MALAYSIA'S LOCAL AGENDA 21: IMPLEMENTATION AND APPROACH IN KUALA LUMPUR, SELANGOR AND JOHOR BAHRU

Background: Local Agenda 21 (LA 21) has been adopted in a holistic approach to facilitate the economic development, with a manner of protecting and preserving the environment, and a goal to achieve the sustainable living in an equitable society. Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Johor Bahru are one of the urbanized State and city in Malaysia for which many initiatives have been taken to integrate the economic, social and environmental solutions into its urban development. This paper amasses the LA 21 implementation which performed by Kuala Lumpur City Hall, Iskandar Malaysia Johor and the pioneer in the state of Selangor which is Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya in order to comprehend their commitments given in the program. In addition, the implementation of LA 21 is summarized with the framework of initiatives taken by the local government to embrace the local community involvement. Methods: The methodology relies on the document analysis related to the LA 21 activities conducted by these cities in summary tabulation of practices. Results: Based on the results of the analysis, it indicates that each of the state and city has created their own sustainable approaches by carrying out impressive programs and plans such as clearing and cleaning up areas, recycling programs, cultural and heritage activities, develop the neighbourhood action plan, implementation green building project and others. Whilst, the initiatives taken by the local government to establish the commitment from communities vary from awareness campaign, seminar, general meeting with focus group and develop a strategy to deliver effective information such as focusing on the interest group, region, age and gender. Conclusion: Through this program, the committee, the Local Authority, and the private sector are actively contributing in building up the LA 21 through having an active participation and voluntarily involvement. In conclusion, LA 21 implementation in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru continues as a program that able to generate the present and future development exemplar to the other City Councils and States in Malaysia. It is a program to forge a partnership between various stakeholders to show the commitment to the sustainable development.