Malaysia Environment Week (MASM) is an annual event that has been organized following the enactment of the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment in October 1989. Since 1991, the Department of Environment (DOE) has planned and implemented various activities as a continuous effort by the Government to implement and enhance environmental awareness among Malaysian society. MASM is celebrated annually from 21 to 27 October in conjunction with Malaysia Environment Day which falls on 21 October.
In conjunction with the 25th MASM celebration in 2015, Malaysian Environment Week (MASM) has been rebranded and known as National Environment Day, HASN (National Environment Day). The National Environment Day celebration was first organized in 2016 in Kuching, Sarawak with the theme “Environment of Shared Responsibility”. This theme was chosen to instill an attitude of responsibility towards the environment among Malaysians.
National Environment Day Celebration Objectives includes;
- Promote widespread environmental education and awareness
- Provide a platform for Malaysians to together appreciate the environment
- Fostering awareness among the community especially in the preservation and conservation of the environment
- Enhance and strengthen cooperation between Departments and Ministries with external parties such as state government, industry, private, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), institutions of higher learning, media and local community.
For this year, the HASN celebration is really meaningful, because we celebrate it with series of environmental pollutions that affected us directly as the society of Malaysia. The first big tragedy was a man made disaster due to the illegal chemical waste dumping at Sungai Kim-Kim Pasir Gudang, Johor in 2019. This case affected directly the school children at several primary and secondary schools near to Kim-Kim river. This tragedy still being remembered among locals and being a big debate among the Malaysians regarding the weakness of the our environmental laws and policies as well as the enforcement. The other series of frustrated and growling cases is still happening now since I was writing this article, which are the non-stop river pollution cases that resulted in the shortage of water supply at Selangor. These river pollution cases were “colouring” the HASN celebration for this year yet we are still in the pandemic situation with several state in the restricted movement controlled order (RMCO).
If we (the whole stakeholder of the environment) still in denial syndromes, blaming others for the mistakes that we create it together, then remember the resilient of our environment will one day come to its end. We will face the music when the natures start to “revenge”.
In the nut shell, let us together play our own part to protect and preserve our environment. An English idioms said, “teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success”. Play a small part of our own capability, stop polluting and start preserving the environment now or our future generations will blame us.
Ts. ChM. Dr. Faizuan Abdullah
Leader of Environmental Chemistry Research Group (EnviChemi), UTM.
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