Malaysia is the world's second largest producer of palm oil and generates surplus palm biomass waste that can be used for bioenergy development. Malaysia aims to diversify its energy portfolio by investing into renewable energy mostly to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. This paper captures synergetic and conflicting interests of key stakeholders, who play an important role in shaping the regulatory and business environment in Malaysia's renewable energy sector. Particularly, this research analyses the perceptions of three stakeholder groups (government agencies, industry players, and non-governmental organisations) regarding palm-based biofuel and biomass utilisation in Malaysia by combining Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis with an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) framework. Overall, results show a greater sense of optimism among the three stakeholder groups for the development of palm-based biomass utilisation in Malaysia, compared to the development of first generation palm-oil based biodiesel. We discuss the findings in light of on-going debates and policy processes, highlighting some key issues that need to be addressed in order to meet oil-palm related targets set in Malaysia's ambitious renewable energy plan. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.