An environmentalist and an avid lover of fitness dancing, Selangor princess Tengku Zatashah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah is leading the charge against single use plastics. Armed with her tumbler, tiffin, and collapsible coffee cup, Tengku Zatashah is an environmental superhero in her own right. IT was in 2016 when Tengku Zatashah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah created the hashtag #sayno2plastic on Instagram.
Today, it is one of Malaysia’s biggest movements against single-use plastics. The Selangor princess, clad in a candy-red blazer, beamed with joy as she talked about the traction it gained.
“Three years ago, I had pictures of plastic debris floating around at the Royal Selangor Yacht Club in Port Klang. This was such a shame, I thought to myself.
“It was in 2016 itself that I began reading a lot about single-use plastics and found out that Malaysia was the world’s eighth worst plastic polluter, but strangely, nobody was talking about it,” she said in an interview at Le Meridien Hotel, where she was scheduled to give a talk on #sayno2plastic initiatives a day later at the Wild Digital SEA conference.
Tengku Zatashah said plastic pollution was a major concern, particularly in Asian countries, which she said had a “throw-away culture” where single-use plastics were a norm.
She started the campaign to build awareness among friends and family and wanted to show people that they could make small steps towards big change.
The princess, while concerned about animal welfare and marine life, did not think people saw plastic pollution as a problem at the time.
“When they had the TN50 (National Transformation 2050) Youth Canvas some time back, the opinions collected were about tigers, the orangutan, coral reefs, jungles… there was no mention of plastic. You collect the views of two million youths and plastic wasn’t raised at all. So instead of ranting on Facebook, I thought I had to be an agent of change.
“And thank goodness. Today, it’s gone viral and everybody knows about plastic!”
THE GIRL WITH THE TIFFIN CARRIER
Tengku Zatashah started her campaign against single-use plastics by giving up plastic straws, either carrying metal or silicone straws when she is out and about.
It then moved on to eliminating plastic water bottles. Today, she carries a tumbler and a collapsible coffee cup wherever she goes.
She turned heads during Ramadan recently when she and her brother, Tengku Amir Shah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, turned up at Ramadan bazaars in Selangor with tiffin carriers.
“People may not realise this, but plastic bags are being used a lot, especially during Ramadan. Food is packed in a plastic bag, within a plastic bag.
“Your iced drink is poured into a plastic bag, tied with a plastic string and comes with a plastic straw,” she lamented.
She became known to friends as “the girl with the tiffin”, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the trend had caught on.
“I bring a tiffin carrier instead of a container because when I go to a bazaar or food trucks, I don’t eat just one thing.
“With my tiffin carrier, I can
fit my murtabak, apam balik, cempedak goreng and sometimes, vendors give me extras! It’s a plastic-free and retro chic way of carrying our food, so why not bring it back?”
SMALL STEPS, BIG CHANGES
Changing the mindset is the hardest step, Tengku Zatashah admitted, but said it was a slow and important process one must take.
She said she tried to make sure she and her friends were seated at the “plastic-free” table when they dined out and believed this was one of the vital steps to impact change.
It was initially difficult to get her friends to hop on the bandwagon, but she said she was happy that most had started bringing reusables when they went out.
“I say reduce, reuse and refuse. Saying ‘no’ to plastic and bringing a reusable is the best way to curb the issue.
“I’m not asking people to make big changes overnight. You start by taking a small step, and you’ll start to think about it. And the more you do, the easier it becomes.”
Tengku Zatashah stopped using cling film last year, replacing it with beeswax paper or silicone bags and covers to store food.
These options, she added, were environmentally friendly, reduced waste and hygienic too.
INSPIRING JUNIOR ECO WARRIORS
The princess hosted a beach clean-up at Pantai Morib Baru two weeks ago, the first clean-up programme she held this year with public volunteers.
She sang praises of the volunteers, many of whom braved the rain to participate in the project, and was happy to see that children, as young as 11 were doing their part for the planet.
“They were the junior eco warriors and I loved how they were
so involved and passionate about it. I’ll be honest with you. When I was 11, I wasn’t thinking about how to save the planet or the environment. So it’s very rewarding to see how young and passionate they are about it.”
During the clean-up at Pantai Morib Baru, Tengku Zatashah and her group of 500 volunteers collected 779.8kg of trash, with nearly half of them being plastic waste.
She also participated in a beach clean-up in Pulau Redang recently, where volunteers collected 4,655 plastic bottles in two hours.
“Even schoolchildren get it... They put us adults to shame. This is not a solo job, and everybody in the community can get involved and help spread the message.
“We can prevent this. It’s not something out of our control.”
Tengku Zatashah also advocates for her #sayno2plastic campaign in universities, where she regularly speaks to the youth.
In her talks, she reminds the youth that they had the power to make change if they wanted to.
“A lot of them love asking me: ‘But Tengku, we’re not a princess and we’re still young, so how can we make change?’”
“I then tell them that if they had the energy, drive and persistence, anything is possible. They don’t call me ‘persistent princess’ for nothing,” she said in jest.
“If you can influence your classmates or a group of friends, then you’re already making some sort of impact. You don’t need to be a princess to do it.”
DANCE TO DE-STRESS
Asked how she released stress while doing her bit to protect the environment, Tengku Zatashah quickly named her favourite fitness dance class called Sh’bam.
Sh’bam is a cardio dance workout.
“It keeps me fit and makes me happy,” she said.
“While I really enjoy my dance classes, I also like to run and dive.
“My initiatives do not tire me because it’s really a passion of mine. It probably tires other people listening to me talk about it, I’m like a broken record!”
On a normal day, Tengku Zatashah said, she woke up in the morning and went to the gym before heading to work.
“I have a lot of charities and causes that I’m involved in, and I also keep thinking about different ideas to make a lasting impact.
“Things that I do keep me on my toes, firing me to do more. They inspire me to always take everything one step further.”
LIFE AS A JOURNALIST
Tengku Zatashah, who received her education in the United Kingdom and spent her youth in Spain and France, returned to Malaysia sometime back and began her career in Malaysia working for a newspaper.
“I risk revealing my age, but I joined the New Straits Times Life and Times section when the newspaper was still a broadsheet. It was a very good experience and I had fun.”
Fluent in English, Bahasa Malaysia, French and Spanish, Tengku Zatashah said she had always loved writing, a passion that continued to this day through her work and postings on social media.
“My byline then was just Zatashah Idris. Many had no idea who I was and I loved that. I was incognito almost all the time.”
She recalled one assignment when she had to cover an exhibition where her father was officiating.
“Father” was of course Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
“I said ‘hi’ to him, but I said I would not sit at the main table. I’d sit somewhere with my photographer instead. I still keep in touch with all my former colleagues. Sometimes, I still see familiar photographers at events and I say ‘hi’. No protocols, please, we used to work together!”
HAVING FAITH IN HUMANITY
In her efforts to make an impact, Tengku Zatashah believed that perseverance was key.
She said her clean-up initiative was proof that there was hope for the future, and that Malaysians should not underestimate the power of the youth.
“You may think what difference could one person make? But that one person can make a huge change. Our children can no longer be told to just sit and be quiet. They can do so much more and have the power in them to make changes for the better.”
She reminded the public to be more mindful of their choices, particularly on what they consumed and what they threw away.
“The growing population also means our landfills will fill up. Be mindful. Everybody can play a part.”