Malaysia on the right track to achieve the SDG

by Associate Professor Dr. Pek Chuen Khee,

1.0 Background

At the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, 193 nation-states including Malaysia adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with direct global commitment towards creating a more inclusive and green development. The 2030 Agenda is supported by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets and 232 indicators.

Malaysia is dedicated to achieving the SDGs by 2030 and has put the care of this vision to the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Prime Minister’s Department to coordinate all initiatives related to Sustainable Development (SD) and SDGs. Malaysia’s National Development Plan consisting among others the 5-year Malaysia Plans are aligned towards the SDGs.

The governance of SDGs in Malaysia is directly under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Office with five dedicated working committees looking after specific SDGs. For example, the Committee of Inclusivity takes care of Goal 1 No Poverty, Goal 2 Zero Hunger, Goal 5 Gender Equality, and Goal 10 Reduced Inequalities.

The public sector has paved a series of initiatives as reported by the EPU, Prime Minister’s Department for the nation to move forward along the goals and targets of SDGs. The Prime Minister chairs the National SDG Council has a multi-stakeholder and participatory governance structure. The government practices empathy by engaging with the non-governmental organizations and the private sectors to align SDGs with the economic growth plans. A National SDG Roadmap has been formulated to guide the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.

2.0 How has Malaysia faired in SDG?

According to the Sustainable Development Report 2020 released by the Cambridge University Press, Malaysia is ranked at the 60th position amongst 166 countries with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) an index score of 71.8. Sweden tops the list with a score of 84.7, the Republic of Korea at the 20th position (78.3), while the last in the list is the Central African Republic with a score of 38.5 (Sachs et al.,2020). Generally, Malaysia has done well in SDG including the year 2020.

The Report shows that Malaysia has been doing well in SDG 1 No Poverty, SDG 3 Good health and Well-being, SDG 4 Quality Education, SDG 5 Gender Equality, SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production, and SDG 13 Climate Change. These aforementioned SDG achieve an average performance of above 75 out of the maximum score of 100. In 2020, Malaysia has further improved in SDG 1 No Poverty, SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, and SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.

The good SDG report card and specifically the improvements in SDG 1 No poverty, SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, and SDG 9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure in 2020 are the results of tireless and motivated government-private sector-public (GPP) engagements and partnerships. In Malaysia, both the public and private sectors have played critical roles in ensuring the achievements of the SDG. The government enacts policies, which are governed by the laws and regulations while the private sector and general public commit themselves to drive the achievement of those policies.

3.0 Selected Malaysian efforts in achieving the SDG

Malaysia has been doing well in eradicating poverty until the emergence and pro-longed Covid-19 pandemic, which may bring the poverty rate of the country backward by 10 to 20 years. The absolute poverty rate in Malaysia has improved to 5.6% in 2019 from 7.6% in 2016. The national poverty line has been revised from USD218.54 to USD531.37 in July 2020 to reflect poverty better the current economic development of the country. The Malaysian economy was doing moderately well just before the Covid-19 pandemic. The government has aimed to make Malaysia a high-income nation between 2024 and 2028, and with supportive financial aids available for the Bumiputera (indigenous people of Malaysia) to start and expand their micro- or small and medium-enterprises have uplifted many of the households out of poverty. However, with the several national lockdowns due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, an additional 1.2 million households in Malaysia are expected to fall into poverty as reported by the local dailies. The government has in late June announced a USD36 billion (@MYR4.17/USD on 1/7/2021) “Pemulih” (recovery) package, the largest since the first lockdown to boost the economy while expecting fewer people to be left unemployed and thereafter contributing to the spike in the poverty rate of the country. The private sectors play a big role in helping the government to eradicate poverty by supplying more equal job opportunities regardless of race or religion. The several lockdowns, which have cost the Malaysian economy to lose USD550 million per day, if pro-longed will force 40 percent of the small-and-medium enterprises (SME) to close their business operations. The government has taken the right step to minimize the damage to the economy by announcing a six-month moratorium starting July 7, 2021, for all individuals, micro-businesses, and SMEs. With the people-centric policies aiming to realign the achievement of SDG 8 Decent work and economic growth, the Malaysian economy is expected to grow at 4.5 percent (The Edge Markets, June 23, 2021) in 2021 amid a spike in Covid-19 cases in recent months. 

The Malaysian government realizes and puts a priority on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) boosting SDG 8 Decent work and economic growth, SDG 9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure, and SDG 12 Responsible consumption and production concurrently. The country has recently launched a national plan on 4IR with a focus on digitalization and technology to transform Malaysia into a high-income nation. The 4IR aims to support the development policies of the country, such as the Shared Prosperity Vision (SPV) 2030 and the Five-year Malaysia Plan. The five core technologies singled out in the 4IR are big data analytics, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cloud computing. The policies and plans for the national 4IR blueprint involve all stakeholders and hence the private sector plays a crucial role in determining the best practices ensuring their contributions to the success of this national plan. Universities are also another important stakeholder, where graduates are prepared with the relevant skills and know-how to be part of the 4IR when they join the workplaces. Creativity and innovation are the two main business acumens required by the new generation of workforce to embrace digitalization into their business operations and strategies. Private sectors such as the banking segment in the country have invested hugely in their digital capabilities in the last few years, preparing themselves to meet the increasing customer demand for internet and online banking. The prolonged Covid-19 pandemic has strained the cashflows and revenues of the banks due to the moratorium given to their lenders and this has put them into a cost-constrained position. Nevertheless, banks have little choice as 4IR is pushing them into an environment where technology has become the heart of banking.

A HSBC Survey reported by the News Straits Times indicated that 75 percent of the Malaysian businesses support mainly the SDG 3 Good health and well-being and SDG 4 Quality education, and SDG 9 Industry, innovation, and infrastructure, which are seen to be more relevant to the nature of their businesses. HSBC places great importance on sustainable finance, where the focus is to help EMERiCs Korea Institute for International Economic Policy Aug 5, 2021 business operations to move into low carbon and sustainable economy. UCSI University located in Kuala Lumpur emphasizes SDG as one of their core values, where SDG related programs, courses, and activities are put in place to create awareness and motivate the students to be part of this global and great vision of everyone in achieving SDG 4 Quality education and SDG 17 Partnerships for the goals. The University welcomes industrial partners and sponsors to collaborate and fund SDG activities and innovation. More information on the SDG activities of the University can be found at https://sdg.ucsiuniversity.edu.my/ucsi-news-and-articles-new/.

4.0 Malaysia moving on

The Department of Statistics Malaysia has in late 2018 reported that the nation is definitely on the right track to achieve the SDG indicators by 2030. The Chief Statistician shared that the commitment of Malaysia to the sustainable agenda is evident in the manner the government writes the Mid-Term Review of the 11th Malaysia Plan. Retrospectively, Malaysia has moved forward in a bigger quantum to realize the SDG indicators. This is evident in the report by Sachs et al. (2020), which sees only SDG 17 Partnerships for the goals, having a drop in performance in 2020 as compared to the previous year. Malaysia is confident in achieving the SDG in 2030 through a multi-stakeholder participation model motivated by national policies and plans. However, these efforts to achieve the SDG indicators may be affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic, where human and financial resources have been reallocated to focus on fighting this deadly pandemic. Malaysians have to rejuvenate their ambition for SDG 2030 when they achieve victory fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic in time to come.

5.0 Conclusion and future expectations

Malaysia is on the right track to achieve the SDGs by 2030. In the Sustainable Development Report 2020, Malaysia, in general, has either improved or sustained the achievements in almost all SDG. Worthy to note is the need to improve the indicators of SDG 10 Reduced inequalities and SDG 13 Climate action. It is expected that Malaysia will buck up on improving the Gini coefficient, which has been affected by the pro-longed pandemic. The inequality in the distribution of income is expected to improve when the lower-income group returns to normal economic activities as the vaccination process has drastically improved in the month of July 2021. The government is also expected to refocus on the emission of energy-related carbon dioxide once the pandemic is under control. With the pro-longed Covid-19 pandemic and loss in government revenues, it is expected that the timeline to achieve the Goals will be affected. The vaccination rate to curb the death and hospitalization due to Covid-19 has surpassed the United Kingdom since June 2021 where Malaysia has administered 0.60 doses per 100 people on average against 0.55 in the UK. (New Straits Times, July 11, 2021). Moving forward, Malaysia is expected to fully vaccinate all adults come October 2021 by expediting the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (NIP). This aligns neatly with the efforts of Malaysia in targeting to achieve SDG 3 Good health and well-being in times of the pandemic. In essence, Malaysia is confident and hopes to achieve the SDG indicators by 2030 post-Covid 19 pandemic capitalizing on SDG 17 Partnerships for the goals.

Biotechnology aids palm oil

by Professor Dato Dr Ahmad Ibrahim

Businesses are shifting to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) technology domain to remain credible and competitive. IR4.0 is not just about automation and robotics. Biotechnology is, in fact, very much part of the industrial revolution equation. 

The public is now better acquainted with biotechnology jargon, including polymerase chain reaction and antigen. The development of therapeutic drugs through biotechnology is in the pipeline. The power of biotechnology is real. 

Apart from healthcare and medicine, agriculture is gaining from biotechnology not just in addressing crop diseases but also in developing new clones that perform better. 

Another branch of biotechnology that has made significant progress in addressing the needs of society and economy is synthetic biology or fermentation engineering.

This is where microbes are harnessed to produce many of the products we now produce on land. 

As land grows more scarce, and land use becomes complicated with the pressures of environmental wellbeing, scientists are turning to different approaches to make agricultural products that alleviate the pressures on the environment, including climate change.

It has been reported widely that the idea to produce meat in the laboratory is a commercial reality. 

In the United States, a company called Beyond Meat has announced that it has penetrated the beef market there. 

Going by consumer trials, all vouch for the same taste and texture as the land-grown beef. A company in Singapore has also made headway in using microbes in the laboratory to grow poultry meat. The product is already selling and gaining support from consumers. 

There is no doubt that this branch of fermentation biotechnology will expand worldwide as its economic and business worth is proven. We will not be surprised if China, known to pursue biotechnology aggressively, will soon enter the game. 

We should not wait much longer to get serious with biotechnology. The new biotechnology policy that is being drawn up should emphasise synthetic biology to support the agricultural sector.

Take the palm oil industry, for example. It is under threat from many fronts. Labour is a serious threat that has a crippling effect on the industry. 

Land availability, which is capped at 6.5 million hectares, is another threat. The crop's environmental reputation is also not very positive. Now that palm oil is fetching very lucrative pricing at more than RM4,000 per tonne, much of that windfall should be channelled to research and development, particularly biotechnology. 

Biotechnologists at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board have proven their worth in recent years. They have been using the genomics approach to not only select the best planting material, but are also making progress in designing a variety that would yield the right fatty acid mix in the oil, which can cater to different market demands. 

Admittedly, palm oil, in its present form, is attractive in many consumer products. It is recognised as a versatile oil. 

However, there are markets in the temperate and colder regions where palm oil's relatively higher melting point puts it at an disadvantage.

Fortunately, biotechnology can be used to reduce the melting point so that it remains liquid when used in the colder climate.

The labour issue is a more serious threat, though. During the pandemic, as a result of the restricted movement of immigrant labour to work in the oil palm plantations, the industry has lost millions in unharvested fruits. 

This is where land-based and labour-intensive agriculture becomes problematic. It is time for the industry to invest more in biotechnology, especially those related to synthetic biology. 

Though long term, the success shown in the meat production industry should be encouraging enough to spur the palm oil industry to make the commitment.

The launching of Tan Sri Omar Centre for STI Policy Studies

Aug 17, 2021 Kuala Lumpur - UCSI University has recently launched the Tan Sri Omar Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy Studies. This Centre is named after a personality who has for years been championing STI as a major enabler for national socio-economic transformation and has injected relentless efforts in putting in place the necessary processes and institutions to drive the nation's STI agenda; he is no other than Tan Sri Omar Abdul Rahman, the Malaysia’s first Science Advisor to the Prime Minister and who is currently a member of UCSI University Council. 

It is the mission of this Centre is to create ACCA (Awareness, Comprehension or understanding, Commitment and Action) for enhancing the capacity for STI and for social innovation promoting Malaysia aspiration. Particularly, the formation of this Centre is to serve as a champion in promoting the agendas related to STI; an advisor to provide sound advice or direction to various advisory committees or agencies related to drive the policies of STI; a populariser in bridging the gap between scientific community and the public on the roles of STI; a planner in planning STI policies, as well as to educate and implement these policies.

At the launch, several prominent  speakers were invited to share their point of view on the forum entitled “Powering the Nation’s Agenda for a Harmonious, Prosperous, Progressive and Sustainable Malaysia – the Strategic Role of Science, Technology and Social Innovation”. The invited speakers are Professor Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi (a Academician from UCSI University),  Professor Dato Dr Abu Bakar Jaafar (Chaiman, Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Centre), Datin Dr Mahaletchumy Arjunan (The Petri Dish founding editor-in-chief), and Mr. Girish M Ramachandran (27 Advisory executive director). This forum was moderated by Professor Dato' Dr. Ahmad Bin Ibrahim, as the main Coordinator for this Centre.

Watch this video to recap the launching of Tan Sri Omar Centre for STI Policy Studies!