MALAYSIANS have been at the forefront of many environmental, conservation, health, lifestyle and social awareness campaigns over the decades.
More than anything else, they love campaign launches, the number of such projects too numerous to count.
But here's the absurdity: once a campaign is launched, there seems to be little attention to consistency and the discipline of actually following up on it.
Probably the most glaring failures? Anti-littering and recycling campaigns. The idea is lost on Malaysians not to treat any part of the country as a landfill to dump an assortment of trash.
Households are encouraged and finally mandated to separate recyclables from perishables in their daily trash, but inevitably become apathetic about it.
One time, there was an Earth Day campaign imploring households to switch off lights at a certain time in the early evening.
The campaign was meant to conserve power from electrical appliances, lighting and air-conditioning to save on electricity bills.
Instead, Tenaga Nasional Bhd reported higher power consumption, especially for air-conditioning.
Campaign launches may have imbued some awareness but persuading Malaysians to act conscientiously? Forget it. These launches brim with enthusiasm, especially if they involve celebrities, free gifts and a big feast, but once over, participants glaze over them, justifying yet another excuse to "feel good".
In truth, Malaysians are weekend campaign launch warriors, void of the disposition and determination to see through their causes.
Recently, another drive failed to light up expectations: a plastic-free campaign to meet environmental goals and dampen Malaysians' penchant for throwing away huge amounts of plastics.
Anti-littering rules, and state and local governments mandating retailers to charge for or ban the use of plastic bags, failed to achieve the desired goal.
Unsurprisingly, all states, except Selangor, Penang, Johor and Negri Sembilan, suffer from policy inconsistencies over the plastic bag-free environment.
As such, the only official recourse is a blanket ban on retail plastic bags across all businesses, which the government plans to carry out next year.
The problem is urgent: discarded plastic leads to diffusion of microplastics into rivers, seas and food. Without laws to have plastic production make way for biodegradable materials, tiny plastic particles contaminated with toxins can get into our bodies, triggering hormonal disruptions, reproductive ailments and other health problems.
Malaysia has adopted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for environmental protection, replacing single-use plastics — drinking straws, wrappers and cutlery — with eco-friendly material.
But as always, challenges persist: poor recycling awarreness, a blasé attitude to sustainable behaviour and habits, inadequate waste management and biodegradable products and the high cost of alternatives.
Most egregious: poor cooperation and enforcement from governmental stakeholders. All-round cooperation is crucial to preserve the ecosystem and build a healthier environment.