Author . Speaker . Strategist

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

“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

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

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