IOSR Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology and Food Technology (IOSR-JESTFT) e-ISSN: 2319-2402,p- ISSN: 2319-2399.Volume 8, Issue 6 Ver. II (Jun. 2014), PP 08-12 www.iosrjournals.org www.iosrjournals.org 8 | Page Examine the level of Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment Process: A case of MRT Project in Malaysia Abiola Aiyeola 1* , Ramdzani bin Abdullah 1 Nasir Shamsudeen 1 Zalina Zaiton Ibrahim 1 *1 (Faculty of Environmental Science, Department of Environmental Planning and Management, Malaysia) Abstract: This study examine the important role that public participation play in environmental impact assessment process. The study uses the MRT project in Malaysia as a case study. As an internationally accepted requirement in EIA process, public participation is a key towards stakeholders’ involvement in environmental management. This study identified various models that has been postulated by scholars and concluded that Arnstein model of public participation was the basses for all other model hence, the researcher used it to determine the level of public participation in the MRT project in Malaysia. The results of the study however show at which level participation was categorized. Keywords: Public Participation; Environmental Impact Assessment; MRT Project; Malaysia I. Introduction Sustaining and managing of the world natural resources has become an issue of international discourse. The integration and involvement of the public and stakeholders by government establishment has open more opportunities for constructive debate on how best to manage the environmental degradation that may arise from utilization of its resources. The integration of the public came when traditional system of government were overwhelm with the challenges of social problems given room to negligence of sustainable utilization and management of environmental resource that the world is blessed with [1], [2]. According to [3] , public participation is define as “any form of interaction that exits or takes place between government, corporate actors and the public as identified by EIA policy and process”. Public can be consulted for the purpose of inquiry, hearing, consultation or in public decision making[4] Government responsibilities and challenges in terms of good governance have reached a higher level, making it difficult for them to respond to individual needs. The distance in interaction experienced with public due to these big challenges affects public opinion and views on issues that shape their lives. The concepts of trust elucidates the ability of the public in supporting government policy [5] . Achieving results by government through its policy requires building collaborative relationship with the public and this is subjected to the level of trust that is exhibited by both parties [6]. Since natural resources are limited, management becomes all collaborative effort between government and its citizens. [5] posited that interaction between government and the public with distributive justice will clearly ameliorate fears and challenges insinuated by the citizen. However, all concerns agree that sustainability is all encompasses but does the situation across the world now shows collaboration? Given the extensive and exhaustive discussion on the important of collaborative responsibilities in managing the environmental resources, is the world experiencing an improve integration of all stakeholders? Why it is that public participation is seen as an administrative procedure? And at what stages could be accepted as adequate public participation in Environmental Impact assessment. All these are some fundamentals issues that is affecting standardization of Public participation in the world. It is against this background that this study examines the level at which public participation in environmental impact assessment can be categorized using established models by various authors in the world. II. Review of Literatures on Participation Models 1.1 Theories of Public Participations Just like any other discipline, the interrelation experienced in development of theories have an effect in the field of public participation, this resulted into an intertwined philosophy with other field theoretical work. According to [7], the Marxism scholar propagated the theory of public participation through the Marx‟s view on involvement of public in governance. The interwoven can also be noticed in the work done by political theorist who developed theme in participatory democracy with public participation principles[8] [9]. Many literature on siting and risk communication also dwells in public fairness process using theories that revolves round public participation [10] [11][12] . Arising from several authors and theorist, different views on public participations emerged. [13] proposed a normative theory of public participation that considers fairness and competency using Haberma‟s