Author . Speaker . Strategist

The article argues that climate risk is turning insurance and takaful into a form of climate infrastructure, not merely a mechanism for paying claims after disasters. Starting with El Niño, it notes that while the cycle is natural, a warmer planet intensifies its effects on water supply, agriculture, electricity demand and floods. Globally, insurance is being reinvented through four innovations: parametric and index-based products that pay quickly when thresholds are crossed;

The water in the photograph looks placid. A white barrage stretches across the river, its gate hoists lined up like sentries, and the surface mirrors a sky heavy with monsoon cloud. Nothing in the scene hints at difficulty. This is the kind of achievement in which calm has been engineered. The Ampang Jajar 'tandop' or barrage on the lower Sg Kedah in Mergong. It is one of the key structures protecting Alor Setar by balancing river discharge againts the tides of Selat Melaka B

In Kulim, Kedah, a river has been taking land from people who never agreed to give it up. Nobody sold it. Nobody signed anything. The river simply moved in. Older residents still remember Sg. Kélang Lama as a parit gila, a monsoon stream that carried off the extra water after a downpour. Back then nobody feared it. It was just there, doing a quiet job. Nobody lay awake wondering if it might one day swallow the ground beneath their house. But the little drain was never on its

In 1950 — seventy-six years ago — the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa gave the world a film called Rashomon. It is a thriller, but not the usual kind. Through it, Kurosawa offered a permanent insight into the human condition. In the story, a samurai named Takehiro Kanazawa is found dead in a forest. Four witnesses come forward. The bandit who ambushed him, Tajomaru. The samurai’s widow, Masago. A woodcutter, a kikori, who watched from the shadows. And, remarkably,

The trouble with the climate debate is that it often sells the worst case as the baseline case. That is broadly what happened with RCP8.5, a high-end emissions scenario developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a stress-test for policy. Gradually, this doom-and-gloom scenario escaped that context and entered public debate as though it were the default future. Scenarios are tools for thinking about risk, built around assumptions about population, energy use

Malaysia has a familiar script for water pollution. A chemical dump in Pasir Gudang, a poultry spill in Jelebu - and the same chorus follows: emergency water cuts, a Menteri Besar visit, then a solemn promise of war on polluters. The country has heard the song so many times that it has begun to mistake the repetition for the rhythm of progress. End of last year, Sungai Johor ran the colour of wet cement. A sand-washing pond near Kota Tinggi had failed. Six retention ponds bre

Last Friday, rising waters flooded central Johor Bahru, with images of knee-high floods in Nong Chik, Jalan Kolam Ayer, and Tasik Merdeka circulating on Socmed. The flooding threat is far from over as we expect high tide tonight (17 December 2025) to trigger fresh flooding in low-lying areas. In fact, JB, like many coastal areas, sometimes faces a tug-of-war between monsoon rainwater and the rising tides. Over the decades, the Malaysian government has taken significant steps

When I stood before brigadier generals and colonels from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Jordan, Qatar, and Brunei at the National Resilience Centre of PUSPAHANAS, the focus was not on tanks or tactics. It was on the fragile nexus of water, food, and energy—the natural frontlines of resilience. Their presence, uniforms, and composure fostered an atmosphere of discipline and gravitas. These were not the usual conference delegates or corporate leaders I often meet. T

When the Mongols raided Mesopotamia (now Iraq), they caused significant environmental damage by destroying crops, livestock, and villages. They also purposely demolished the main irrigation systems of the Tigris River. Their motive was evidently to disrupt agriculture and undermine the livelihoods of farmers. However, at that time, few would have considered war to be an environmental crime. Eight centuries later, in 1991, a coalition of 34 countries mobilised thousands of t

Our urban success also presents a dilemma. By 2030, six out of ten people will reside in cities, and by the middle of the century, this figure will rise to seven out of ten. In ASEAN alone, an additional 205 million urban residents are expected to emerge by 2050. This is more than merely a demographic shift—it heralds an environmental reckoning. As our cities expand, agricultural land will decrease, and flood risks will escalate, particularly in low-lying areas. Urbanisatio

“What’s in a name?” says Juliet. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” That was Shakespeare’s romanticism; he didn’t seem to think that names mattered. But they do, and they carry weight, especially for a tourist island like Langkawi. Just as a name defines a person’s identity and individuality, it does the same for places. Consider the names of some famous nearby destinations. Phuket derives its name from the Malay word "bukit," meaning hill.

From primary school, we were taught to show dignity and respect when singing our national anthem, Negaraku. Just like the flag, it is a significant national symbol. It also expresses our national identity, a musical badge serving as a vessel of nationalism. If we try to make sense of the lyrics, we would have noticed the word “land” immediately follows the charismatic opening Negaraku or “my country”. Land evokes a powerful meaning in the period leading to the formation of Ma

Recently a rich Datuk who owns a luxury watch shop told me an amazing fact. His best record was selling a wristwatch for RM 20 million. I had to ask him if he meant RM 2 million, because that was already a price tag that didn't make much sense to me. But it really was RM 20 million. I quipped that this sum was big enough to invest in a clean energy company and create jobs for Malaysians. Thus began our conversation about developing sustainable energy businesses. He said he ha

How can we bring about a social change towards a more balanced relationship between environment and development? It's a deceptively simple question, but you could risk spending hours telling incoherent stories to answer it. Or you could write your memoirs, as the famous environmentalist Gurmit Singh did in his Memoirs of a Malaysian Eco-Activist book. But what about a policy wonk like me? What story am I telling for the benefit of future generations in my journey to promote s

Eminent Chairman, Honorable Minister of Renewable Energy of India, distinguished panellists and learned participants of the Delhi Dialogue, greetings of peace, greetings of solidarity. Let me begin by expressing deep gratitude to the organisers of the Delhi Dialogue, especially Professor Sachin Chaturvedi, for inviting me to this discussion. The theme of the Delhi Dialogue is very apt. The bridge we want to build is a natural bridge because we share a common destiny, geograph

In 2009, I joined a group of researchers from five different countries who came together as part of the Asian Public Intellectuals Programme, funded by the Nippon Foundation. Our aim was to find out how local communities in Asia deal with their natural environment. We were a bunch of Asians who wanted to learn about Asia and Asians without hearing it from Western scholars. We were also a motley group of artists, intellectuals and activists and not researchers in the tradition

It has been 51 years since John Lennon penned the iconic song ‘Imagine’. In a pacifying voice, he pleaded for peace and tolerance in a turbulent time with the raging Vietnam war, soaring inflation and the oil embargo. Is history – the 1970s – repeating itself? Today the Russia-Ukraine conflict comes with grave economic repercussions. Just like in the seventies, inflation is once again surging globally. But the energy crisis is worse now, with a combined scarcity of oil, gas a

Discover how Malaysia can transition to a sustainable future in The Sustainability Shift: Refashioning Malaysia's Future. In this book, I...