondary data. Secondly, the research should narrow the expectation gap between different level of stakeholders. For example, while the result of study can showcase the current level of urban sustainability in Malaysia, the proposed strategies and actions should be pragmatic and workable for those on the grassroot level. This is especially so for the city managers without much exposure on the sustainability issues globally or even locally and at national level. It must not be an academic exercise. Thirdly, if comparison has to be made between the 4 towns, then profiling of existing socio-economic, political, governance, demography and environmental scenario should be compiled and examined first. It is important to prepare all study area on the same level of platform before an objective assessment can be made. The result then will be representative and able to be used for duplication or as role model. Forthly, identifying indicators that are internationally benchmarked and accepted by all stakeholders is not easy. While many international indicators to measure sub sectors of sustainable development such as green, healthy, happiness, economic growth, social impact and etc have been used in other towns and countries, finding one with international benchmark for Malaysian towns without considering the unique socio-political circumstances we have is near impossible. Thereby, setting the right direction for this study is identifying right indicators serving both international and national needs. For MBPJ, the outcome of the study will present an interesting examination on how far and how best we have done in achieving low carbon green city. It will also be a baseline data for us.