As the Assistant Director of the Policy Planning and Coordination Division at the Malaysia Civil Defence Force (MCDF) Headquarters, I have dedicated my career to strengthening the operational framework of national disaster management. Over the past five months, I participated in the Disaster Management Programme 2025 in Japan, an intensive exposure period that allowed me to benchmark Malaysia’s coordination mechanisms against international best practices.
My extensive learning in Japan was centered on a “whole-of-society” approach, integrating robust institutional governance with a disciplined operational mindset. I was exposed to practical frameworks at the Disaster Management Training Centre (DMTC), University of Tokyo, specifically the checklist-driven methodology of the NUMADA Disaster Management Field Guide. This experience provided a critical lens to evaluate MCDF’s role as the Secretariat at the State (JPBN) and District (JPBD) levels under NADMA Directive No. 1 and Act 221.
These insights culminated in my capstone project: “Enhancing Disaster Management: Field Guide for Malaysia Civil Defence Force (MCDF) as Secretariat at State and District Levels”. This project addresses critical operational gaps such as inconsistent PKOB activation times and fragmented inter-agency reporting. The output is a highly structured, two-part solution:
- The MCDF Disaster Management Field Guide: A unified manual that systematically aligns MCDF’s 21 core functions with the five domains of the Incident Command System (ICS), replacing narrative SOPs with 47 distinct, checklist-driven tasks.
- Institutionalizing Preparedness: A Training-of-Trainers (ToT) model and simulation program designed to reduce PKOB activation times by 20-30% and ensure documentation quality across all jurisdictions.
By translating Japanese precision into the Malaysian context, this work aims to shift our national posture from reactive response to proactive resilience, ensuring that the MCDF Secretariat functions as a professional, standardized, and credible coordinating force for the rakyat.
For further information, collaboration, or discussion related to this work, I can be contacted through :
Email : ismailmahedin@civildefence.gov.my
Whatsapps : +60198884877