Shah alam: Good policies must move beyond isolated interventions towards creating connected environments that address the realities of people's lives, said Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari. He emphasized that government policies should consider the interconnected challenges faced by individuals, families, and communities instead of treating each issue as a separate policy matter.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Amirudin delivered these remarks in his keynote address at the Human Ecology International Conference II 2026 (HEIC II 2026). He highlighted that healthcare, childcare, transport, employment, and the cost of living are not experienced as separate policy areas but as interconnected aspects of everyday life. Families today, he noted, face structural pressures such as 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," Amirudin stated. He also stressed the importance of universities being partners throughout the policy cycle, from defining problems and designing interventions to evaluating what actually worked.

Meanwhile, the menteri besar witnessed the exchange of a Memorandum of Understanding between UPM and University of the Philippines Los Ba±os. This was followed by the announcement of the initiative to establish the ASEAN Human Ecology Consortium. The initiative aims 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.