Photo caption: A proud moment for the Penang Green Council (PGC) at the Green and Geopark Excellent Awards ceremony, celebrating leadership and community-driven environmental action.
Pictured with the PGC award recipients are, third from the right, KY Pung, GAGA Convenor; fourth from the right, Datuk Seri S. Sundarajoo, Penang State Executive Councillor for Housing and Environment Matters; sixth from the right, Lee Khai Loon, Assemblyman for Machang Bubuk; and seventh from the right, Phee Syn Tze, Assemblyperson for Sungai Puyu.
by John Chin
The Green and Geopark Excellence Awards (GAGA) hogs the limelight at the Penang Green Council’s Coveted GAGA Awards in the limelight again(PGC) journalism awards presentation at the KOMTAR auditorium in George Town, Penang, recently.
GAGA convenor KY Pung handed over two award trophies and certificates to the council’s general manager, Josephine Tan, who was unable to attend the GAGA 2025 award ceremony on 22 November 2025 in Langkawi.
She had requested to receive in person the two awards; the GAGA Excellence Community-led Green Initiative Award and the Youth Green Leadership Award trophies, at her council’s award ceremony.
A GAGA Green Personality Award was conferred to Datuk Seri Phee Boon Poh for his pioneering role in steering the green council to become a major state-linked agency in Penang.
The award trophy was received by his daughter YB Phee Syn Tze.
At the council’s Green Pinang award presentation, the council recognised the works of Bernama, Berita Harian and Sin Chew photo-journalists with cash rewards.
At the GAGA 2025 held with the support of the Langkawi Development Authority, VVIP YB Nga Kor Ming handed over awards and trophies to 30 award recipients for excellence in geopark development and green best practices.
In conjunction with the staging of GAGA 2025, a zero waste conference was held attended by over 100 participants. Speakers both local and overseas from India, The Philipppines, and Bali in Indonesia shared about zero waste islands.
Josephine shared on PGC’s green governance model. NGO Sue Yee Khor, the founder of Zero Waste Malaysia (ZWM), spoke about her journey. ZWM is now 60,000 strong. Adjunct Prof Anthony Wong, the UNDP expert on sustainability, spoke on green hotels, while HRDF-certified trainer Allan Lau spoke on the circular economy.
LADA tourism and geopark manager Dr Azmil Munif Mohd Bukhari shared about Langkawi being prepared to take up the challenges of achieveing zero waste status.
“As an island, we can control what comes in and out. Therefore, we can curtail the spread of pollutants into the island, including plastics.”
Two resorts, the Frangipani Resort and Datai, are already recognised as green hospitality properties in the country.
The regional speakers were part of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA).
Several islands such as Siquijor (Philippines) and Banda Islands (Indonesia) and the Kerala state in India have achieved the zero waste status..
The success of GAGA 2025 can be summed up with this impactful tag:
One GAGA, 2 events, 30 award winners, 100 eco-warriors, and 300 celebrants.