When Policy Needs a Voice: Communicating ASEAN’s Sustainability Vision

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By Farrell Tan

Malaysia’s 2025 ASEAN Chairmanship is already setting the tone for the region’s next decade. The recent launch of three key initiatives i.e., the MSME Excellence Centre for Green Transition (MEGA), ASEAN Ahead: STI Ecosystem Foresight 2035 and Beyond, and ASEAN in 2025: Shaping an Inclusive and Sustainable Future, puts inclusivity and sustainability squarely at the centre of ASEAN’s agenda.

It’s encouraging to see policy leadership take sustainability seriously. But as communicators, we know the work doesn’t end at the press conference. The real challenge begins when these policies meet the public.

Sustainability is no longer a technical term. It’s a story that needs to be told, retold, and localised until it fits the lived realities of businesses, communities, and consumers.

At Orchan, we’ve seen how easily strong sustainability strategies can lose momentum when communication isn’t part of the plan. Some clients have bold environmental goals but struggle to explain why it matters to their audiences. Others go quiet out of fear of being accused of greenwashing -- so the narrative vacuum fills itself.

That’s the missing piece: translation.

The sustainability transition won’t succeed through regulation or corporate policy alone. It needs empathy. It needs consistency. It needs communicators who can turn technical goals into human motivation: into stories people recognise themselves in.

Malaysia’s ASEAN initiatives set the right strategic direction. The next step is ensuring people actually connect with that direction: that MSMEs see their role in the “green transition,” that innovators understand how “foresight” shapes opportunity, and that citizens feel part of a shared sustainability journey.

Because in 2025 and beyond, effective communication will determine whether ASEAN’s sustainability ambitions remain policy documents or become lived regional progress.

At Orchan, we believe good storytelling isn’t decoration. It’s infrastructure. It’s how change takes root -- in policy, in perception, and in practice.

If your organisation is ready to move from strategy to story, get in touch:

changenow@orchan.asia / +603-7972 6377

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