Monday, November 17, 2008

A Squint-Eye Environmentalist

Hantu Laut

In Malaysia some people took pride in calling themselves environmentalists and object to anything and everything they perceived can cause grievous hurt to mother earth.Some joined environmental organisation because it has become fashionable to do so.Than there are those who are mad enough to risk their lives to pursue their ideals.

The extreme end of the spectrum are those highly glorified kamikaze environmental warriors of Green Peace.If you have nothing better to do and think mother earth is going to die soon because of human folly than you can join the Green Peace and chase Japanese whaling ships all over the world's oceans.These are the true warriors of mother earth.

If you are a lazy environmentalist like me than you can just sit on your arse and do nothing.If you are lazy,ignorant and with some degree of stupidity and need some publicity to promote yourself than go to your nearest news hungry reporter and spill your guts out on how some destructive force is out to kill our dear beloved mother earth without first checking your facts.

If you are really stupid and ignorant, just stay that way and you wouldn't become a prick and used by someone to make noise and object to any project under the guise of protecting the environment.

When come to the environment Sabahans are probably the most conscious among all Malaysians but they are also the most confused.

For the past two years the question still lingers whether Sabah should have a coal-fired power station or not.In spite of the fact that the state suffers frequent power breakdown due to acute shortage of power generation there were still strong objections from environmentalists and majority of the population when the government first announced the project to be sited near Lahad Datu.The location has now been moved to Sandakan and the people stood their ground and insisted not to have it.They would rather live in darkness than face the prospect of living in a polluted environment.

Gone were the days when coal were mined in Newcastle and we often see the ugly faces of coalminers in newspapers and magazines that scares the shit out of us how shitty coal was.Today's technology had made using coal more friendly to the environment.It may not be 100% pollution free but are much better than 50-60 years ago.It is also an alternative source of cheaper fuel for power generation if other sources are not available or too expensive.

A new voice of disapproval against another project has risen, more out of commercial consideration, rather than care of the environment.This time it is the proposed resort development on waters of Mabul Island.

The President of SEPA(Sabah Environment Protection Association) Wong Tack asked if the resort development was necessary because one could easily see fishes swimming in the clear Mabul waters.He went to say "How can approval be given to such a massive project before the terms of the EIA are known?”

Obviously, Mr Wong had been used by existing resort operators to voice their unhappiness under the pretext of caring for the environment.It has been proven that where there are proper environmental friendly resort built over waters the reef takes on a new dimension under natural regeneration because all resort operators won't allow any fishing or fish bombing anywhere near the resorts.









My Wong should visit Lankayan,Kapalai,Sipadan Water Village and see for himself that he was wrong.There are more marine live now than before those resorts were built. The coral have grown back attracting more marine creatures.If he can't afford to visit those islands than he can go to Gayana on Gaya Island which probably is the nearest to him if he lives in Kota Kinabalu.

If you have visited Mabul ten years ago you be utterly shocked to see that every bit of coral surrounding the island are dead and broken due to constant fish bombing.Fish bombing are still being carried out in outlaying reefs.The fishes swimming in the waters of Mabul that Mr Wong saw are the results of the many resorts on the island's waters.

Kapalai which was completely built over a reef isolated from the main land is another example of a properly planned resort with no discharge of sewers into the sea.The sewers go to a treatment plant on the resort itself.The waste water are used to water plants in the resort.The reefs are teeming with all kind of marine creatures.

Well, the next time you feel you need to go and object to something and before you embarrass yourself go and do your homework first and make sure people don't use you to further their own business and political agenda.

The people of Mabul are quite happy to welcome more development on the island that can provide more jobs for them and their children.

Guess which politician stir up the villagers of Mabul with his crap story of the people losing their land to outsiders? Read the story here.

5 comments:

Monsterball said...

I tend to agree that it Is possible to have environmentally sustainable development, PROVIDED the developers, and more importantly the operators of the facilities keep to the environmental guarantees, with honesty and integrity.

This is where Malaysia falls miserably short. Many of the once pristine local island resorts are now suffering from serious environmental degradation. Remember all the earnest assurances by the developers that they will respect the environment ? A lot of B*s*it.
Oh, couple that with "close both eyes" authorities.

Same with coal power stations. Yes, technology exists today which, strictly applied and strictly maintained, allow coal-burning power stations to be relatively clean. Much of the sulphur dioxide, for example, can be scrubbed out of the exhaust fumes, so you don't have to have acid rain. Enough sulphuric acid and other chemicals recovered can even be sold off for a bit of revenue.

Do I trust the companies and the authorities in Bolehland to adhere to environment statndards ?

I don't.

Donplaypuks® said...

"The extreme end of the spectrum are those highly glorified kamikaze environmental warriors of Green Peace."

As a member of Greenpeace, I must take exception to your branding the organization and its members as Kamikaze.

Were it not for these caring people, the Japs, Dutch, Norwegians, Russians and others would have wiped out the whales, dolphins and seals, while openly defying a UN ban by classfying these kills as 'research material' and sending the carcasses by shiploads to the gourmet restaurants for sheer profit!!

If we allow these beautiful sea creatures to be hunted to extinction, the damage to marine life and eco-systems will come back to roost with a vengeance on human life 20, 30 or 50 years from now.

These people are not "mad enough to risk their their lives to pursue their ideals." No, they are sane enough to know that if they do not make a stand now, the eventual damage to human life will be catastrophically irreversible!!!

Wake up and wise up, you who profess adherence to great religions and then have no respect for other life forms.

http://donplaypuks.blogspot.com

gram.kong said...

kittykay46,
You shouldn't lump everyone into a single can and make a conclusion that all are bad.

What I wrote are based on facts, at least in Sabah where I have visited most of the resorts I mentioned and visited the areas decades ago when the resorts weren't there.

There are things you can write from an armchair but in this particular case you have to be on the ground yourself to know the actual situation.

I am a person who love the sea and I have been to most of the islands around Sabah including not less than 10 trips to Layang Layang in the Spratlys over the years and I believe my observations are more accurate than reporters who wrote on hearsay.

Almost all resort operators in Sabah are responsible as far as I can see.

The noises are politically motivated by someone from the area who is going to stand for one of the top positions in UMNO and has ambition to be the next CM of Sabah.

There were many resorts built the same way in the past and there were no noises.

All existing resorts on Mabul are owned by local Chinese,they didn't make any noise or complain their land are going to be taken away.

Those on the island are all not Malaysians anyway,most are illegals who come and go as they like.

Philippines is only less than an hour away by speedboat.

gram.kong said...

donplaypuks,
If driving a small rubber dingy in the path of a big ship is no an act of kamikaze what is?

I am not against the Greenpeace or against for caring of the environment.You must read the article in its full context.

It is about being discernable and being able to differentiate between fact and fiction.

Anonymous said...

wow Kapalai looks good...