Int. J. Public Law and Policy, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2019 155 Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Enforcement of environmental pollution control laws: a Malaysian case study Mariani Ariffin Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia Email: marianiho@upm.edu.my Abstract: The increased environmental awareness in the 1970s prompted nations to enact laws that criminalise polluters. This article reviews criminal enforcement of environmental violations in Malaysia by analysing the trend in environmental crime prosecutions between 2015 to 2018. The study found that the number of prosecutions continued to fall with a marked drop, the paper points out various factors related to practical difficulties and challenges to pursue criminal enforcement against environmental offenders that might partly explain the descending prosecution trend. The cooperative enforcement strategy favoured by Malaysian regulatory agency could also play a significant role in the downward prosecution trend. In light of the risk of regulatory capture, the article suggests that the cooperative enforcement, should be complemented by prosecution against certain environmental violators to ensure deterrence. The results of the study are important to provide baseline information to stimulate intellectual discourse on the roles of criminal justice system within the existing regulatory enforcement strategy and the state of environmental problems in Malaysia. Keywords: air pollution; crime; hazardous waste; law enforcement; prosecution; regulatory capture; Southeast Asia; trends; water pollution; Malaysia. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Ariffin, M. (2019) ‘Enforcement of environmental pollution control laws: a Malaysian case study’, Int. J. Public Law and Policy, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp.155–169. Biographical notes: Mariani Ariffin is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Environmental Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Her degree of PhD in Law was awarded by the University of Kent, UK. Currently, she is the Head of Department of Environmental Management at the same faculty and was a former Research Associate at the Environmental Forensics Research Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia. She also chairs the University’s Committee on ISO14001 Environment Management System (EMS) Standard Compliance. Her research interests include biodiversity conservation laws especially those related to endangered species protection; pollution control laws; and regulatory enforcement. She has also involved in research projects related to solid waste management and laws on access and benefit sharing of genetic resources in Malaysia.