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The Malaysian Bar welcomes Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s statement following the Climate Change Action Council meeting on 21 April 2025, in which he emphasised the crucial need for a collective national effort to combat climate change.1
Action at the National Level
In this regard, the Malaysian Bar calls on the Government to adopt a rights-based approach to climate governance in Malaysia, especially in the ongoing drafting of the Climate Change Bill (Rang Undang-Undang Perubahan Iklim Negara, “RUUPIN”).
RUUPIN, which will form the heart of Malaysia’s climate governance framework, must integrate human rights principles. It must ensure that Malaysia’s climate laws and policies respect, protect, and fulfil the rights of all individuals — especially the most vulnerable — and present and future generations (see the preamble of the Paris Agreement). In so doing, RUUPIN would align with Malaysia’s sustainable development agenda, international human rights standards, and climate obligations.
At present, the Consultation Paper for RUUPIN dated 4 October 2024 indicates the absence of a rights-based approach.
The Malaysian Bar thus urges the Government to ensure that RUUPIN explicitly and adequately protects and fulfils the rights of the Malaysian people. Framing RUUPIN from a rights-based approach entails a comprehensive range of elements. The Malaysian Bar considers it essential to emphasise two particularly significant aspects among them:
(1) Addressing climate change as a human rights issue
Recognising that the adverse effects of climate change directly and indirectly threaten the enjoyment of a wide range of human rights, including the following:
(i) Right to life (Article 5(1) of the Federal Constitution): Climate impacts can lead to loss of life and increased mortality rates;
(ii) Right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment: Malaysia, together with many other countries, have voted to pass a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly on 28 July 2022 to declare the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment a universal human right. This right has also been judicially interpreted to be a constitutional right, implicit in Article 5(1) of the Federal Constitution. In the context of the climate crisis, this means the right to be free from the adverse effects of climate change (see M. K. Ranjitsinh & Ors. v Union of India & Ors. 2024 INSC 280);
(iii) Right to health: Heatwaves, floods, air pollution, and the spread of diseases exacerbated by climate change impact health;
(iv) Right to food: Changes in agricultural patterns and extreme weather can threaten food security;
(v) Right to water and sanitation: Droughts and floods can disrupt access to clean water and sanitation;
(vi) Right to housing: Displacement due to floods, rise in sea levels, and extreme weather can lead to homelessness; and
(vii) Right to self-determination and cultural rights: Climate change can disproportionately affect indigenous peoples and their traditional ways of life.
(2) Accountability and redress
Accountability involves placing a legally enforceable duty on the Government to fulfil its obligations under the law. This duty is directly connected to the rights of the people, whereby the Federal, State, and local governments are duty-bearers. This would also provide a legal basis for citizens and civil society to hold the Government accountable if it fails to meet its climate obligations. Establishing such legal duties on the Government is a significant demonstration of an all-of-nation approach to climate action, where the citizens are expected, and empowered, to engage actively. Additionally, parliamentary oversight should be legislated to increase accountability of the Government; for example, mandating Executive proposals and reports to be submitted to, and debated, in Parliament.
This enables both branches of the Government — the Legislative (ie Parliament) and Judiciary — to provide checks and balances for Executive powers and actions on climate change issues. This would help our climate governance framework withstand multiple political cycles.
Action at the ASEAN Level
As the ASEAN Chair for 2025, Malaysia should demonstrate climate leadership by championing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, as provided for under Article 28(f) of the 2012 ASEAN Human Rights Declaration.
Malaysia can advance this leadership by calling on all ASEAN member states to strengthen the upholding of this right (to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment) in their respective legal systems, whether through explicit constitutional recognition or enhanced implementation measures. The justification for this call is strong:
- This right is already recognised by ASEAN member states in the 2012 ASEAN Human Rights Declaration;
- Many member states have already committed to the Sustainable Development Goals, ESG (environmental, social, and governance), and Business and Human Rights principles;
- Strengthening this right will make ASEAN economies more competitive across global markets; and
- ASEAN member states share a vulnerability to the impact of climate change.
The call for regional leadership builds upon Malaysia’s existing international commitment to climate justice, demonstrated by its co-sponsorship of the landmark Human Rights Council resolution (adopted on 8 October 2021) establishing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right.
The Way Forward
To fulfil its obligations and establish a robust climate governance framework, the Malaysian Bar urges the Malaysian Government to:
(1) ensure that RUUPIN explicitly recognises people’s right to a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, and adopts a rights-based approach throughout the legislation; and
(2) commence concrete steps to amend the Federal Constitution to expressly recognise the right to a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. This will pave the way for Malaysia to lead by example as it calls on ASEAN member states to strengthen their respective recognition of this right.
Undertaking these measures will strengthen the legal foundation of our climate governance and position Malaysia to play a lasting and strategic role in climate action within ASEAN.
Mohamad Ezri b Abdul Wahab
President
Malaysian Bar
6 May 2025
1 “Anwar stresses collective effort in combating climate change”, New Straits Times, 21 April 2025.