BANGI, Aug 10 — Good policies must move beyond isolated interventions towards creating connected environments that address the realities of people’s lives, said Menteri Besar Dato' Seri Amirudin Shari.
Government policies should take into account the interconnected challenges faced by individuals, families, and communities instead of treating each issue as a separate policy matter.
“Good policy must, therefore, move from isolated interventions towards connected environments, and from institutional impact to the realities of human lives,” he said in his keynote address during the Human Ecology International Conference (HEIC) II 2026 today.
Amirudin added that people do not experience healthcare, childcare, transport, employment, and the cost of living as separate policy areas but as interconnected aspects of everyday life.
Families today face structural pressures including rising costs, long commutes, caregiving demands, changing work patterns, housing constraints, and rapid technological change.
“The crucial question for government is, therefore, not only whether a family is coping, but whether the surrounding environment enables it to thrive,” he said.
Universities should also be partners throughout the policy cycle, from defining problems and designing interventions to evaluating what actually worked.
Meanwhile, the Menteri Besar also witnessed the exchange of the Memorandum of Understanding between UPM and the University of the Philippines Los Baños, followed by the announcement of the initiative to establish the ASEAN Human Ecology Consortium.
The initiative is intended to provide a regional platform for joint research, student and faculty mobility, publications, policy dialogue, academic collaboration, and community engagement among Human Ecology institutions across ASEAN.
Held under the theme "Sustaining Human Well-being", HEIC II 2026 brings together academics, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, institutional leaders, students, and community representatives from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and other countries to examine contemporary challenges affecting human well-being.
