Dr M: Malaysia trying to strike balance between SDGs and the needs of the people

NEW YORK (Bernama): Malaysia is seeking to strike a balance between achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and addressing the needs of its people, says Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic).

In this regard, new strategies had to be adopted to attain SDG targets while taking care of the well-being of its citizens, said the Prime Minister.

“Malaysia believes in sustainable development goals, but between believing in them and achieving them, of course we know is not an easy matter, ” he said when addressing the SDG Summit - Leaders Dialogue 6 on “The 2020-2030 Vision” here on Wednesday.

He added that the Malaysian government was keeping a close eye on issues such as the environment and poverty eradication.

On the environment, Dr Mahathir said that as Malaysia’s population grew, the government had to spend more money to treat the waste being produced.

Unfortunately, he said, certain countries had opted to send some of their waste to Malaysia.

“We have a problem now of trying to get rid of this extra waste, ” he said, expressing hope that countries would look after their own waste rather than export them to other countries.

Dr Mahathir said looking after the environment also meant that Malaysia would try its best not to cut down trees.

The country, he said, had pledged to maintain at least 50% natural forest coverage.

“And this we have done as we now have 53-55% of the land covered by natural forests.

“And we intend to keep this although we have to derive some benefit from our forests.

“But we will be very careful not to cause the forest to diminish to the extent that it would be bad for our country and for the rest of the world, ” he said.

Dr Mahathir added that Malaysia nevertheless would need land over time for human settlements.

“We cannot say that we should keep people from living in good houses simply because we have no more space for them.

“So Malaysia today is building more high rise buildings so that on a per square metre basis there would be more people able to live and sustain themselves, ” he said, adding that this was also another way of sustainable development.

The Prime Minister also said that Malaysia had to adopt modern farming techniques to provide food to its people while sustaining the environment.

On poverty, Dr Mahathir said he doubted whether it was actually possible to eradicate poverty totally. – Bernama