Local Agenda 21 in MBPJ
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Definition of Local Agenda 21 (LA21)
The Local Agenda 21 (LA21) Campaign
promotes a participatory, long-term,
strategic planning process that helps
municipalities identify local sustainability
priorities and implement long-term action
plans. It supports good local governance
and mobilizes local governments and their
citizens to undertake such multi-
stakeholder process. The LA21 process
leads to the preparation and
implementation of a long-term, strategic
plan that addresses priority local
sustainable development concerns.
The mission of the Local Agenda 21
Campaign is to build a worldwide
movement of local governments and
associations dedicated to achieving
sustainable development through
participatory, multi-stakeholder
sustainable development planning and
the implementation of resulting LA21
action plans. Local Action 21 is the next
phase of LA21, encouraging and
supporting a shift from planning to
implementation - a move from "agenda"
to "action".
1.2 Definition of good governance
Good governance has 8 major
characteristics. It assures that corruption
is minimized, the views of minorities are
taken into account and that the voices of
the most vulnerable in society are heard
in decision-making. It is also responsive to
the present and future needs of society.
The characteristics are:
Participation
Participation by both men and women is a
key cornerstone of good governance.
Participation could be either direct or
through legitimate intermediate
institutions or representatives.
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Rule of law
It requires fair legal frameworks that are 1
enforced impartially. It also requires full
protection of human rights, particularly
those of minorities.
Transparency
Decisions taken and their enforcement
are done in a manner that follows rules
and regulations. It also means that
information is freely available and directly
accessible to those who will be affected
by such decisions and their enforcement.
Responsiveness
Good governance requires that
institutions and processes try to serve all
stakeholders within a reasonable
timeframe.
Consensus oriented
Good governance requires mediation of
the different interests in society to reach
a broad consensus in society on what is in
the best interest of the whole community
and how this can be achieved.
Equity and inclusiveness
A society’s well being depends on
ensuring that all its members feel that
they have a stake in it and do not feel
excluded from the mainstream of society.
Effectiveness and efficiency
Good governance means that processes
and institutions produce results that meet
the needs of society while making the
best use of resources at their disposal.
The concept of efficiency also covers the
sustainable use of natural resources and
the protection of the environment.
Accountability
Not only governmental institutions but
also the private sector and civil society
organizations must be accountable to the
public and to their institutional
stakeholders. It cannot be enforced
without transparency and the rule of law.
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1.3 Purpose of assignment
This assignment will depict approaches
done by Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya
(MBPJ) to grasp the LA21. This City Hall is
the leading civil organization in Malaysia
in practicing LA21 under section for local
government. It is to be portrayed and
hope can be an inspiration for other local
government in pursuing LA21 in their
jurisdiction area.
2.0 SELECTED APPROACHED CONCEPTS IN PJ
2.1 Sustainable community
Definition of a sustainable community:
Sustainable communities are places
where people want to live and work, now
and in the future. They meet the diverse
needs of existing and future residents, are
sensitive to their environment, and
contribute to a high quality of life. They
are safe and inclusive, well planned, built
and run, and offer equality of opportunity
and good services for all.
The components of a sustainable
community:
Sustainable communities embody the
principles of sustainable development.
They do this by:
balancing and integrating the social,
economic and environmental components
of their community
meeting the needs of existing and
future generations
respecting the needs of other
communities in the wider region or
internationally to make their own
communities sustainable
Sustainable communities are diverse,
reflecting their local circumstances. There
is no standard template to fit them all.
But they should be:
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Local Agenda 21 in MBPJ
Active, inclusive and safe - Fair, tolerant
and cohesive with a strong local culture 2
and other shared community activities
Well run - with effective and inclusive
participation, representation and
leadership
Environmentally sensitive - providing
places for people to live that are
considerate of the environment
Well designed and built - featuring quality
built and natural environment
Well connected - with good transport
services and communication linking
people to jobs,
Thriving - with a flourishing and diverse
local economy
Well served - with public, private,
community and voluntary services that
are appropriate to people's needs and
accessible to all
Fair for everyone - including those in other
communities, now and in the future
Some events held by government and
community to achieve sustainable
community
i. Organic Day
The purpose is to raise awareness about
organic food leading to the sustainability
living. One of the interesting and
pertinent points for discourse was by
promoting organic products that locally
produce. The organic farming helps the
environment by reducing the use of
chemical pesticide and fertilizer, hence
minimize the chances for food
contamination and environmental
pollution.
The first Organic Day was held on 1st
August 2009 at the Jalan 19/22 field. The
event was opened by YB Elizabeth Wong,
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Selangor State Exco for Environment.
Approximately 40 stalls displaying
different types of produce and products
were set up. The demonstration on
making compost and eco enzyme
attracted many people.
ii. SMART RANGER pilot project
The project involving five schools in PJ is to
educate the students and teachers on
recycling and sustainability. Many interesting
programmes were implemented. These
include the campaign for recycling,
composting, planting, minimizing the use of
plastic bag. But, one of the campaigns that
generated some interest and debate is the
Bringing Your Own Container Campaign. The
campaign urges students to bring their own
container for food. Instead of buying the food
with plastic wrapping or even the polystyrene,
the students will have them with their
container. The Campaign is getting well
progressively with the pupils at primary level
but not students at secondary level.
iii. Community Sustainable Initiative - Desa
Mentari Block 3, PJS 5
Inter-ethnic relationship is so cordial that
there is no separation of color in many of
their activities. This is reflected with their
agreement on demarcating special zone at the
car parking area for specific use. For example,
a zone is reserved for the non Islamic religious
purpose.
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Local Agenda 21 in MBPJ
iv. Community Sustainable Initiative - Flat PKNS
PJS 2 3
Their recycling effort has gone into making
nature craft with old paper or magazines and
more importantly the nature craft is made by
the women group and for sale. The business
response is very encouraging. They have
prepared the succession plan in which youth
are groomed to take over and initiate
programmes. There is a girl providing tuition
classes during weekend. They have also
looked into the security and beautification
scheme to green their neighborhood.
v. Community Sustainable Initiative - Kg
Chempaka
They won the 3rd and 2nd prize for the PJ
Best Neighborhood Award for year 2007 and
2009. They have provided free acupuncture
service since three years ago, especially for
the needy and poor, initiate many classes in
education and skill nature for the youth and
women, participate in many external events
organized by agencies and organization, plant
the herbal trees and to beautify the
surrounding and more.
vi. Community Sustainable Initiative -
Damansara Residence
They are the backbone for Friends of Kota
Damansara Community Forest Park. They are
the group who advocating the protection and
gazetting of the 100 years forest from
development. They organized amongst
themselves for security, maintenance of the
park and social activities. They proactively
look for ways to enhance quality of their living
environment. Amazingly every household
does not mind to pay RM300 per month for
that.
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vii. PJ Children Forum 2009
It is truly a forum
for children and
teenagers by the
young adults. It is
a forum without
academic
discourse and
theoretical flavor, but lend towards fun-filled
exercise for participants to express their views
and ideas for a child friendly city of Petaling
Jaya via graphic, illustrations, models and
games. This is the inaugural Children Forum
for Child Friendly City of Petaling Jaya held in
conjunction with the 3rd Anniversary of PJ
City.
At the end of the
day, the ideas are
exactly similar to
the views brought
out by the adults
during other
occasions, but
with more creativity and innovations. The
children envision creating a safe, healthy,
sustainable, fun, comfortable and futuristic
city from their points of view. For example,
building a child friendly toilet for the children.
For an inclusive society, we have to listen to
all stakeholders especially the children as a
city friendly to children is a friendly city for all.
viii. Environmental Education for Kindergarten
Whenever the need for environmental
education was discussed, focus would be
given to the students from primary and
secondary schools, and some time the
communities. However, most of them always
forgot to be environmental friendly
immediately after leaving the school.
Acknowledging this, Environmental Working
Committee of Local Agenda 21 Petaling Jaya
organized the inaugural environment
education workshop especially for the
operators and teachers of the kindergarten in
Petaling Jaya. The workshop is to raise
awareness, knowledge and skills on
environment conservation and sustainable
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Local Agenda 21 in MBPJ
development. It is hope that acquiring the
skills will motivate them to initiate sustainable 4
initiatives together with the children aged 6
years and below within their school
compound. The participants were taught on
sustainable development and Local Agenda
21, natural resources, urban ecology, solid
waste management, energy conservation as
well as demonstration on natural craft
making, Eco-enzyme making and tree
plantings.
It is also heartening to see the involvement of
NGOs in this workshop like Ecoknights, GEC,
CETDEM, DANIDA-SWMC, RT Flat PKNS PJS2,
May Collection, Beautiful Gate and Justlife
partnering with LA 21 MBPJ to conduct the
one-day event.
2.2 Sense of belonging & integrated
planning
i. Interest Groups
Many of them do not happy with the
participatory consultation process over
development projects. MBPJ has by virtue of
the law provision, inviting people aggravate
by a particular project to submit their
objections, if any. Most of the time, this has
limited the prospects to a small portion of
people. Many residents who have resided in
the same neighborhood might not have the
chance or so call "local standi" to object to a
particular development. In order to hear
people out, MBPJ welcomes others to submit
their opinion and to hold open forum for
hearing. However, this has also raised
displeasure from the development project
proponents accusing the whole process is
getting out of hand.
We are talking about interest group or
stakeholders whom people have a stake over
some project, be it direct or indirect. Having
said this, there are interest groups with
vested interest or personal agenda. We have
to distinguish these groups from the genuine
one. In this respect, engaging them with more
scientific discourse and reasoning out the
objections is required.
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 Local Agenda 21 in MBPJ

ii. Public Consultation

5
Many attended the inaugural dialogue session
between YB Ronnie Liu, Selangor State Exco
for Local Government and Residents on April
26th 2009 at the D'Kelana Hall, Petaling Jaya.
This was part of the roadshow program
hosted by the State Government to gather
information from the residents about the
performance of local authorities. It was done
as many questions raised during the last State
Assembly Meeting were targeted at the
performance of local authorities.

Many touched on the security, shoddy

infrastructure works, traffic congestion, illegal
use of residential buildings, complaints
management system, lack of responses,
ineffective of communication, malpractice,
planning approval for development projects
and other administration problems. These Newspaper cutting on crime base mapping
problems are very much local centric and is
resolvable. Many times, the problems were
accumulated over some time due to inaction ii. ‘Safety of children in public area’
and lack of communication. It is believed with exhibition
some form of urgency, pro activeness and
monitoring, many of the problems can be ’Program Belia Bebas Jenayah’ at
solved. An urban services minor problem will PJS 4 on 28/2/2009
become major if not attended to. Distribution of brochures and
badges on “Sayangi Anak-Anak
Kita”
2.3 Safe city environment

i. GIS crime base mapping

Data base for the mapping has been

established on 2007 in association with Safe
City Program. Properties crime that been
mapped are:
House robbery
Lorry/van, car, motorcycle theft
Snatch theft
Others iii. Community Policing

The details: It is a philosophy that promotes strategies

Type of crime to address the causes and reduce the fear
Time and date of the occurrence of crime and social disorder through
Place of incident problem-solving tactics and community-
Damage/loss police partnerships.
Crime frequency

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Briefing on community policing
iv. Determination of redevelopment site
(Landscape master plan)
The landscape master plan contains
proposals for redevelopment area for ten
years duration to associate safety
characteristics such as lighting, spaces for
activities and easy surveillance.
3.0 CONCLUSION
The preparation of a Local Agenda plan by
local governments requires a thorough
understanding of the contents and processes
of preparing an LA21 Plan. There are
essentially three categories in which the LA21
themes can be operationalized.
The basic principles laid out in the Agenda 21
can be activated by the many organizations
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Local Agenda 21 in MBPJ
and operations of a local government. These
include local policy and programme 6
development; planning and management
procedures in local projects, including
preparing of development plans; purchasing
decisions in development and construction of
public projects; development of network and
social infrastructure; day-to-day maintenance,
including waste collection and disposal.
A local governments' interaction with its
citizens in implementing plans to realize the
goals set forth in its LA21 Plan is key to the
success of the plan. Changes in urban
lifestyles have far reaching consequences,
positive and negative, on the local and global
environment. Thus education and training in
environmental issues; information campaigns
and awareness building - using both formal
and informal channels; monitoring and
evaluation - including opinion surveys,
referendums; action plans involving the civil
society, for example, in the 3Rs - reduce,
reuse and recycle; can be various ways in
which the local government sensitizes its
citizenry towards environmental protection.
There are some actions that local
governments can only influence, but where
the essential decision-making process is
outside their control. Here issues such as
green business practices, product and safety
standards, green tourism, and labor practices
play an important role.
A key inducer to the greater participation is
the formation of community organizations so
that the collective opinion of the community
can be voiced. This participation of the
community organization is critical for various
reasons; representation, participation,
awareness-building, assistance, advocacy and
networking.
From the overall, that is what MBPJ is working
out! This compliance with Islamic principle
where it believes all people are same and
should be treated fairly with inclusive plan of
development. This is to address each
individual right for making peace and
happiness here and hereafter are achievable.
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 Local Agenda 21 in MBPJ

Next to belief in the Oneness of God and the

truth of the Prophethood is to render justice. 7
Absolute justice means all-embracing, non-
partisan and universal. The implementation of
LA21 may interpret justice practice in local
government and community for achieving
sustainable development. Equity and fairness
– ‘adil and ihsan also simultaneously
incorporated. Justice is a trust on man guided
by a sense of responsibility beyond the
specific rules. Ulul-amr, those in charge of
community affairs or government must be
amanah or justice. This goes to the concept of
good governance explained earlier. As
khalifah on Earth, justice must be adhered in
practicing vicegerency. The implementation of
LA21 helps to fulfill the responsibility of good
khalifah.

4.0 REFERENCES

http://www.communities.gov.uk retrieved on
0ctober 15, 2009.

http://www.sustainablepj.blogspot.com
retrieved on October 15, 2009.

http://www.iclei.org retrieved on October 15,

2009.

http://www.unescap.org retrieved on 0ctober

15, 2009.

Izwan Rozlin. (February 25, 2009). MBPJ, polis

bekerjasama turunkan kadar jenayah. Sinar
Harian.

Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya.Pelan Tindakan

Keselamatan Di Bawah Inisiatif Local
Agenda 21. (2009).

Syed Qutb. (1954). Social justice in Islam.

Translation by Hardie; J. B.

Wei, T. K. (February 25, 2009). Base mapping

to help fight crime. The Star.

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