All posts by Samantha Ho

In-Depth

Can Malaysia expand its busiest port without displacing a cultural icon?

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Malaysia is going full speed ahead with the proposed Carey Island port, suggesting work could start by September. But the island’s Indigenous Mah Meri still do not know how their villages and the mangrove forests which support their world-renowned culture — will be impacted. Story co-published with Eco-Business.

THE EVE of the Hari Moyang festival (Ancestor’s Day) is traditionally a family affair in Kampung Sungai Kurau, a village on the edge of Selangor’s Carey Island.

As twilight falls on 18 March, adults and children of the Indigenous Mah Meri community gather around hand-built wooden shrines in their gardens. They have spent hours weaving nipah palm leaves and gathering fresh flowers to decorate the shrines, no two of which are the same.

(Feature image: Using mangroves bounty, the Mah Meri community worship ancestral spirits on Hari Moyang in sanggar (shrines), both in the sea, with Westport visible, and within mangrove forests.   |  Image by Samantha Ho

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In-Depth

Ways to Improve Malaysia’s Ecological Fiscal Transfers

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Rock quarries have been expanding within Bukit Lagong forest reserve, Selangor. (Satellite image from Google Earth/Airbus)

Ways to Improve Malaysia's Ecological Fiscal Transfers

Conservationists broadly agree that the EFT mechanism has been good for Malaysia and that all states could benefit from more money for biodiversity protection. But increasing allocations, making the scheme legally permanent and giving states more freedom on how they can spend EFT funds could make this mechanism more effective.

A co-publication by Macaranga and Eco-Business.

Writer: Samantha Ho

Editor: YH Law

Published: 10 April 2025

Part 1 |  Part 2

(Feature image: The Selangor state government has been approving expansion of quarries (left) in the Bukit Lagong forest reserve. | Satellite image from Google Earth/Airbus)

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In-Depth

Bright spots in the dark: Tracking Malaysia’s fiscal transfers for nature conservation

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Bright spots in the dark: Tracking Malaysia's Fiscal transfers for nature conservation

The federal government said its Ecological Fiscal Transfer funds have spurred state governments to add protected areas and run conservation programmes. Yet as environmentalists are calling for more EFT funding, our analysis finds little transparency on most of the money disbursed, despite some state-level data from Johor and Sabah.

A co-publication by Macaranga and Eco-Business.

Writer: Samantha Ho  |  Editor: YH Law

Published: 8 April 2025

Part 1 | Part 2

(Feature image by Macaranga) 

(more...)