SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND MALAYSIAN URBAN-RURAL NATIONAL INDICATORS NETWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (MURNInets)

1.	What is the state of awareness of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in government? (national and local policy, as well as any institutional re-structuring in response to SDGs)
	Malaysia has manifested her strong support in promoting Sustainable Development Agenda since the idea was first mooted in early eighties through the Brundtland Report in1987. Malaysia recognized the importance of protecting the environment through spatial development mechanism i.e. through sustainable use of land or natural resources. The Town and Country Planning Act was drafted and endorsed in1976 in the Parliament and is being used to regulate land use activities in the country.
	Malaysia has pledged her commitment to implement Sustainable Development Agenda through the Rio +5 in 1992. This has resulted in the formation of the National Environmental Policy that gives emphasis on the importance of environmental consideration in related plans policies and programmes. Malaysia is committed to strive for “a balance between economic development, social development and environmental protection as these are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development”.
	Malaysia is on track to achieve most of the sustainable development goals (SDG) in aggregate terms by 2015. At the national level, government commitment to the SDG agenda is reflected in its Eleventh Malaysia Plan (11th MP), 2016–2020, which is the final phase in the journey towards realising vision 2020. 11th MP is a five-year development plan that focuses on nation’s prosperity and the success will be shared among the communities. It focuses on enhancing social inclusion, improving wellbeing, creating a sustainable development and identifying new sources of growth.
	Since  early 2002, many efforts  were carried out  by various  authorities at the federal, state and local levels to foster development growth sustainably, such as introducing  the concept of  a healthy city, liveable city,  harmonious  city  and  many other concepts in  the  planning and development  of  towns and  cities in the country. These concepts that have been carried out incorporate and are interrelated with the sustainable development concept. Here, the development objectives are carried out by having plan that places emphasis on the preservation and conservation of environmental resources without jeopardising the people to meet their social, cultural and spiritual needs as well as their economic needs.
	At the local level, Malaysia is aiming to achieve SDG in its cities. The Federal Department of Town and Country Planning (FDTCP) in its roles as the enabler of SDG has developed and formulated various planning instruments such as development plans, planning guidelines and assessment tools such as Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Sustainability Assessment (SA), Social Impact Assessment (SIA) and Malaysian Urban-Rural National Indicators Network for Sustainable Development (MURNInets). These instruments developed have used various methodologies that incorporate aspects of sustainable development in their preparation and implementation process. FDTCP are the focal point for Sustainable Development Indicators for Local Authorities through MURNInets. This is in line with the Department’s vision to be a “Leader in Town and Country Planning towards achieving a Quality and Sustainable Living Environment by 2020”.
	The evaluation of towns and cities performance towards achieving  sustainable development and wellbeing of the people can be done through the implementation of MURNInets which uses a set of indicators that reflects their sustainability level. It gives a better reflection on the progress towards sustainable development in Malaysia. The role of local authorities is crucial in planning for sustainability to ensure strategic plans; development control and enforcement are coherent with the sustainability objectives.
2.	What will be the priorities for Malaysia?
	FDTCP is committed in applying the concept of SDG and has therefore developed indicators of sustainability that are systematic, comprehensive and continuous. These indicators formulated are categorised and monitored under the MURNInets. MURNInets include 36 sets of compulsory indicators grouped under 21 themes covering 6 dimensions. Most of the targets and standards for the selected indicators were adjusted according to hierarchy of local authorities. Based on SDG, 6 dimensions have been identified from which the 36 indicators have been derived. These dimensions are Competitive Economy, Environmental Quality, Sustainable Community, Optimum Use of Land & Natural Resources, Efficient Transportation & Infrastructure and Effective Governance. The assessment of a sustainable city is always related to the selection of sustainable development indicators with a set of indicators to develop a sustainability index.

The Summary of Dimensions, Themes and Indicators for MURNInets

Dimension	Themes		Indicators
COMPETITIVE ECONOMY	ET1	Economic Growth	ET1-P1	Employment growth rate
	ET2	Poverty	ET2-P1	Urban Poverty Rate
			ET2-P2	Poverty Rate
	ET3	Private Investment	ET3-P1	Growth rate of private investment
SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY	ST1	Environmental Quality	ST1-P1	Cleanliness level of the river
			ST1-P2	Environmental air quality conditions
	ST2	Risk Management	ST2-P1	Percentage of population living in flood prone area
	ST3	Environmental Management	ST3-P1	Percentage of per capita solid waste generation
			ST3-P2	Total programs / environmental campaigns carried out in the local authority area
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY	KT1	Residential	KT1-P1	Percentage of quality affordable housing units
	KT2	Community and Recreational Facilities	KT2-P1	Percent residential coverage within 400 meters of community facilities
	KT3	Quality of Life	KT3-P1	The ratio of cases relating to public nuisance complaints per 10,000 population
			KT3-P2	The ratio of cases of water and vector borne diseases per 10,000 population
			KT3-P3	Percentage of Grade A food premises
			KT3-P4	Percentage of Grade A public toilets
			KT3-P5	Happiness Index
	KT4	Security	KT4-P1	The ratio of index crimes per 10,000 population
	KT5	Demography	KT5-P1	Dependency Ratio
OPTIMAL USE OF LAND AND AND NATURAL RESOURCES	GT1	Land Use Change	GT1-P1	The rate of change in land use from non-built-up to built-up
	GT2	Urban Development	GT2-P1	The urbanisation rate
			GT2-P2	The ratio of public open space per 1,000 population
			GT2-P3	Unsold residential properties
	GT3	Heritage Conservation and Tourism	GT3-P1	Percentage change in the forest area
			GT3-P2	The number of tourism attractions and recreation centres
EFFICIENT INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORTATION	IT1	Efficiency Utility	IT1-P1	The volume of domestic water consumption per capita.
			IT1-P2	Total electricity consumption  (KW) per capita
	IT2	Solid Waste Management	IT2-P1	Percentage of total waste recycled
			IT2-P2	Percentage of domestic solid waste collection on schedule
	IT3	Transportation	IT3-P1	Number of integrated public transport terminals / stations
	IT4	Sewerage Management	IT4-P1	The percentage of homes with centralized sewerage services
EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE	UT1	Delivery System	UT1-P1	Residents' satisfaction level on local authority services
			UT1-P2	Number of community programs implemented by local authority
	UT2	Strengthening Institutions	UT2-P1	Percentage of local authority revenue collection performance
			UT2-P2	Percentage of total maintenance expenditure compared to the overall Local Authority  spending
	UT3	Enforcement And Monitoring	UT3-P1	Percentage of approved planning applications that comply to the development plan / local plan
			UT3-P2	Number of enforcement operations executed accrding to schedule by local authority

The priorities SDGs for Malaysia are:

Goal 1	End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 3	Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 6	Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 8	Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all
Goal 11	Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable
Goal 15	Protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss

3.	What is the practical interpretation of Malaysians, for SDGs?
	Malaysia is now about to embark on its next five-year development plan - the 11th MP, from 2016 to 2020. In many aspects, the plan mirrors the multi-dimensional nature of the SDG, and has been formulated with the people at the centre of all development efforts. Under 11th MP, we are working towards providing equal access to quality healthcare, affordable housing, and will be building many more clinics and hospitals and affordable homes over the next few years. We want safer neighbourhoods and public spaces, and improved education. 11th MP is also determined to be good custodians of our environment so that we preserve our natural resources and beautiful landscape for future generations. Green growth is no longer an option for idealists, but a practical necessity for us and for other governments around the world.
	The progress of sustainable development in Malaysia are better reflected by analyzing the outcome of MURNInets.. MURNInets can be monitored using the indices that are developed in wider sense of urban development  and work as a guideline for urban managers working towards attaining and maintaining sustainable cities. National Physical Planning Council (NPPC) has recognised MURNInets as a very important tool in measuring sustainabilities of towns and cities in the country. The recognition given by NPPC, as the highest authority on physical planning in Malaysia and  chaired by the Prime Minister of Malaysia to MURNInets shows that we place high importance in ensuring smooth path towards sustainable development
4.	Any implications for future international cooperation projects?
	There is no implication for future international cooperation projects to implement SDG in Malaysia. Sustainable development of urban areas requires integration and coordination, including land-use issues, food security, employment creation, transportation infrastructure development, biodiversity conservation, water conservation, renewable energy sourcing, waste and recycling management, and the provision of education, health care and housing.
	Investment in the reduction of waste production and improvement of waste collection and recycling systems is needed in most cities in Malaysia. Providing access to modern energy services is a real challenge to urban authorities in developing countries which often do not have enough capacity to respond, nor the ability to raise the needed long-term financial resources for investment.
5.	Data collection linked to the SDGs is a hot topic currently. How well do you think Malaysian cities are conducting regular data collection?
	I am confident that we are equipped and ready to collect data related to sustainability at cities in Malaysia. Throughout several years, Malaysia has developed a comprehensive website that collects data related to sustainability that can be used by local authorities to monitor their sustainability achievement. In order to implement the SDG in Malaysia, assessment of the sustainability of cities is done through the web site known as the MURNInets Portal. This website has been reviewed thoroughly and improvements were made to enable users such as Local Authorities and Data Providing Agencies, MURNInets National and States Operations Centers and the public to access and view data or obtain information relating to sustainable urban indicators by cities. The main purposes of this portal are:
	a.	To centralise data and information of all participating towns and cities in one database centre;
	b.	To provide easy access for data input by each participating local authority;
	c.	To improve monitoring and management process which involve a large number of cities and towns all over the country;
	d.	To encourage and improve the sharing of information among towns and cities on their performance; and
	e.	To provide public access concerning towns or cities achievement in sustainable development
	The sustainability level of cities will only be computed until all data for each indicators are fully keyed in. The new features of MURNInets Portal. are:
	a.	More structured interface design, easier to access & more user-friendly;
	b.	Applied open source platform (php) that is stable and there is expertise;
	c.	Index generation process is more scientific and ‘analytic’;
	d.	'Mandatory fields' is introduced which requires all local authorities to enter data for all indicators before sustainability index can be generated;
	e.	Entry information is more flexible / easy to maintain; and
	f.	Additional feature for verification of data sources by the state and authority and image display is also included.
	g.	Another important feature of the MURNInets is the ability to extract certain relevant indicators to measure the performance of certain governments  campaign or initiatives such as the 1Malaysian Green and 1Malaysian Clean Campaign.
	So, to reiterate to that, we are confident and well equipped on tools for collecting sustainable data in Malaysia.
6.	Which cities in Malaysia have been most successful at data collection and M&E, and what do you think are their success factors which can be lessons learnt for other ASEAN cities?
	Major cities and local authorities  participation in MURNInets  and data collection since 2007 until 2015 has increased from 47 to 108 out of 151 cities and local authorities in Malaysia. Number of participation are increased concurrent with number of sustainable cities. Example in 2012, 27 cities were achieved sustainable but in 2014 increase to 54 cities. In 2012,  36 local authorities achieved sustainable which  62.50% urban (city & municipal) and  37.50% rural (district). In 2013, 54 local authorities achieved sustainable which - 53.70% urban (city & municipal) and 46.30% rural (district).

	The success factors which can be lessons learnt for other ASEAN cities are:
	a.	MURNInets  is  recognised nationally as  one of the  most  important programs  ever undertaken in the country  to  measure urban sustainability;
	b.	The program enables to track the sustainability status of an urban area whether it has increased, reduced or no changes at all;
	c.	In the context of MURNInets, a sustainable urban area is defined as an area that is capable of sustaining its social, economic and physical development achievements whilst maintaining its excellence in culture and environment.
	d.	A sustainable city are able to provide the basic needs of city inhabitants such as infrastructure, civic amenities, health, housing, transportation, employment, good urban governance and ensure the population needs are met benefiting all sectors of society.
	e.	At the national and state level, MURNInets can function to evaluate city performance, to improve services for the public, the indicators can be made as a basic evaluation to upgrade  an urban areas’s status (district/municipal/city); and
	f.	Urban indicators can be made as a measurement for government to channel investment.