The heavy fuel oil (HFO) has low concentration of n-alkanes, but high concentration
of GC-traceable fraction. The chromatograms of HFO (a) JAS294B shows that almost
nearly no n-alkanes concentration being present on the sample. Pattern recognition
analysis or pattern-matching of lube oil (a) was performed to determine the source
identification oil spilled from the oil sample (a) JAS 294B and (b) JAS294D to which
the samples found to be matched. The pattern-matching analysis was successfully
performed when the similar quantity of candidate source of spillage from GC-trace the
similar fingerprints of n-alkanes fractions (Figure 12.13).
Time
Time
Figure 12.13: Chromatographic Profiling Signatures Distinguishes by n-alkanes Distribution
Profiles of Lube Oil Samples (a) JAS 294B and (b) JAS294D.
Pollution Crime Forensic Investigation
The criminal on the Earth is also involves the environmental crime which requires
appropriate justice and fairness. The environmental pollution is nowadays considered as
a serious crime, and very often it is perpetrated by the industrial parties and commercial.
The impact from the pollution either intentionally or unintentionally can have an extremely
detrimental impact on the planet, biodiversity, the global economy, and human life as what
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experienced in Sungai Kim Kim, Pasir Gudang, Johor. Thousands of school children’s
health (nausea, dizziness and short of breath) was badly affected from the disposal of
multiple toxic chemicals into Sungai Kim Kim. INTERPOL has identified environmental
crime as a growing international crime area. Some of the cases like Sungai Kim Kim was
evidence proven as through the forensic investigation, the industry, P Tech Resources
situated in Kulai, Johor prosecuted with fifteen charges.
However, in the case of the prosecutor’s fallacy in forensic investigation, generally
arises from lack of understanding of the conditional probability or occurrence errors.
For instance, the famous case which happened in Sungai Semenyih, the perpetrator
illegally dumped the chemical substance into Sungai Semenyih leading to the shutdown
of Semenyih Water Treatment Plant (SWTP). Unfortunately, during trial, the prosecutor’s
fallacy happened as the court did not have deeply knowledge or misunderstanding
conditional probability on the character or the natural flow of the river which is called
“change”. The court claimed to prove the fact of pollution at the point of the chemical
being dumped into Sungai Semenyih on an actual occurrence. The actual scenario is
that once the chemical being disposed into the Sungai Semenyih, it flows from upstream
to downstream with having dilution. Therefore, this case was lost in court as it involves
with the ignorance by neglecting the concept of natural flow of river by the prosecution.
On that basis alone, the defendant was not charged guilty though the robust evidence
discovered that defendant was the main suspect of pollution criminal. Due to the fallacy
results from misunderstanding conditional probability, the claims by plaintive named the
Government of Malaysia was unable to support the claim.
CONCLUSION
Environmental forensics is important to solve the “environmental crimes.” The development
of crimes violating the environmental sustainability in Malaysia is crucial and continue
to increase that noticeably extend to diverse many areas. Ironically, numerous cases of
pollution in this country have been perceived go unnoticed compared to human crimes,
such as deforestation, logging, and illegal chemical discharge from the commercial and
industrial areas. The question in this matter is that on why and how that such crimes
remain at large in this country as law violation affect all of us not only the aesthetics
of our natural environment but our health or epidemiological, natural resources, and
ultimately, the legacy we leave to future generations. This environment vulnerability has
far reached the negative consequences in all aspects, there could be possibility that
corruption dealing with these most stringent problems. Corruption is considered as a
catalyst of environmental crimes or vulnerability, in particularly, facilitating the fraudulent
trade, issuance of certificate for forging import and export, licences for illegal logging,
ignoring illegal waste disposal and others. All these reasons obstructing prosecution and
criminal justice process in this country. The Government in many ways must be stricter
to fight the environmental vulnerability or crimes, where the Malaysian Environmental
301
Law strongly needs to be revised as in line with the damages, for instance “Section 61(1)
of the Water Services Industry Act 2006 prescribes that anyone who allows effluent or
noxious matter into public sewer shall be liable to a fine not exceeding RM100,000.00 or
to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both”, has to be increased to
accordingly whichever relevant the condition.
The environmental forensics plays a key role in identifying and preventing such crimes
and help to determine the responsible parties. The responsibility of the parties involved
in this crime are to have directly share the contribution to the required environmental
restoration or remedies. From the site assessment, laboratory analysis, and validation
that subsequently facilitates the findings of forensics investigation of the contaminant in
question. Substantial costs are required for remediation works to achieve the clean-up
limits, and as well as time consuming. But sad to say that after all health deterioration is
not easy to handle with. As such, we should strive to the best level we can in preserving
our environment. The environmental scientist, however, has a proven successful track
record in some cases in Malaysia winning the court case allowing the perpetrator found
to be guilty and charged under the Malaysia Environmental Law.
Increased industrial development literally to expand the judicial need for and reliance
on findings from many aspects of epidemiological, environment devastation and
remediation cost in association between adverse health outcomes, impacts, and specific
environmental exposures in courts. From the findings, we can gather all the pertaining
information for complete knowledge to file claims and judges’ decision is final subject to
undisputable evidence. After all, the government or the parties involved in environmental
crimes will satisfy can reach the justice within the period allowable for the filing of a
lawsuit.
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Soil Forensics: Soil as Physical Evidence in Forensic Investigations. Introduction to the
Environmental Forensics, Pages 457-486.
Paul D.Boehm Brian L. Murphy. (2015). Chapter 1 - Applications of Environmental
Forensics, Introduction to the Environmental Forensics (Third Edition). Pages 3-20.
Ioana Gloria Petrisor. (2014). Environmental Forensics Fundamentals: A Practical
Guide, Taylor & Francis Group. Robert D. Morrisson and Brian L. Murphy. (2005).
Environmental Forensics: Contaminant Specific Guide. Elsevier.
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H. Abdelmageed. (2019). High performance liquid chromatography method development
and chemometric. Journal of Molecular Structure, vol 1185: Pages 92-98.
Norhazni binti Mat Sari. (2019). Environmental Forensics in Malaysia: Envisioning
Enhancement of Environmental and Hazardous Waste Management. PhD Thesis.
Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
(UKM).
Ismail, A., Toriman, M.E., Juahir, H., Kassim, A.M., Zain, S.M., Ahmad, W. K.W., Fah,
W.K., Retnam, A., Zali, M.A., Mokhtar, M., Yusri, M.A. (2016). Chemometric techniques
in oil classification from oil spill fingerprinting. Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol 1111: Pages
339-346.
Juahir, H., Ismail, A., Mohamed, S.B., Toriman, M.E., Kassim, A.M., Zain, S.M., Ahmad,
W.K.W., Wong, K.W., Zali, M.A., Retnam, A., Zaki, M.T.M., Mokhtar, M. (2017). Improving
oil classification quality from oil spill fingerprint beyond six sigma approach. Marine
Pollution Bulletin, vol 120 Issue 1-2: 322-332.
Scott A. Stout and Zhendi Wang. (2016). 3 - Chemical fingerprinting methods and
factors affecting petroleum fingerprints in the environment. Standard Handbook Oil Spill
Environmental Forensics (Second Edition), Pages 61-129.
Zeyu Yang, Zhendi Wang, Bruce P. Hollebone, Chun Yang, Carl E. Brown. (2016). 12 -
Forensic fingerprinting of biodiesel and its blends with petroleum oil. Standard Handbook
Oil Spill Environmental Forensics (Second Edition), Pages 565-640.
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AUTHOR
Professor Dr. Hafizan Juahir has more than 25 years of experience
in various fields of employment and consulting. He began his
career as a quality control chemist in the pharmaceutical industry,
pesticide and weed control production, and later in the downstream
oil and gas industry. In 2005, he joined a public university as a
senior lecturer and had experience in top university management
as Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Innovation and
Assistant Vice Chancellor (Special Projects). He currently holds the
position of Director of East Coast Environmental Research Institute (ESERI), Universiti
Sultan Zainal Abidin. He also has extensive experience as an environmental consultant
in Environmental Science Data Analytics and Environmental Forensics, focusing on
water pollution control, including rivers, marine, and lakes. He has published over
200 journals, books and chapters in book publications, won over 100 research and
innovation awards, over 20 intellectual properties registration, and ranked top 11th—
Malaysian Environmental Sciences Scientist 2022 by Research.com.
Dr. Azimah Ismail is a Senior lecturer, currently attached to the East
Coast Environmental Research Institute (ESERI), Universiti Sultan
Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Terengganu. She is actively involved in
diverse related field of environmental and science forensics that
encompasses oil spill fingerprinting, melaleuca cajuputi, water
quality, data analytics, robotics, and quality engineering. She has 17
years working experience served the national sewerage company
Headquarters in Damansara, Kuala Lumpur with the last position
held was a Technical Manager for Greater Kuala Lumpur project. With the working
experiences from the industry combined with the research in oil spill fingerprinting and
various technical knowledges, she was also appointed to involve in the research and
consultancy services for the projects, Integrated Lake Basin Management Plan (ILBM)
and Development of Intelligent Lake Pollution Management System (i-LAMP) for Kenyir
and Hulu Terengganu Reservoirs and IoT-enabled Rainwater Harvesting System for
Sustainable Campus Environment.
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Dr. Norhazni binti Mat Sari is the Deputy Director General
(Development) of Department of Environment (DOE). She completed
her Bachelor of Science at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, MEng
in Civil Environmental at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and PhD at
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Environmental Management
(Environmental Forensics). She has 30 years’ experience in
environmental legislation, environmental forensic and hazardous
waste management. She has been credited with contributions to
scheduled waste management policy and has been appointed as DOE representative
numerous times for national and international conferences, workshops and programs
related to environmental topic. She is also actively involved in the scientific writing and
guidelines publication related to the environmental management for the Department.
She is the first trainer and the module writer for the Scheduled Waste Management
Competency Program of DOE officers and industrial premises. Dr. Norhazni also lead
a committee for enhancement of EIA procedures of DOE and revision of EQA 1974.
She also served in the state environmental management committee in managing the
environmental issue while she was the State Director for Negeri Sembilan DOE office.
Mazlin Mokhtar, BSc. (Tasmania), PhD (Queensland), FASc., FMIC.,
DSDK (Kedah), PMP (Perak) is currently Deputy Head (Research),
United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Asia
(UN SDSN-Asia) at Sunway University, Malaysia. He was a Senior
Professor and Research Fellow at the Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia (UKM) for 37 years (May 1985 - May 2022). He was the
Director and Principal Fellow at the Institute for Environment and
Development (LESTARI) UKM 2005-2013 & 2019-2022; and was
UKM Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation 2014-2017; and UKM’s Founding
Director of Centre for Public & International Relations (PUSPA) 2001-2004; & Lecturer at
UKM Sabah Campus 1988-1996 (Faculty of Science and Natural Resources). Currently
he is Chairman of the Environment Committee of Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM),
and Environmental Quality Act’s Appeal Board Member. He was Chairman of Malaysia’s
Environmental Quality Council 2015-2018, and Chairman of the government appointed
committee reviewing the Lynas Rare Earth operations. He was the Chair of the AACB
Water Sector Transformation 2040 Task Force under Economic Planning Unit of Prime
Minister’s Department & Academy of Sciences Malaysia (EPU-ASM); and was the
Deputy Chairman of the Bauxite Mining and Exportation SOP Committee appointed
by the government of Malaysia. He’s the winner of the Langkawi Award 2018; and was
the longest serving member of the National Steering Committee of UNDP GEF Small
Grants Programme 2000-2018; and Nomination Committee of the Merdeka Awards
(Environment Category) 2015-2017 & 2020-2022. He is an Advisory Committee of
National River Care Fund; and Member of WWF Malaysia’s Board of Trustees 2014-2018.
305
Environmentally friendly cars will
soon cease to be an option … they will
become a necessity.
- Fujio Cho, Honorary Chairman of Toyota Motors
Kionsom Waterfall, Sabah.
Chapter 13
Communication
During an
Environmental
Crisis
COMMUNICATION DURING AN ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi
INTRODUCTION
It is often thought that communicating during a crisis is an effort largely based on
common sense guided by the apparent obvious. On the contrary, when a crisis brakes
common sense escapes and the apparent turns into opaque; it is not quite as intuitive
as imagined. Any spokesperson facing a horde of journalists at a Press conference or
dagger stares by directors in a boardroom, would immediately sense their response
would trigger a chain of untoward response.
While managing an environmental crisis calls for technical and science-based solutions,
communication during a crisis, especially when it involves life threatening situations,
demands a more emphatic and people-centric approach. Most people imagine reporting
the process, dishing out updates and developments are enough to satisfy the public
and the stakeholders, unfortunately this type of communication often leads to harsh
criticisms from the public.
This chapter looks at what is crisis communications by zooming in on the definition of
environmental crisis, highlighting the essence of information critical in achieving the
goal of the communication and its execution; by deriving examples from two crises
in the country experienced by the Department of Environment (DOE) from 2018 to
2021, the Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster and the global plastic waste dumping.
The environmental crisis discussed in this chapter is confined to DOE’s jurisdiction
in managing brown environment issues in Malaysia as stipulated in Akta Kualiti Alam
Sekeliling 1974 (Environmental Quality Act 1974). The best crisis communication
measures is prescribed in the Next Step Forward section.
This chapter pivots on the importance of communication for DOE during environmental
crises and proposes standard communication practices. Written with a pragmatic
approach in a non-specialist language on adaptive solutions for DOE, this chapter
is useful as a general guideline for other agencies and organisations when faced
by a reputational crisis affecting public safety and health. The breakdown of the
communications processes in this chapter may seem simple, straightforward and
obvious, but when hit by a crisis, common sense more often than not gives way to
urgency, sometimes with disastrous results.
This chapter gathers the thoughts and experience of those directly involved with both
crises. The authors of this chapter Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi was the Press Secretary to
the then Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change
(MESTECC) and Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaffar, was DOE Strategic Communications
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Director, Johor State Director and at time of writing the Director General. Two others who
contributed their thoughts to this chapter through interviews are Zuraini Ahmad Tajuddin
who was Selangor Deputy Director and currently Strategic Communications Director,
and former MESTECC Secretary General Datuk Seri Azhar Yahya.
It is worth noting that in March 2021, Perikatan Nasional government disbanded
MESTECC by reinstating Ministry of Science and Technology (MOSTI), moving the
Energy sector to Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (KETSA), and housed
Environment and Climate Change under a newly established Ministry of Environment
and Water (KASA). At the time of writing, DOE is a department under KASA.
WHAT IS CRISIS COMMUNICATION AND WHY DOES DOE NEED TO
COMMUNICATE DURING CRISIS?
For the longest time crisis communication was best left to the Ministry’s corporate
communication unit (Unit Komunikasi Korporat) or the Minister’s office. Government
agencies are usually more focused on managing situational crisis and feeding technical
information to the spokesperson, usually the Minister, Deputy Minister and Secretary
General. Communication strategy during a crisis is pretty much left to the spokesperson’s
discretion as how to broadcast or disseminate the raw details.
However, in reality, it is far more complex that what meets the eye. At the heart of the
crisis, an agency, in this case DOE, is the closest to ground zero, gathering first-hand
information and reporting to the spokesperson on what is happening, the actions taken,
recommending the next step and more importantly advising on the right key message to
deliver to the public and key stakeholders.
It is an accepted fact that communication is vital during a crisis but what exactly is at
stake, if we choose not to communicate? A crisis would inflict corporate organizations
on its operations and reputation. For example, the company that illegally discarded the
schedule waste into Sungai Kim Kim faced a crisis impacting its operation and reputation
when it was charged in court and cease to operate. The operators were apprehended
and fined. The same incident created an environmental crisis to DOE, MESTECC, Johor
State Government and the Federal Government. The environmental crisis did not have
a direct impact on DOE’s operations, but it has reputational elements to it. Failure to
manage an environmental crisis will lead to reputational damage.
As an enforcement agency it is critical for DOE to safeguard its reputation through its
communication strategy. The objective for DOE communications during an environmental
crisis should be:
i. Protecting the credibility of the agency
The department has to be seen competent in carrying out its responsibilities, but
the occurrence of a crisis puts the department to test. Will the department have
the competency and ability to manage the situation and restore public health and
safety? Does the department have the technical knowledge to contain the situation?
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Stakeholders demand the department to be accountable and responsible in fulfilling
its role as mandated by the law;
ii. Gaining public trust
During a crisis the department would be under the public’s immense scrutiny. The
public will be venting their opinions, baseless or otherwise, which could snowball
into public discontent and creating unnecessary negative pressure. Effective crisis
response is immensely essential to pacify the public and in return will gain their
trust; and
iii. Projecting authority and great leadership in managing the crisis
As an enforcement agency, authority and leadership goes hand in hand. These
qualities must be apparent in both crisis management and communications. Poor
crisis management will almost always result in poor communications. Unfortunately,
great crisis management does not automatically guarantee good communications.
Strategic communications must be employed to mirror leadership and authority in
communications.
With this in mind, the outcome of any communication effort is no longer random but
strategic, instructive and targeted.
Author of Crisis Communications: The Definitive Guide to Managing The Message,
Steven Fink writes:
“What the public wants to see in a crisis – especially a crisis that affects lives or public
health and safety – is a knowledgeable leader or a skilled management team that
is firmly in command of the rapidly unfolding events, not a milquetoast puppet of a
manager whose every utterance looks for all the world as if he was manipulated by an
unseen hand.”
WHAT CONSTITUTES AN ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS?
The environmental crisis discussed in this chapter is confined to DOE’s jurisdiction
in managing brown environment issues in Malaysia as stipulated in Akta Kualiti Alam
Sekeliling 1974 (Environmental Quality Act 1974). An environmental crisis for DOE
broadly means any incident that pollutes the environment leading to threatened lives
and public safety.
Of course, one can argue on technical grounds whether or not the ‘punca kuasa’ or
jurisdiction lies with DOE to take the lead in managing the crisis. This scenario was
heavily debated by many parties during the plastic waste imports and Sungai Kim Kim
chemical disaster followed by the Pasir Gudang health incidents three months later.
Notwithstanding, DOE remained focus in resolving the present issues and managing the
crisis well after the situation was contained.
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DOE is absolutely clear on when an incident escalates into a crisis. The department is
guided by manuals and standard operating procedures on managing a crisis but lacked
guidelines on how to communicate during an environmental crisis. Playing by ear, the
spokesperson for the department would highlight the crisis management progress to
update the public as soon as the information is available either through social media
platforms, issuing a Press Statement or holding Press conferences.
Unfortunately, communication was not part of the crisis management strategy. Updating
the Ministers and Secretary General is a standard protocol and informing developments
to the public is prompted in an ad-hoc manner, as and when is perceived necessary,
depending on the outcome of the day. Dealing with problems as they arise rather than
planning strategically to avoid them or rather, the fire-fighting mode of communications
approach to diffuse public discontent is ineffective, tiring, repetitive, and can be
demoralising to staff members. Worse, fire-fighting can unwittingly crack open the
department wide on reputational risk dan damage.
Environmental Crisis 1: The Sungai Kim Kim Chemical Disaster and Health
Incident
The Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster and later Pasir Gudang health incidents threatens
public health and safety, albeit on a different scale and manner. In brief on March 2019,
the nation was shocked when a large amount of scheduled waste was illegally dumped
into Sungai Kim Kim. Some 6,000 schoolchildren and adults were affected by the fumes,
with 2775 of them hospitalised and 110 schools in Pasir Gudang closed.
MESTECC, despite being a federal governing entity with limited authority and jurisdiction
in Johor swung into action with DOE taking the lead in advising the minister, deputy
minister and secretary general and managing the crisis. The MP for Pasir Gudang raised
the matter in Parliament, calling for an urgent debate on whether or not a localised
emergency should be declared in Pasir Gudang.
The Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster was considered a closed case after the clean-up
on the affected area, some 1.5km of the river costing, the State and Federal government
a hefty RM6 million.
However, barely three months later in June 2019, a series of health incidents occured
with similar symptoms affecting the schoolchildren in Pasir Gudang. Unlike Sungai Kim
Kim chemical disaster, there was no single source found to pin the case on and the
matter seemed to be subdued with the change of the monsoon wind. The anomaly called
for deeper understanding to mitigate another untoward health incident. The Academy
of Sciences Malaysia conducted a loading and capacity study on Pasir Gudang and
presented it to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who also led
a committee on the Sungai Kim Kim and Pasir Gudang incident.
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The Johor State Government and MESTECC worked seamlessly to resolve the
environmental crisis and on 23 February 2020 Pasir Gudang established a online
volatile organic chemical (DOC) monitoring network, making it the first industrial city in
the country to have such a system.
Environmental Crisis 2: The Imported Plastic Waste
The Imported Plastic Waste crisis, in contrast, has a slower build-up and spanned over
a longer duration with a global impact.
When China closed its door to recycling imported plastics waste on 31 December
2017, illegal plastic recycling operations mushroomed in port cities like Port Klang,
Butterworth, and slowly spreads to Nilai and Ipoh to accommodate the major shift of
plastic imports from China into Southeast Asia region, with Malaysia being a popular
target for easy business and infrastructure set-up. Vacant plot of lands were turned into
contaminated plastic waste landfills and open burning sites compromising public health
and safety. While the effect was not as dramatic and intense as the health incidents
in Pasir Gudang, managing the imported plastic crisis was far more complex, tedious,
costly and resulted in serious environmental threat.
DOE has been actively managing the crisis since July 2018 and it is still ongoing. This
leads to the crux of the chapter: activating crisis communication.
CRISIS COMMUNICATION IS NOT A FIXED FORMULA
As we have established earlier, an environmental incident will trigger crisis management
into action, but the same cannot be said about communication because the latter is thus
far, not designed to be part of DOE crisis management.
Crisis management and crisis communication are related but they are two different
activities with separate objectives. They serve different functions during a crisis, and
one cannot exist without the other. Strategic actions apply to both management and
communications during an environmental crisis and planning is immensely crucial. Poor
communications will ultimately worsen a crisis. For example, conflicting statements from
different agencies over an update would confuse the public and cause outrage and
criticisms.
Since its inception, DOE is adept at managing environmental crises and this is proof
when the department had to simultaneously manage two crises: the no-single point
source during the Pasir Gudang health incident and the imported plastic waste war.
Strangely, crisis communication is not part of its forte. DOE is tightly focused on resolving
the crisis first and communications during crisis is restricted to progress updates to the
Press and Ministry’s senior management.
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SUNGAI KIM KIM & PASIR GUDANG IMPORTED PLASTIC WASTE CRISIS
HEALTH INCIDENT
Affects residents in smaller towns near the
Affects residents, schoolchildren and workers ports, exporter countries
in Pasir Gudang
Slow initially but snowballs into a global
Immediate, dramatic public reactions reaction
Shorter crisis duration (12 months) Longer crisis duration (on going, since 2018)
Immediate health risk Slow health effects
Air pollution
Land, water and air pollution
Impacts chemical industries in Pasir Gudang Impacts plastic recycling plants
Multiple government agencies Multiple agencies and foreign affairs
State and Federal legislations State, Federal and International law
Figure 13.1. Comparisons on the Characteristics of Sungai Kim Kim and Pasir Gudang Health
Incidents and Imported Plastic Waste Crisis.
Before we delve deeper into crisis communications see Figure 13.1 for the comparison
on the characteristics of the crises. The comparison reveals who the key stakeholders
are, the best platforms or channel to reach them, the goal of communication (desired
outcome), and greatly hinted at what should be said and who should say it.
Drawing from both crises, the following section looks at how communications during an
environmental crisis took shape.
Communications for Sungai Kim Kim and Pasir Gudang Health Incident
In managing the Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster and Pasir Gudang health incident,
DOE worked closely with other agencies such as the Department of Health, Department
of Chemistry Malaysia, Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), Immigration Department of
Malaysia, Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (JBPM), Malaysian Civil Defense
Department (APM), Department of Occupational Safety & Health (DOSH) and Pasir
Gudang City Council (MBPG) to conduct integrated enforcement activities regularly, and
to investigate the source of the pollution and those responsible for causing the pollution.
The chemical disaster had led The Johore State government to establish Environmental
Action Committee, (JKTAS) which is tasked to identify, manage environmental issues,
pollutions and their impact on the environment and human health. The committee
consists of academicians, professionals, as well as relevant government agencies.
Through JKTAS, pollution-related issues including enforcement would be handled in
a more coordinated and integrated manner with all relevant agencies, led by DOE. Air
quality monitoring or rather reconnaissance using drones commenced on 23 October
2019. Reconnaissance using drones aid in early detection of pollution, its sources and
allow preventive or mitigating actions to be carried out earlier.
313
Part of the crisis management activities include Ops Ketuk-Ketuk to detect factories which
caused pollution in Pasir Gudang, at the same time air quality monitoring was carried out
continuously to detect the presence of toxic gases. DOE also held Press conferences
on a daily basis to inform the public of the actions that have been implemented.
During the crisis, Wan Latiff, who was state Director of Johor, gave interviews and
Press confrences on the actions that have been taken such as environmental quality
monitoring, enforcement and inspection of factories suspected of potential pollution,
including the number of compounds that have been issued and also the number of court
actions. The State Director also announced the arrest of the suspect of this case and
informed the Press on dates of the charge and trials.
The public sees the role of this department as crucial in tackling pollution issues. Through
its No Wrong Door Policy, DOE receives numerous complaints on environmental
issues which do not fall under the jurisdiction of this department, nevertheless, but are
channelled to the relevant agencies.
The public assume DOE has the absolute authority on environmental issues, but in
truth, pollution related to solid waste issues are under the responsibility of National Solid
Waste Management Department (JPSPN), mining activities are under the Department
of Minerals and Geosciences Malaysia, while farming including pig farms are under the
Department of Veterinary Services. It took some time for DOE to regain trust from the
local communities.
Communications for Imported Plastic Waste Crisis
Every crisis is unique and should be managed and treated on a case-by-case basis.
The Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster, for instance, was almost an open and shut case.
The crisis was resolved by cleaning the polluted part of the river. But three months later
the Pasir Gudang health incident, showed that despite affecting the same communities
within the same locality, the situation demanded a slightly different approach and
therefore the same message might not be repeated to the stakeholders. During the
health incident, public trust quickly eroded with the perception that the Government
had failed at resolving the pollution at Sungai Kim Kim. The blame was shifted from
the polluter, the person who dumped the scheduled waste into Sungai Kim Kim, to
Government agencies which did not finish the job of cleaning up the pollution. But still
the perception hangs on the cleaning of Sungai Kim Kim.
The imported plastic waste had many turn of events that prolonged the crisis. The
crackdown on illegal recycling facilities in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan forced the
importers to go “port shopping” looking for a more relaxed entry point into the country
other than Port Klang. The importers then headed to the next closest port, Northern
Port, Prai and consequently the re-route opened up illegal landfills in Sungai Petani,
Butterworth and Ipoh. Again, a different approach to manage the crisis was applied and
therefore the communications strategy had to change accordingly.
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The communications strategy has to be flexible enough to allow for the fluidity of the
situation. Unlike the Sungai Kim Kim case, the plastic waste import crisis was dynamic
following change of modus operandi by the illegal recyclers, increased integrated
enforcements at State level, resulting in a ripple effect of increased awareness among
the international public. The crisis moves in an expanding circle triggering multiple chain
reactions. Let’s look at Figure 13.2 to understand this.
• Change MO • New SOP
• UNEA
• Moved to new • Basel
Integrated Convention
areas Illegal Enforcement
operators
Malaysia Public • Global
pressure awareness
• Exporting
countries • International
• G2G cooperation media interest
Figure 13.2: The Relationship Between the Actors and the Activities During the Imported Plastic
Waste Crisis.
With every action taken by the actors, it triggers a whole set of activities in an expanding
manner exposing the crisis to a wider base of stakeholders. When MESTECC went
on an integrated crackdown operations on the illegal plastic waste recycling operators,
it creates public pressure through the media interests, leading to engagements
with exporting countries. As the activities intensify and expands into a larger circle,
the operators moved to a new area or plastic waste became unclaimed containers,
MESTECC worked on international platforms (in this case the Basel Convention to
amend Annexe XI on classification of plastic waste) to curb the transboundary plastic
waste movement, international communities are pressuring their own government to be
more accountable on recycling waste in developing nations and so on.
MESTECC took a strong stand that Malaysia would not be used as a “dumping ground”
for dirty plastic waste. All plastic waste merchandise containers that violated national
legislation will be repatriated to the exporting country without costing Malaysian
government a cent.
To resolve this issue, the Cabinet Meeting on 17 April 2019 has agreed to establish
the Import Plastic Waste Management Main Committee and the Import Plastic Waste
Management Technical Committee. The Import Plastic Waste Management Steering
Committee meeting was chaired by the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology,
Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC) and the Ministry of Housing and Local
Government (KPKT).
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The communications strategy for the imported plastic waste must be flexible enough
to allow the fluidity of activities while keeping the overarching goal or desired outcome
intact. During the Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster and Pasir Gudang health incident,
DOE communications strategy to update the public through Press conference by means
of credible messaging worked well to regain public trust however the same strategy
could not be applied to the imported plastic waste crisis, largely due to the dynamics of
the crisis. Engagement with key stakeholders plays a bigger role before engaging with
the Press to garner public support at the international level. And indeed, DOE’s war on
plastic waste caught on globally.
On 17 Feb 2021, the United Nations selected the Enforcement Department of DOE
as one of the eight winners of the 5th Asia Environmental Enforcement Awards 2020
its effort to curb the transboundary movement of plastic waste into the country. The
sweet success was not without blood sweet and tears from MESTECC and DOE staff
members. The unwavering persistence and actions on returning the plastic waste to
exporting countries was commendable, and their efforts was communicated on various
platforms in full view for the world to see.
Amidst the robust and vibrant communication activities that took place with external
stakeholders from Parliament to the public, the next segment looks at one of the most
neglected key stakeholders of an organization during crisis communications: its own
staff members.
The Much-Neglected Aspect During a Crisis: Internal Communications
The importance of internal communications to employees cannot be over-emphasised.
Failure to have a proper communication channel and a standard operating procedure
parallel to managing a crisis can be detrimental to the effort to contain the crisis itself.
During crisis all eyes are set on resolving the conflict and the rush to address the public,
but more often than not the most neglected stakeholders is the staff members of its own
organisation. Internal communication for DOE refers to:
i. The Department’s senior management and staff members;
ii. Relevant agencies within the Ministry;
iii. The Ministry’s senior management; and
iv. The Minister.
The aim of internal communications during a crisis is to keep everyone informed on
what is happening and to help the staff to relay the correct information to their family
members, friends and relatives of the situation. During a crisis, the public perceive the
staff members of DOE and the Ministry as the most credible source of information, and
therefore not arming staff members with accurate information might erode the public’s
sense of trust or confidence in the department.
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More than that, senior management of the Ministry including the Minister has their own
set of stakeholders that they need to communicate with, for instance the Chief Secretary
to the Government, the Cabinet including the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime
Minister.
Former MESTECC secretary general Datuk Seri Azhar Yahaya said the spokesperson
during crisis who might or might not be the director general should immediately inform
and update the incident to the Ministry’s senior management.
“The spokesperson should put aside protocols and formality during crisis and focus
on informing and updating the senior management on the unfolding event. Speed and
accuracy are the top priority. Nobody should wait for details amounting to a lengthy
report before breaking the news to us, especially when people’s lives and health were at
stake,” he said with reference to Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster.
Azhar said misinformation coupled with tardiness could jeopardise crisis management,
and this should be avoided at all costs. “Good communication will bolster coordination
within the Ministry, lessen the risk of making errors, increase the speed of decision
making and more importantly help manage the crisis better.”
During the Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster, Azhar mobilised the agencies under
MESTECC to manage the crisis in a coordinated, focused, swift and effective manner
with DOE at the helm and Malaysian Space Agency, Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency,
Meteorology Department and Department of Chemistry pooling their expertise.
“At the core of a crisis, the communication must have sense of urgency, clarity, concise,
accuracy, most importantly a smooth reporting flow from the ground zero to the top
management where the critical decisions are made whether managing the situation or
updating progress to the Cabinet or the public,” he said.
The communication relationship between internal and external parties is explained in
Figure 13.3 here:
Internal External
Ground Zero Agencies Crisis Action Secretary Minister Cabinet Public
Committee General Dep Minister
Figure 13.3: Communication Relationship Between Internal and External Parties.
With intense pressure during crisis, where unfolding events continuously demands a fresh
approach in both handling and communication, it is crucial for internal communications
to flow as rapidly and accurately as possible from the ground zero team to the relevant
departments, agencies, Crisis Action Committee, the Ministry’s Secretary General,
right to the Minister and Deputy Minister. Some issues can be resolved among different
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agencies without having to resort to public spheres. If the issues are contained in the
meeting rooms, it will not swell into a crisis and can be resolved more efficiently. In this
case, good internal communications enable efficient problem solving.
However, the absence of solid internal communications would lead to grave, damaging
and disastrous consequences such as misunderstandings, slow crisis response,
misinformation leading to poor crisis management and worse, triggering public outrage
and harsh criticisms. In many situations, collateral damage would call for a person or
persons to be accountable. In a nutshell, heads could roll.
The crisis offered MESTECC to rise as a solid team putting their cooperation to the test.
It is this strength that leads DOE to the success of resolving many of its environmental
issues.
The Role of the Spokesperson: The Communicator
During a crisis, the spokesperson can make or break a detailed communications plan.
In the case of Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster and Plastic Waste DOE relied heavily
on the senior management at MESTECC to be spokesperson, this is largely due to the
standard protocol when dealing with the Press. The first in rank is the Minister, followed
by the Deputy Minister, the Secretary General and the DOE Director General.
At MESTECC, the senior management team worked like oiled cogs, always in tandem
with one another, giving the impression that they were a united team. It was an excellent
image, but a crisis demands more than just a united front. During the aforementioned
crises, YB Yeo Bee Yin, YB Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis and Datuk Seri Azhar had
demonstrated the essence of a crisis spokesperson: to speak in a single voice. They
consistently reinforced the key messages, taking great care not to contradict and
reiterate what others are saying into one solid narrative. Regardless, whom the public or
the stakeholders listened to, the message was consistent. This is where DOE played a
critical role in effective internal communications.
DOE has diligently kept the senior management on the same page at every turn of
events. Minute details were not left out and constantly in touch with them. DOE’s
unbroken line of communication has given the spokesperson great detail on what is
happening on ground zero, be it at Sungai Kim Kim or Jenjarom. Without DOE round-
the-clock updates and swift action, if would be impossible for the top management of
MESTECC to manage queries from the Cabinet, MPs, Press, local communities, let
alone the global perception of the country handling an environmental crisis.
The spokesperson is a conduit, the superhighway, that connects both internal and
external parties, and with such high stakes at hand, there is very slim margin for
mistakes. During an environmental crisis, having to make a U-turn for a poor action
or saying the wrong thing, could cause irreparable reputational damage, followed by
redirecting resources to work on damage control.
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In her recently published book, The Unfinished Business, former MESTECC Minister
Yeo aptly captured the Sungai Kim Kim crisis as: “Communication is as important as the
actions done on managing the crisis.”
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES: WHY DOES IT FEEL LIKE YOU’VE DONE SO
MUCH YET THE PUBLIC IS UNAPPRECIATIVE?
It was in April 2019 and the Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster was unfolding in full scale
of the sense and the Malaysian Department of Environment was right in the eye of the
storm, doing all they could to manage the crisis. We, the authors of this article sat by our
cup of coffee at ground zero in locked in a conversation about the disaster. Wan Latiff
was then the Enforcement Director managing hands on and Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi was
the Press Secretary with the Minister, managing the communications on the incident.
The question at that time was what else we could have done? Why does it feel like we
have done so many things yet unappreciated by the public?
When the Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster happened, the public was furious with DOE.
They perceived the department had failed to prevent the illegal dumping of toxic waste
in the river, regardless of the fact that multiple jurisdictions of the river’s health, industry
licencing and public safety fell under the purview of various agencies. The public choose
to point their fingers at DOE as the agency responsible for letting a chemical disaster
happen.
It was at this point that DOE refocused its communications to regain public trust. DOE
continue its progress updates way after the health incidents cases went down to zero.
DOE went out of its way to engage the public in townhalls and during their rounds to
gauge feedback from the people.
But as the crisis management took charge of the situation and gradually the public began
to be confident in the actions that had been taken to address the crisis. It was apparent
that with the high visibility of DOE officials making rounds on site such as taking air
quality readings and river water samples for analysis and continuous updates through
the Press on actions taken to manage the situation diminished public discontent. The
local communities interacted with the officials to voice out their complaints and express
their feelings. Leveraging on this newly forged rapport, DOE requested the public to
cooperate and report incidences related to environmental pollution to the department.
The local community felt they are part of the solution to the environmental crisis.
For the Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster, DOE had taken a professional stand to remain
steadfast and focused in managing the crisis by updating the progress through daily
press conferences. The move had successfully created transparency and consequently
won the public trust. The daily updates had “shown” the public what they ultimately
wanted to see, which was DOE taking responsibility, being accountable for, and taking
the necessary actions to resolve the crisis.
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The imported plastic waste crisis and Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster had significantly
brought out the leadership and teamwork between DOE and the ministry to the forefront
in managing the crisis and this had greatly helped in putting forward good communication
during the crisis.
DOE was swift in providing crucial information internally such as the senior management
of the Ministry and other corresponding agencies helped shaped the decision-making
process. It ultimately provided the solid ground for DOE to remain steadfast and firm in
preventing the importation of plastic waste consequently demonstrated the department’s
commitment towards preserving national sovereignty at the international level.
Meanwhile, cooperation between DOE with government and private agencies continues
to be strengthened so that the crisis can be addressed more effectively.
High engagement with local and international media to continuously update the public
on the crisis management has successfully put both crisis into a positive light, however,
establishing a communication goal and implement it accordingly could level up the
desired outcome and goal. At the same time internal communications must be treated as
an equally important segment, drafted with a clear objective and executed in a strategic
manner.
Before this chapter looks at the prescriptive approach for DOE, it is important to
understand the Laswell linear communication model and Coombs crisis communication
model.
Communication Model: How does a Message Travel from the Speaker to the
Audience?
It is first important to view the components of communication and the flow of the message
through the platforms to the intended audience. To put it simply, the communication
process involves the person who says it, the message, the platform and the audience.
For more than 80 years, Harold D. Laswell’s linear communication model had stood the
test of time as one of the essential and practical approach on a linear communication
process.
Laswell’s communication model (see Figure 13.4) shows a person says her message
through a chosen channel (this could be in person on a stage, or a live feed on social
media, radio or television, or reported as news article either in print or on a website),
to a set of audience who are capable to decipher the message (understands the
language used and have access to the channels) and reacting to the message whether
in agreement or otherwise.
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Communicator Message Platform / Receiver Outcome
• Who says • What Medium • To Whom • What effect?
• Which
channel
Figure 13.4: Lasswell’s Communication Model 1940
In practice, we can imagine the Director General of DOE making a statement, reported
by the Press, received by the public who reacted by either responding through NGO’s,
political groups, residents’ associations or directly through social media.
Delving into these components, as an agency DOE will find the following:
i. Communicator, the person who delivers the message:
Should the message be delivered by the Director General mandatorily? Depending
on the scale of the crisis, the stakeholders who will receive the message and
the expected reaction, the communicator chosen to deliver the message has to
be strategic rather than an ultimatum of DG is the spokesperson. Consider the
following: An incident in a state involving public safety would need the immediate
attention and statement from the State Director, while a townhall session with
industry players might need detailed explanation from the Director of Enforcement,
and a Environment Awareness briefing session with residents’ association members
would be greatly effective if the Director of Development and Communication
speaks.
ii. Message, crafting impactful message:
All components in the communication model are equally important but crafting an
impactful message outweighs other components in terms of garnering positive
reactions. A good clear message could still travel its way to the receiver on flawed
channel or delivered by a lesser than charismatic orator, but a poorly drafted message
is a ticking time bomb that could devastate important activities, programmes and
initiatives. Key messages drafted during crisis must be deemed as transparent,
reflect the actions taken, heavy on humility and empathy. There should be no room
for arrogance, defensive and blame game tone.
iii. Channel, selecting the right platforms
Which channel would be best to ferry your message? Would it look good on
video? Does it sound good enough for the radio or podcast? Or would it be best
to deliver an emotional appeal in person in situ? Every channel has its strengths
and weaknesses. The strength of a channel is measured from its accessibility (this
includes language), availability, reachability, cost-efficient and highly appealing to
the targeted audience. On the downside consider the ‘noise’ or disruption caused
by the channel which will hamper the communication experience and risk the
message transmission to the receiver, for instance poor internet reception, pocket
areas without terrestrial broadcast coverage, paid content, travelling distance or
poor acoustic for physical attendance at event hall.
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Platforms will clue in the demographics and behaviour of the audience; therefore, it
is always critical to know who the targeted audience are and go full on the platforms
where they reside in. A good strategy on the platforms optimises cost, reachability,
visibility, efficiency and sometimes speed. DOE Corporate Communications Unit
must build and keep an updated database on platforms and stakeholders. During
crisis, where time is of the essence, the database will provide immediate access to
the right platforms for the targeted audience. The decision whether to use the social
media, broadcast channel, face-to-face briefings, news portals or conventional Press
coverage heavily depends on reaching out to the targeted stakeholders speedily.
Essentially what would be the best tool for crisis communications? Does setting
up a social media account solve a department’s communication problem? Should
a government department open a TikTok account or host a Clubhouse chat? Does
increased visibility means good communications?
More often than not, a social media account is seen as an immediate relief to
reaching out to the public for scoring good points on communications, but this is
far from the truth. Social media can be tedious, ineffective and equally damaging
it the platforms are not properly managed. The social media, news portals and the
conventional Press are platforms used to push out messages to the masses, and
platforms is just one of the many components of the communication process.
iv. Receiver, the implied audience
DOE has a vast segment of audience or rather keyholders which they need to
constantly engage with. Understanding the stakeholders means unlocking their
profile and getting an insight on the best way to communicate with them from mass
communication to interpersonal level. Profiling the receivers will inform you on their
level of awareness on the crisis (it helps in combatting fake news), economic and
social interest, language or dialect, culture and tradition, ethno-religious sensitivities,
age and gender appropriateness, locality, behaviour and attitude towards the crisis.
Understanding their profiles with give the ultimate edge when crafting an impactful
message for them and subsequently achieve the desired effect. Essentially the
stakeholders are profiled and compiled together with their communication platforms
in a database.
This is immensely handy when communicating during a crisis. One of the most
overlooked stakeholders in crisis communications is the employees. It is critical
for DOE to treat their own team members as a key stakeholder during a crisis.
The management must address, inform and update the staff on the crisis to avoid
miscommunication, misunderstanding and speculation among the staff.
v. Outcome, funnelling receivers towards a positive reaction
As mentioned earlier, the outcome is the first item on the drawing board which has
to answer the question on why are we communicating? Contrary to the flow of the
Laswell’s communication model, as it begins with who says what in which channel
to whom with what effect, in practice DOE has to construct the communication
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strategy by backtracking the model. In other words, the department should start at
the end goal working towards the communicator (see Figure 13.5). The definition
of the outcome or goal is crucial in determining how the entire flow would fall into
place in Figure 13.4.
Outcome Receiver Platform / Message Communicator
• What effect? • To Whom Medium • What • Who says
• Which
channel
Figure 13.5: Constructing a Communication Strategy by Firstly Defining the Desired Outcome.
During crisis, more often than not, the desired outcome of a communication strategy is to
gain public trust, strengthen public’s confidence in the department and getting the buy-in
from the public. A well-defined goal will lead to clear plan on selecting the audience, the
right channel, crafting specific message and choosing the right communicator to deliver
the message. The desired outcomes can also be measured to value the success of
the communication initiative, for example, by the number of positive news headlines,
positive feedback or follow-ups, valid comments on social media, supportive feedback
from key stakeholders.
Crisis Communication Model: Preparing for the Unknown
With the general understanding that each crisis is unique, would it make sense to prepare
for a crisis that is yet to happen? According to many scholars yes it does and herein lies
the oxymoron, preparing for the unknown. One way of looking at crisis communications
is to accept i) crisis is inevitable ii) a standard plan will reduce reputational risk iii) the
communication plan is flexible enough to allow unique situations. By identifying the key
areas of communication, DOE will be more strategic when communicating during crisis.
Communication scholar Timothy Coombs, in The Handbook of Crisis Communications,
divided crisis management into three phases: Pre-Crisis, during Crisis, and post Crisis,
where each phases contains its own crisis communications activities. Figure 13.6 below
explains the relationship between the Crisis Stages and Communications Activities.
Pre-Crisis During Crisis Post Crisis
• Prevention of crisis • Activation of Crisis • Post-mortem
• Identifying warning Communications plan • Analysis
• Activation of Crisis • Adoption of solutions
signs Management plan • Closing the crisis
• Establish
Communications Plan
• Establish Crisis
Management Plan
Figure 13.6: Crisis Stages and Its Activities.
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This crisis communications model is a flexible model that can be adopted by most
organizations. The three phases help organizations to streamline the activities between
business continuity plan and a strategic communications plan.
Coombs explained that a crisis or a threat of crisis creates a need of information where
information is collected and shared throughout the phases. He also pointed out that
there are two parts of crisis communication:
i. Crisis Knowledge Management – identifying sources, gathering, collating and
analysing information. More like behind the scenes action carried out by the team to
help the management make an informed decision on managing the crisis. It paints
a critical part of internal communications in an organization; and
ii. Stakeholder Reaction Management – responding to interested parties. This is the
popular version of crisis communications because it involves responding to the
media, the public and almost always more dramatic.
The following section will dive deeper on how Coombs’ Crisis Communication model can
be applied by DOE during an environmental crisis.
THE NEXT STEP FORWARD
Can we choose environment over development? Economy over resources? Regardless
of our attitudes, slants and approach towards these questions, natural resources is
undoubtedly finite.
Hezri and Dovers wrote in Shifting the policy goal from environment to sustainable
development. (2012) there is a correlation between environmental consequences and
economic development in Malaysia. The rapid development demands an unsatiated use
of natural resources from rapid loss of the forests, increase in arable land, high water
usage, urbanization and leading to solid waste and pollution issues.
The shift to sustainability is seen as slow and uncertain. Hezri and Dovers conclude
that the implementation of policies and enforcement is key for the country to embrace
a broad sustainability agenda and closely align itself with the policy goal of ecological
modernization. Going by this statement, DOE essentially plays a complex and pivotal
role in taking the country to embrace sustainability through awareness and enforcement.
Effective communication is key in making this a reality.
The Director of Strategic Communications, Zuraini Ahmad Tajuddin said as per standard
procedure, crisis communications will be triggered by any environmental related accident
such as river pollution which could lead to drinking water contamination, illegal disposal
of hazardous waste, transboundary haze episode, oil spill.
“As for the existing SOPs, every related division and state office will initiate appropriate
emergency response on how to deal with the incident,” she said.
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Zuraini also heads the DOE Corporate Communications Unit (UKK). The unit is
responsible in shaping and pushing out messages to the stakeholders and the public
and plays a key role in advising senior management on communications strategy and
implementation. Of course, each communication effort would require direction and
clearance from the Director General.
The role of DOE Strategic Communication Division is mainly to create public awareness
and liaise with the Media facilitating credible information and official statements from
DOE. There are 5 main functions under Strategic Communication Division:
i. The Public Awareness Section which is responsible to organise events on National
Environmental Day, Earth Day and World Environment Day, all these programmes
will be activate and participated by Rakan Alam Sekitar in promoting and to inculcate
the “green” behaviour among public;
ii. Environmental Education for Schools and Higher Learning Institute which include
Sekolah Lestari Programme for Primary and Secondary School and Green Campus
Programme for Higher Learning Institute. This group also organise Environmental
Debate among IPT, public speaking competition etc;
iii. Foreign Relation for Regional and International on Environmental Affair which
includes Malaysia Singapore Joint Committee on Environment, ASEAN Working
Group on Environmental Education et cetera;
iv. Publication Team who are responsible to publish The Environmental Quality Report,
DOE Annual Report as well as quarterly E-Bulletin. The team manage environmental
library, open to the public; and
v. Media and Communication Section produces video clips on environmental
awareness or programmes such as pocket talks and webinars. This section also
issues Press statement on environment-related issue.
While the communications team has deep understanding and technical knowledge on
environmental issues, the team is severely lacking when it comes to communicating
during a crisis. Crisis communications as explained earlier should not be taken lightly
neither it be a practice of hit-and-miss approach after the Sungai Kim Kim incident and
the global exposure of contaminated plastics import issue.
DOE is fast moving into unchartered territories as climate change pivots into importance
and pollution and depleted resources come into play in the imminent future. The
existing Strategic Communications Division is an important unit to move DOE forward
in communication during an environmental crisis. Looking at the department’s current
position and its experience from the environmental crises mentioned earlier, it is timely
and highly recommended that DOE establish a clear SOP on crisis communications
for both internal and external parties, a dedicated communications team which can be
activated during crisis, and standard set of crisis documents.
Out of the three stages in Coombs Crisis Communications Model, DOE will have to
explore on committing to the Pre-crisis and Post Crisis stage. The activities during these
two stages will immediately enhance the department’s preparedness and responses in
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communicating strategically during an environmental crisis. The recommendations here
are not comprehensive and exhaustive. The finer details, such as reputation repairs or
techniques in crafting the messages for effective communication, are not included to keep this
chapter focused on the fundamentals of communications during environmental crisis.
The principal measures for DOE to consider are listed in the following sub-sections of
Pre-Crisis and Post Crisis.
Pre-Crisis Measures
For this stage, crisis communication assumes a crisis preventive mode geared towards
identifying risk points, training the team, establishing standard procedures and building
rapport with key stakeholders. Most of the steps here are recommended by the Institute
for Public Relations The recommended items are not unique to DOE but can be applied
to other agencies:
i. Identifying crisis trigger points based on jurisdiction: Developing a comprehensive
map on possible disasters based on DOE jurisdiction will help the department to
identify the form and scale of disaster and its scale and the affected communities
and immediate. DOE has plans to set-up office in each district to expedite crisis
response time. The district office should also be equipped with a crisis manual on
how to escalate and communicate critical information to the Crisis Management and
Communications Team;
ii. Establishing Crisis Communications Plan: The importance of developing a
communications plan cannot be overemphasised. The plan should align with the
existing Crisis Management Plan, and includes standard operating procedure,
contact list (Press, key stakeholders, community leaders), pre-draft statements
(Holding statements, Key messages) and guidelines for internal communications;
iii. Developing pre-draft messages or standard Holding statements: DOE already
has a standard template for Press Statements, which is a good base to shape
crisis statements to be issued to the Press and for the social media. Having a
standard statement ready will give tremendous head start when a crisis hits. Initial
response during a crisis is critical in containing public anxiety and emphasises the
fact that DOE is “aware and taking the immediate and necessary actions on the
situation”. Pre-draft messages that are speedy and timely is everything during an
environmental crisis; and it is best positioned within the Crisis Communications
Plan. The pre-draft messages must be revised from time to time to keep them
relevant and updated, just like a serviced fire extinguisher, always in a working
condition in case of an emergency;
iv. Providing communication training for staff members: The crisis communications
plan will only be carried out well if the staff is trained in communicating during
crisis. Staff members interacting with public will need guidance on the best way to
manage the disgruntled, outraged, inconsolable and other emotional situations. Top
management will benefit from Media Training while the Strategic Communications
Division team could broaden their scope and expertise through in-depth courses on
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crisis management and communications. The division will be able to offer advise to
senior management on developing the right message;
v. Strengthening communication platforms: Strong presence on social media is major
plus point and it pays for the department to update progress on the social media.
However, it is also important to explore ways to improve strategic engagements
with the public through various platforms. The website is a credible platform for the
public to get information and it is crucial that the department ensures that navigation
on the website is uncluttered for easy access to information;
vi. Establishing strong rapport with Press: A media statement issued by DOE will
always get the spotlight, but strong rapport will certainly help the department put
forward a clear and concise update of the crisis development; and
vii. Strengthening rapport with local communities: DOE described the local communities
as the eyes and ears to the department, but without rapport the description falls
short.
Post Crisis Measures
For this stage, documenting the unfolding events and crisis responses are key in the
learning process. This will help the department to review, understand and identify gaps
in the strategy and subsequently update or revise the existing manuals. More than that,
it serves as a record and reference document for the department’s internal and external
future studies, which will further strengthen the department’s authority and credibility on
the subject.
Continuing to provide recovery updates is another key element. In the case of Sungai
Kim Kim and the health incidents the recovery updates continued well after the crisis
in March and June. The public were continuously informed on every progress made
pertaining to the crisis. A conscious effort linking the updates to the crisis will help the
public heal from the crisis and view this progress as positive outcomes.
Building an environmental crisis response archive: Without an archive DOE will always
remain a wide-eyed child without an institutional memory to record, document, study
from, and share the knowledge with others. All the actions and activities carried out
during the crisis will serve as a great learning curve for DOE and the learning public.
CONCLUSION
In any given crisis, especially environmental, speed is of essence (Fink, 2013). Ignore
this cardinal rule and you are in for an avalanche of problems. Preparing the department
with a host of documents, trainings and guidelines will help DOE mitigate the issues
before it snowballs into a crisis.
During a crisis the Crisis Communication Plan, once activated will help the department
navigate rough waters in a strategic way, thus eliminating the fire-fighting mode. Once
the crisis is contained DOE will continue with post crisis communications to ensure all
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stakeholders are continuously informed on the recovery updates, while documenting
and archiving the whole experience for learning and reference purposes.
To draw an example, the Covid-19 pandemic is a beastly lesson on crisis communications.
When Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin was appointed as the vice president for 75th
World Health Assembly (WHA) in May 2022, he gave a stark remark on communications
during the pandemic at the assembly: Clear communication leads to behavioural
change. Getting the 32 million Malaysians to agree on nation-wide inoculation initiative
within a span of three months, was a Herculean task. By 28 June 2021 out of the total
population, 27.2 million people had received their second dose while 16.1 million people
had received their booster shots. Vaccination roll-out was a success.
Khairy attributed the success of Malaysia in managing the pandemic through using
carefully designed persuasive communications based on Nobel Prize winner Richard
Thaler’s Nudge Theory. Science alone would not change people’s perception and it
takes a whole lot of persuasion. Now, that is food for thought.
In mitigating or preventing crisis would DOE explore this option? As it is right now,
Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA) is already an integral part
of DOE but not crisis communications. The one thing that no one wants to take up is
switching on the fire-fighting mode every time an environmental crisis hit.
Looking at its unique position to promote change of behaviour and enforcement against
pollution, DOE must be nimble enough to rethink the department’s approach and
communications strategy in dealing with the public and its key stakeholders.
REFERENCES
The Handbook of Crisis Communication, W.Timothy Coombs, Shelly Halloday Wiley
Publications (2012).
Reading Lasswell’s Model of Communication Backward: Three Scholarly Misconceptions
Zachary S. Sapienza, Narayanan Iyer, Aaron S. Veenstra, (Routledge, 2015).
Crisis Communications, The Definitive Guide to Managing the Message, Steven Fink,
(McGraw Hill Education).
Institute for Public Relations on Crisis Communications and Management (Sept
2014). This website offers practical guide and easy to follow description of Crisis
Communications and other Public Relations related matters. https://instituteforpr.org/
crisis-management-communications/.
The Unfinished Business, Yeo Bee Yin (2022) This book details out the policy making
process and the actions taken for the environmental crisis managed by DOE including
the Sungai Kim Kim chemical disaster and Plastic Waste Import.
328
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Communication During an Environmental Crisis
Malaysia’s Development Challenges: Graduating from the Middle Edited by Hal Hill,
Tham Siew Yean and Ragayah Haji Mat Zin 2012 Routledge.
Speech of Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin, who is also vice-president of the
75th World Health Assembly (WHA). The speech was delivered at the 75th Session
of the WHA Strategic Roundtable on Behavioural Sciences for Better Health in
Geneva, Switzerland on 27 May 2022. WHA, the main governing body of the World
Health Organisation (WHO). The assembly is a yearly event that brings together health
ministers, health directors-general and industry experts, to come to a consensus on
the implementation of WHO’s policies, programmes, direction, commitments and new
strategies on healthcare.
What is Nudge Theory? The concept was introduced by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
in their book: ‘Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness’ in
2008. Nudge Theory is based upon the idea that by shaping the environment, also
known as the choice architecture, one can influence the likelihood that one option is
chosen over another by individuals. A key factor of Nudge Theory is the ability for an
individual to maintain freedom of choice and to feel in control of the decisions they make.
What is Nudge Theory? | Research groups | Imperial College London.
AUTHOR
Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi is a communication specialist in getting
the message across in diverse settings, backed by 30 years of
experience in Journalism, Corporate and Government.
She was the Press Secretary to the Minister of Ministry of Energy
Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change in 2018-
2020 holding the role to advise and develop communication plans;
streamlined communications between the Minister’s office and
the Ministry’s department and agencies; and liaised with Media
professionals.
Prior to that, she managed internal, external and crisis communications and Press
relations at a logistics company and a leading global palm oil company. She was a
senior journalist at New Straits Times covering the national interest, natural disasters,
environment, culture and crime news.
An expert at cutting through all the noise and chatter that often obscure the intended
message that was to be communicated. This resulted in clear, easily digested articles be
them in the form of written words, films or podcasts.
As a communication specialist, she planned, trained, deployed, and executed
communication strategies aimed at the intended outcomes be them in shaping key
stakeholders’ opinions, business direction or governmental action.
Graduated from Middlesex University UK in Writing, she is currently an Associate Fellow
at LESTARI UKM.
329
You cannot get through a single day without
having an impact on the world around you.
What you do makes a difference and you
have to decide what kind of a difference you
want to make.
- Jane Goodall
Niah Cave, Sarawak.
Chapter 14
Effective
Management
of Environmental
Health
in Malaysia
EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH IN MALAYSIA
Jamal Hisham Hashim & Zailina Hashim
INTRODUCTION
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), environmental health comprises of
those aspects of human health, including quality of life, that are determined by physical,
chemical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors in the environment. It also refers
to the theory and practice of assessing, correcting, controlling, and preventing those
factors in the environment that can potentially affect adversely the health of present
and future generations (WHO, 1993). As environmental health aims not only to protect
the present but also future generations, its scope is in line with that of sustainable
development. Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs
of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs (The Brundtland Report (1987).
Environmental health is a subdiscipline of the bigger scope of public health which first
emerged in the mid nineteenth century in in England, Europe and the USA (Porter,
1977). Public health is the science and the art of preventing disease, prolonging life
and promoting physical health and efficacy through organized community efforts for the
sanitation of the environment, the control of communicable infections, the education
of the individual in personal hygiene, the organization of medical and nursing services
for the early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of
social machinery which will ensure every individual in the community a standard of living
adequate for the maintenance of health; so organizing these benefits in such a fashion
as to enable every citizen to realize his birth right and longevity (Winslow, 1920).
Both environmental and public health deal with preventive medicine or the science
and art of preventing disease. Hence, both are less appreciated compared to the
discipline of curative medicine. When diseases are prevented for example through the
consumption of clean air, water and foods, and the control of disease-bearing insects
like mosquitoes, credit is not often attributed to the implementation of good public health
measures. However, this perception on environmental and public health changed greatly
with the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly, both professionals and the public realised how
important good public health measures are in preventing COVID-19. Everyone becomes
overwhelmingly aware of how personal hygiene, respiratory protection, good indoor air
quality, proper housing and vaccination, help prevent or control the spread of COVID-19
in our communities. People can now see on a global scale how countries or populations
which practice good public health measures manage COVID-19 much more effectively than
those that neglect them.
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Effective Management of Environmental Health in Malaysia
SCOPE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
The scope of environmental health is rather extensive as it covers a wide spectrum of
environmental issues with direct and indirect implications to human health. The World
Health Organization (WHO) (1970) proposed that its scope should include or relate to
the following:
i. Water supply, with special reference to the provision of adequate quantities of safe
drinking water that are readily accessible to the user, giving due consideration to
other essential uses of water resources;
ii. Wastewater treatment and water pollution control including domestic sewage,
and the control of the quality of surface and ground water;
iii. Solid waste management, including sanitary handling and disposal;
iv. Vector control, including the control of arthropods, molluscs, rodents, and other
alternative hosts of disease;
v. Food hygiene, including milk hygiene;
vi. Sanitation measures associated with epidemics, emergencies, disasters, and
migrations of populations;
vii. Prevention or control of soil pollution by human excreta and by substances
detrimental to human, animal or plant life;
viii. Control of air pollution;
ix. Noise control;
x. Environmental health aspects of air, sea, or land transport;
xi. Radiation control;
xii. Accident prevention;
xiii. Housing and its immediate environment, in particular the public health aspects of
residential, public, and institutional buildings;
xiv. Urban and regional planning;
xv. Public recreation and tourism, in particular the environmental health aspects of
public beaches, swimming pools, camping sites, etc;
xvi. Occupational health, in particular the control of physical, chemical, and biological
hazards; and
xvii. Preventive measures required to ensured that the general environment is free
from risk to health.
Even though this scope of environmental health was first defined in 1970, it remains
relevant till today. For example, if we talk about measures for preventing COVID-19,
they would be described in c, f, h, j, m, p and q above. Even though environmental
health was initially preoccupied with the prevention of communicable diseases like
waterborne, foodborne, vectorborne diseases in the communities, it has also evolved
into the prevention of non-communicable diseases like respiratory and cardiovascular
diseases associated with air pollution and cancers related to exposure to radiation and
chemical carcinogens. However, with the advent of climate change, we are seeing the
emergence and re-emergence of communicable diseases.
333
The focus of diseases associated with environmental health will evolve or change with
the changing environment. Where sanitation related diseases like plague, cholera and
malaria were once communicable diseases associated with poor sewage and waste
disposal water contamination and poor hygiene, there has later been a shift towards
non-communicable diseases like respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and
cancers associated with poor outdoor and indoor air quality. However, with climate
change, we are now seeing the re-emergence of communicable diseases like dengue,
malaria and leptospirosis, and the emergence of new communicable diseases like
SARS, avian flu, Ebola, MERS and COVID-19. Even though there seems to be a cyclical
trend from communicable to non-communicable and back to communicable diseases,
the shift is really associated with changing environment, related to human activities such
as agriculture, industrialisation, transportation and energy generation.
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Environmental health is a prerequisite to sustainable development. In order for
development to be sustainable, we need to minimise the human health risks associated
with the environment. The United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs), also
known as the Global Goals, clearly outline the role of environmental health. The SDGs
were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty,
protect the planet, and to ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
The 17 SDGs are integrated, whereby action in one area will affect outcomes in others,
and that development must balance between social, economic and environmental
sustainability (UNDP, 2022).
Figure 14.1 shows the 17 SDGs which have 169 targets. At least 9 of the 17 SDGs
are directly or indirectly related to environmental health. These being good health and
well-being (3), clean water and sanitation (6), affordable and clean energy (7), industry,
innovation and infrastructure (9), sustainable cities and communities (11), responsible
consumption and production (12), climate action (13), life below water (14), and life on
land (15). Thus, even though not explicitly mentioned and emphasised, environmental
health principles and applications are and will contribute significantly towards the SDGs.
If we compare the 17 SDGs to the 17 items under the scope of environmental health
outlined by WHO back in 1970, we can see some resemblance. For example, elements
related to clean water, urbanisation and waste management, can be seen in both
listings. Perhaps, one unique item in the SDGs that was not mentioned in the earlier
WHO’s environmental health list is climate change. The climate change phenomenon
was only recognised in the late 90’s when the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) was formed in 1994 and the first Conference of Parties (COP1)
was held in Berlin in 1995.
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Effective Management of Environmental Health in Malaysia
Figure 14.1: The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
(Source : Palsgaarg, 2022).
To achieve sustainable development, environmental conservation and environmental
health governance should be incorporated into the national development plans (Figure
14.1). A nation’s aspiration or vision is normally defined through its various national
policies such as its economic, agricultural, industrial, environmental, energy and social
policies. These policies will drive various national development plans. For example, if
a country is focused on becoming an industrialised country, it must put in place a well-
defined energy policy, as no country can develop its industrial infrastructure without
an adequate and efficient energy supply. Most countries would opt for a mixed energy
supply policy which sources their energy supply from a mixed sources of fossil fuels like
coal and gas as well as renewable energy sources like hydro, solar and wind power.
Such an energy policy will enable a country to forge its national development plans which
may include agricultural expansion, industrialization, commercialization, education,
communication, health and transportation infrastructures. All these will bring positive
or beneficial outcomes to a society like infrastructural growth, improved communication
and transport, as well as increased employment, amongst others.
335
NATIONAL
ASPIRATION
Economic Agricultural Industrial Environmental Energy Social
policy policy policy policy policy policy
NATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT PLANS
Positive Negative
outcomes outcomes
Infrastructural Depletion of
growth natural resources
Improved Air
communication & pollution
transport Water
pollution
Increased business
& trade Soil
pollution
Improved
education Aesthetic
impact
Increased
employment Ecological
impact
Increased
income Health
impact
Improved health
& welfare Minimize
Maximize
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
Figure 14.2: Environmental Health Governance Within a National Development Plan.
(Source : Hashim and Hashim (2012).
However, at the same time there can also be negative or undesirable outcomes like
depletion of natural resources and pollution, amongst others. In order for the overall
national development plans to be sustainable, we need to maximize the positive
outcomes while minimizing the negative outcomes. Environmental health considerations
are important in guiding national development as development can generate both
positive outcomes in term of improved health and welfare, but at the same time can also
lead to negative health impacts (Hashim and Hashim, 2012).
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Effective Management of Environmental Health in Malaysia
HISTORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IN MALAYSIA
Environmental health has a long and interesting history in Malaysia which began during
the British era. The Sanitary and Municipality Board was established by the British
administration in the then Straits Settlements as early as the 1800’s. Before and up to
after independence, the training of health inspectors (HI) was conducted at the King
Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore from 1921 to 1958, with awards in Diploma
of the Royal Society of Health (RSH) London). The training of HI was later transferred
to Malaya in 1958. Local training of HI was then initiated at the Public Health Institute in
Kuala Lumpur in 1969.
As training in environmental health for HI in Malaysia was only up to the diploma
level, the growth of the science was very limited. Its practice was also limited to
mainly sanitary related services. This changed when the first degree programme in
environmental and occupational health was introduced at Universiti Putra Malaysia
(UPM) in 1998. Subsequently, the first master in community health (environmental
health) programme was introduced at the National University of Malaysia (UKM) in
2005. In 2002, the post of HI was renamed as assistant environmental health officer
(AEHO) in 2002, with a minimum qualification of a diploma in environmental health.
Subsequently, the environmental health officer (EHO) post in the the Ministry of Health
and local government was established in 2005, with a minimum qualification of a degree
in environmental health.
After UPM, other public universities soon followed with the offering of a degree either in
environmental health alone or in environmental and occupational health. These include
UKM, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Soon,
private universities were also offering diploma and degree courses in environmental
and occupational health. At one point, there was even a glut of graduates in this field
with limited job offering. However, while environmental health practitioners end up in
government jobs as AEHO and EHO, those who chose to practice occupational health or
industrial hygiene were grabbed by the private sector which has to fulfill their obligation
of engaging a safety and health officer under the Occupational Safety and Health Act
1994.
Parallel to the development of the professions of AEHO and EHO in Malaysia, there
was also the development of environmental health practice among the medical
profession. This involves the development of the public health physician profession with
a specialisation in environmental health. It first started out as a master of community
health and master of public health (MPH), which later advanced to a doctoral degree of
doctor of public health (DrPH). For the 4-year DrPH programme, there is a specialisation
for environmental health.
Environmental Professions in Malaysia
Due to the variety of diploma and degree programmes offered in environmental health,
it soon made ways for the development of various environmental health professions in
337
Malaysia. However, due to a lack of cooperation and consolidation between the various
professions, the delivery of environmental health in Malaysia remains fragmented,
when compared to the many occupational health professions which seem to be more
consolidated. Moreover, the occupational health professions relate to the Occupational
Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994. No equivalent act exist for environmental health
in Malaysia.
According to the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) in the U.S., an
environmental health professional or specialist is a practitioner with appropriate
academic education and training and registration or certification to investigate, sample,
measure and assess hazardous environmental agents in various environmental media
and settings; recommend and apply protective interventions that control hazards
to health; develop, promote and enforce guidelines, policies, laws and regulations;
develop and provide health communications and educational materials; manage and
lead environmental health units within organisations; perform systems analysis; engage
community members to understand, address and resolve problems; review construction
and landuse plans and make recommendations; interpret research utilizing science and
evidence to understand the relationship between health and environment; and interpret
data and prepare technical summaries and reports (NEHA, 2013). Environmental health
professionals in Malaysia have yet to reach such levels of recognition, sophistication,
and execution of roles and responsibilities.
Environmental health-related professionals or specialists in Malaysia include the
following professions :
i. Assistant environmental health officers and environmental health officers;
ii. Environmental health physicians as a subgroup of the public health physicians;
iii. Public health engineers;
iv. Environmental health impact assessment consultants registered under DOE;
v. Environmental health experts registered under the National Environmental Health
Action Plan (NEHAP);
vi. Environmental health scientists and researchers; and
vii. Environmental health academicians.
These professionals and specialists take on various roles and responsibilities, whether
they are in the public sector, private sector, academia or research institutes. Many of
them are part of professional organisations of societies related to environmental health
such as :
i. Malaysian Association of Environmental Health (MAEH);
ii. Persatuan Pegawai Kesihatan Persekitaran Malaysia (EHOM);
iii. Kesatuan Inspektor Kesihatan Semenanjung Malaysia (KIKSM);
iv. Kesatuan Inspektor Kesijhatan Sabah;
v. Kesatuan Inspektor Kesihatan Sarawak;
vi. Malaysian Public Health Physician Association (PPPKAM);
vii. Association of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Malaysia (AOEMM);
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Effective Management of Environmental Health in Malaysia
viii. Malaysian Association of Public Health Engineering (MyPHE);
ix. Environmental and Occupational Health Society (UPM); and
x. Malaysian Society for Environmental Epidemiology (MySEE).
For the environmental health profession to gain prominence in Malaysia, there is
a need to consolidate and empower it under a bigger and broader professional
umbrella. Unfortunately, the smaller groupings of environmental health practitioners
are still sceptical of lending themselves towards a bigger, national role. Without such
consolidation, it would be challenging for the profession to take on the bigger mandate
as defined by NEHA earlier.
A similar setting is seen among the occupational health professionals in Malaysia,
which comprises occupational health doctors, industrial hygienists, safety engineers,
ergonomists, and safety and health officers. They too have many associations and
societies representing the professions. However, these various occupational health
professionals and associations are able to consolidate themselves under a single
professional umbrella of the Malaysian Federation for Occupational Safety and Health
(MyFOSH). Hence, the occupational health profession is more recognised in Malaysia,
provide greater opportunities for their practitioners and command greater respect and
reputation from the government, private sector and other professions. It is an irony that
the environmental health profession is much older in Malaysia than the occupational
health profession.
Even with the shortcomings in the profession, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an eye-
opener for the public in general to the important and critical roles played by environmental
health officers. They were duely honoured as one of the medical and health frontliners
of the pandemic. Among others, they were involved in manning the COVID-19 control
centre at the Ministry of Health, manning COVID-19 assessment centres, contact
tracing of COVID-19 patients, burial of COVID-19 victims, and COVID-19 clinical waste
management. These are highly demanding tasks which places their life, health and
safety at risk.
There is no doubt that to become a healthier nation, Malaysia needs to embrace the
science and practice of environmental health as evidenced in many developed countries
like the U.S., U.K. and Australia, where environmental health officers and scientists are
highly professional and well-regarded professions. Environmental health practitioners
should not only serve the Ministry of Health, but also in academia, research institutes.
local authourity, Department of Environment, Department of Occupational Health and
Safety, as well as the private sector.
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IN MALAYSIA
Almost all environmental issues in Malaysia, ranging from the pollution and contamination
of our waters, soil, air, flora and fauna resources can have serious environmental health
implications on humans from our consumption of air, water or components in our food
chains. Thus, the issues of environmental health are as far-reaching as environmental
issues themselves.
339
One way to address these varied environmental health issues is to prioritise them, so
that they can be targeted specifically through government policies and programmes,
as well as through public-private partnership initiatives. In a project undertaken by
the Thematic Working Group on Environmental Health Experts (TWG 10) under the
Malaysian National Environmental Health Action Plan (NEHAP), a list of 16 pre-selected
environmental health issues were presented in two focus group discussions among
20 environmental health and related professionals who then scored each issue on its
magnitude and severity scale. Magnitude scoring was based on the size of the population
that will be impacted by the issue. Severity scoring was based on the seriousness of the
outcome of the health impact on the population. Both magnitude and severity scoring
were based on a Likert Scale of 1–5 (1=very low, 2=low, 3=moderate, 4=high and 5=very
high). The total of these scores generated a list of priority environmental health issues
for Malaysia (Hashim, et al. 2022). Table 14.1 shows the top 10 environmental health issues
identified for Malaysia.
This list of priority environmental health issues would be very useful in the development
of the environmental health discipline in Malaysia, as well as in prioritising manpower
and financial resources towards addressing them. It can be used in prioritising manpower
training, allocating research funding and planning for intervention programmes. Children
environmental health was identified as the environmental health issue of the highest
priority in Malaysia. Children being the future generation of the nation, it is only
appropriate that they be adequately protected from the environmental hazards that
exist around us. Children constitute a total of 9.3 million people in Malaysia, which is
about 28.5% of the total population of 32.6 million people (DOSM, 2019). Children are
considered as one of the more vulnerable or susceptible groups in a population. The
others being pregnant women and the elderly population.
Table 14.1 : List of Top Environmental Health Issues for Malaysia Based on the Magnitude and
Severity of Issues.
RANK TOP 10 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IN MALAYSIA TOTAL
SCORE
Children environmental health (birth cohort study, impact of indoor
1 environment). Formulate intervention strategies on how to manage, e.g. 169
schools/homes/childcare centres.
2 Vector borne diseases (e.g. dengue and Aedes breeding in junk yards/ 168
abandoned places/no man’s land; re-emergence of malaria).
Contamination of drinking water sources and emerging water pollutants 167
3 [e.g. endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), pharmaceutical drugs
(antiseptics, antimicrobials)].
4 Urban health issues (housing and sanitation, poor drainage, air pollution, 166
migrants, urban poor, crime and security, related diseases).
5 Climate change adaptation strategies and neglected health issues. 162
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Effective Management of Environmental Health in Malaysia
RANK TOP 10 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IN MALAYSIA TOTAL
6 SCORE
7 Food safety and contamination issues (e.g. recycled cooking oil, un-
trained food handlers especially foreigners, incomplete food labelling on 160
food allergens, non-compliance to food standards).
155
Human exposure to pesticidesa and other environmental chemicalsb (e.g.
e-waste, industries and lead in paint/consumer products).
8 Zoonotic diseases (use ecosystem approach on malaria (Plasmodium 152
knowlesi), rabies, leptospirosis, melioidosis).
9 Exposure to ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. 144
More rigorous efforts to identify sources and means to reduce PM2.5
10 and ozone levels in Malaysia to assess the disease burden related to 144
PM2.5 and ozone.
a,b Pesticides and environmental chemicals were originally listed as separate issues but were
later combined as they were similar in nature and had obtained the same score of 155.
Traditional environmental health issues like vector borne diseases, drinking water
contamination, urban health issues, food safety and contamination, exposures to
pesticides and environmental chemicals, and zoonotic diseases, show up prominently
among the top 10 environmental health issues. However, we also see the emergence
of newer issues like climate change, exposure to ionizing and non-ionizing radiation
and air pollution. The listing also reflects the relative magnitude and severity of these
issues. Issues high on the list like children environmental health, vector borne diseases
and contamination of drinking water may be seen as issues of both high magnitude and
severity as they tend to be nationwide issues and have serious health consequences.
On the other hand, issues lower in the list like exposures to ionizing and non-ionizing
radiation and air pollution may be seen as those with low magnitude and moderate
severity, as they are not nationwide issues but can have serious health implications.
The other issues on the list can be considered as those with moderate magnitude and
severity. For example urban health issues are not nationwide in terms of its magnitude.
However, since more Malaysians now reside in urban as compared to rural areas, urban
health can be regarded as an issue with significant severity as it affects the majority of
Malaysians.
As mentioned earlier, environmental health is not yet well recognised as a priority public
health concern in Malaysia, even though many environmental health issues have grabbed
public attention. These include the Bukit Merah rare earth radioactive contamination in
1982; the recurring haze which is believed to cause excess cardiovascular and respiratory
mortality, the worst being the one in 1997; the bauxite mining issue in Kuantan in 2015
which contaminated drinking water supply; the Sg. Kim Kim toxic waste incident in Pasir
Gudang in 2019 which affected the health of school children, among others. Limited
resources of manpower, research funds and targeted actions are allocated to address
environmental health issues. Hence, the prioritisation of these issues will help to allocate
the limited resources available to address the most critical issues first.
341
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RISK AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT
According to Omen (2007), environmental health risk assessment (HRA) is a systematic
scientific characterization of potential adverse health effects resulting from human
exposures to hazardous agents or situations in the environment. HRA is a versatile tool
most commonly applied in health impact assessment (HIA). HIA is a combination of
procedures, methods and tools by which a policy, programme or project may be judged
as to its potential effects on the health of a population, and the distribution of those
effects within the population (WHO, 2020).
Figure 14.3 shows the health risk and impact assessment framework. HRA comprises
the 4 components of hazard identification [1], exposure assessment [2], dose-response
relationship [3], and risk characterization [4], which are numbered accordingly in Figure
14.3. A hazard can be either biological, chemical, physical or psychosocial in nature. A
hazard will originate from a source, which can be natural or manmade, and stationary
or mobile. In order for a health risk to be realized, there must be exposure to a hazard
which comes into contact with a new host. Hence, even if a hazard is present, without
exposure, health risk will not be expressed. The resulting health impacts can be in the
form of acute or chronic health impacts. Chronic health impacts can be carcinogenic or
non-carcinogenic. For non-carcinogenic risk, risk is considered acceptable when the
hazard quotient (HQ) is less than 1. For carcinogenic risk, risk is acceptable when it
is within the acceptable risk range of 10-6 (1 in a million) to 10-4 (1 in 10,000). Risk
minimisation strategies can be applied to mitigate health impacts. The focus on risk
minimisation will be on the hazard or exposure. Focus on the hazard includes elimination,
substitution, isolation or neutralisation of the hazard, while focus on exposure relates to
exposure protection or evacuation (Hashim and Adman, 2021).
Figure 14.3 : Health Risk and Impact Assessment Framework.
(Source : Hashim and Adman 2021).
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ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES IN MALAYSIA : THE WAY
FORWARD
For a start, more research and funds are needed to investigate the extent of environmental
health issues in Malaysia. For example, how will climate change affect the availability of
potable water supply, the emergence of heat-related illnesses, the spread of vector borne
and water borne diseases among vulnerable populations. We need to investigate the
nature of environmental hazards, its determinants, and the resulting health outcomes.
The lack of environmental health professionals in the country is an impediment to
the growth of the field. Most practising environmental health practitioners like the
environmental health officers are confined to services within the Ministry of Health
and the local government. We should have environmental health professionals in
other government agencies like the Ministry of Environment and Water, Department
of Environment, Department of Occupational Safety and Health, State Economic
Development Corporations, as well as in medium and large-sized environment-related
public and private corporations. Only then, can environmental health concerns be
incorporated into project planning.
What is much needed is a critical mass of environmental health professionals serving
their roles in various agencies and job scopes. On top of that, they have to be united
in their cause, just like any other professionals such as doctors, engineers, lawyers,
town planners, and others. For example, we can see engineers serving their roles in
various sectors of public and private institutions but are united in their profession. The
Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) in the United Kingdom is one globally
recognised professional body in environmental health which the profession in Malaysia
can emulate. The CIEH even has memberships outside of the United Kingdom, even
in Malaysia. Professionalising the profession is a critical step towards empowering the
profession and recognising the discipline they represents. Unfortunately, that has not
happened to a significant degree in Malaysia. Hence, environmental health remains an
underrated discipline and profession in Malaysia. The fragmentation of the profession
in Malaysia has not helped towards achieving this professional goal. The lack of strong
leadership in the profession has also been an impediment.
The National Environmental Health Action Plan (NEHAP) is the right interagency platform
to empower environmental health in Malaysia. However, it lacks the legal mandate to
impose its outcomes and recommendations on national policies and plans. Although it
is an interagency effort, its chairmanship under the Ministry of Health limits its influence
and jurisdiction on other ministries and regulatory agencies. It would command better
authority if it is chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister with the Ministry of Health as its
secretariat.
343
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CHAPTER 14
Effective Management of Environmental Health in Malaysia
AUTHOR
Jamal Hisham Hashim is an honorary professor of environmental
health at Universiti Selangor. He is also the managing director of
Provenue Corporation Sdn Bhd which specialises in health risk and
impact assessment. He was formerly a research fellow at the United
Nations University-International Institute for Global Health (UNU-
IIGH) and Malaysia’s first appointed professor of environmental
health at the National University of Malaysia (UKM). Jamal obtained
his PhD in environmental health from the University of Michigan.
He taught, conducted research and consultancy in environmental and occupational
health at UKM and UNU-IIGH for 36 years. His research interests are on the health
effects of heavy metals, pesticides, solvents, air pollution, risk assessment, and recently,
climate change. He has led and participated in over 20 research projects, and has over
410 publications and presentations to date, including 104 full articles in refereed and
indexed journals. He is an editor of the Environmental Analysis, Health and Toxicology
and Frontiers in Occupational Health journals. He has been engaged in environmental
health consultancy in over 100 local and overseas projects, primarily in the area of
environmental health impact and risk assessment, and has been consulted by the World
Health Organization, International Atomic Energy Agency, Risk Science Institute and the
Institute of Medicine in the U.S., the governments of Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia
and Saudi Arabia. He is a registered environmental impact assessment consultant
with the Department of Environment, Malaysia, a member of the Chartered Institute of
Environmental Health in the U.K., an honorary fellow of the Academy of Occupational
and Environmental Medicine Malaysia, and an honorary member of the Malaysian
Association of Environmental Health. He currently chairs the Thematic Working Group
of Environmental Health Experts under the National Environmental Health Action Plan
(NEHAP).
Prof. Dr. Zailina Hashim was a Professor of Environmental
Health and currently an Amal Putra Professor at UPM. Her field
of specialisation is in Environmental Health Risk Sciences and
Children’s Environmental Health. She obtained a PhD degree from
the University of Michigan, USA. She introduced the BSc degree in
Environmental and Occupational Health at UPM in 1998, and has
been in academia for 37 years. She is an Environmental Health
Expert Member of NEHAP under the Ministry of Health. She was an
academic assessor on universities’ environmental health programmes for the MQA and
served as academic advisers to various local universities. She was an active researcher
in school indoor air quality, water quality, pesticides and heavy metals in relation to
Children’s Health. She has published more than 350 journal articles, scientific and
technical papers.
345
Like music and art, love of nature is a
common language that can transcend
political or social boundaries.
- Jimmy Carter
Cameron Highland, Pahang.
Chapter 15
Community
Participation in
Environmental
Management
ECNOVMIRMOUNNMITEYNPTAALRTMICAINPAAGTEIOMNENINT
Kalithasan Kailasam & Jagedeswari Marriapan
INTRODUCTION
Oxford and Merriam-Webster Dictionaries define environment as surrounding conditions,
influences, or forces, by which living forms (person, animal, or plant) live, are influenced
and modified in their growth and development. It is also referred as the ABC formula.
ABC stands for Abiotic (limiting factors which, their quantity and quality determine the
survival of living things in an ecosystem, i.e., water supply, land form and soil types etc.),
Biotic (biological concepts as community, populations, diversity, competition, predator/
prey relations and energy transfer - food chains, webs, pyramids) and Culture (the
surrounding - focusing on anything & everything). Example of Culture includes how
people utilise their environment: land use, resource consumption, transportation, waste
management, pollution, environmental planning and design.
Through observation, the deterioration of the environment is caused by human and
their activities such as rapid and unsustainable development that leads to disruption of
natural ecological cycles (e.g. hydrological, carbon and nitrogen cycles, biogeochemical
cycle that have control over the environmental flow). As human is the cause of the
problem, the solutions also lie with them – via community engagement.
Abiotic Biotic
(limiting (biological
factors) concepts)
Culture (how
people utilize
their environment)
Stakeholders of environmental management involves a wide range of people with
different roles to address. Stakeholders are also known as the drivers of environmental
management, defined as the individual, people and organisations who are able to take
action or involved in the policy and can be directly or indirectly included in the decision
making process.
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CHAPTER 15
Community Participation in Environmental Management
Furthermore, stakeholders also include flora and fauna, those that have equal right
on the environment, often neglected and not presented. Human as the driver here
not only represent peoples from various background and social group but also as the
spokesperson of the biotic and abiotic especially for flora and fauna.
The following diagram (Figure 15.1) indicates that although different level and icon
represent different players with different agendas or interests – the ultimate player is
HUMAN and the beneficiaries in addition to human must be the flora and fauna. Level
of participation and management plan must be people centric but only if everyone
understands their role and the success model.
Figure 15.1: Ownership vs Beneficiary & Stakeholders
The stakeholders that connected directly to the environment are the local communities.
No matter which cap they are representing in the social and career path, the local
communities are the majority, i.e., the receiver and those impacted due to mainly
mismanagement of the environment. Therefore, the engagement needs to be
interpreted to local conditions or designed through the community involvement with
other stakeholders at all times and levels.
Definition of Local Communities
Local Communities are defined as a group of people with diverse characteristics who
are linked by social ties, share common perspectives, and engage in joint action in
geographical locations or settings. Community action refers to the process of building
social relationships in pursuit of common community interests and maintaining local
life. Community action is seen as being the foundation of the community development
process that represents multiple and diverse interests in the locality, and consequently
provides a more comprehensive approach to community development arising from an
emotional or social need. Communities are also referred to same-minded people, with
common interests and perspectives, and the same joint action and identity as well as
349