Open Air Burning... Environment... Ports?
Open air burning... always wondered... is there closed air burning? How exactly does one do that? Incinerators? Still got emission.
Moved to Dungun a few months back. The house was in a mess, previously rented by a family with 10 children. 10!!! Some of the old furniture was too shabby and had to be discarded. Lumped them in a pile outside, and they stayed there for...erm ... 3 months at the least. Was home once or twice a month, didn't have a pick-up truck or lorry to dump them somewhere (somewhere appropriate mind you, i'm no litter bug). So this afternoon, got a bundle of old newspapers, crumpled them, the sun was shining and the wind whispering 'burn, burn, burn...'.
Was quite a fire, felt the heat 2 meters away. Had the hose in standby, and my mobile with the local fire departments number on dial, just in case. If this was in Shah Alam, i would've been fined and jailed within 30 minutes. Fortunately was somewhere remote, didn't even have full mobile coverage. Almost everyday i see some folks burning stuff. Old makciks tending their lawns, pakcik-pakcik kat kebun bakar sampah, etc.
When talking about conservation in Malaysia, its like training a carnivore to eat spinach. Theres a thick spindle of red tape surrounding the departments involved, DOE, Forestry, NGO's like WWF (NOT World Wrestling Federation). Development with (so called) environmental impact studies are just formalities, rarely done with true transparency or free from biases. If a no go decision was made, it can always be overruled by the powers that be, money. Even water catchment ares could be developed, at a price.
Again mentioning, Malaysia is a blessed country. Our wildlife, plants, little fishies (and big fishies too) are unique and vast also unfortunately, endangered. Preservation & conservation sadly, is just so-so. See my attitude towards open air burning? No enforcement, so why should i care. Heard about that 'Cintailah Sungai Kita' campaign? I did, ONLY after the Director of DOE made a press conference and stated it FAILED (electronic & printed media). See? We're totally ignorant. Have you seen the state of our rivers lately? You can even find human body parts, dead babies, dead people, instead of cute little fishies. Industries are just not monitored enough (industry does not have anything to do with dead babies floating, mind you) for their emissions and toxic wastes. If fined, they can easily pay. 3 times in a row, possibly get a stop operations order, then after some this and that, continue operating. Issues like this, in addition to corruption, public ignorance, is almost impossible to overcome. Personally blame the government. The top folks are just not strict & transparent enough. Hell, all issues just blame the government. Simple as that. They say it isn't easy to change people. I say it is if you do your duty and utilize the power in hand with an iron claw. Just see what Dr. M did. Despite the evil doings here and there, NOBODY dared oppose him. Authoritarian yes, but it gets the job done.
Moved to Dungun a few months back. The house was in a mess, previously rented by a family with 10 children. 10!!! Some of the old furniture was too shabby and had to be discarded. Lumped them in a pile outside, and they stayed there for...erm ... 3 months at the least. Was home once or twice a month, didn't have a pick-up truck or lorry to dump them somewhere (somewhere appropriate mind you, i'm no litter bug). So this afternoon, got a bundle of old newspapers, crumpled them, the sun was shining and the wind whispering 'burn, burn, burn...'.
Was quite a fire, felt the heat 2 meters away. Had the hose in standby, and my mobile with the local fire departments number on dial, just in case. If this was in Shah Alam, i would've been fined and jailed within 30 minutes. Fortunately was somewhere remote, didn't even have full mobile coverage. Almost everyday i see some folks burning stuff. Old makciks tending their lawns, pakcik-pakcik kat kebun bakar sampah, etc.
When talking about conservation in Malaysia, its like training a carnivore to eat spinach. Theres a thick spindle of red tape surrounding the departments involved, DOE, Forestry, NGO's like WWF (NOT World Wrestling Federation). Development with (so called) environmental impact studies are just formalities, rarely done with true transparency or free from biases. If a no go decision was made, it can always be overruled by the powers that be, money. Even water catchment ares could be developed, at a price.
Again mentioning, Malaysia is a blessed country. Our wildlife, plants, little fishies (and big fishies too) are unique and vast also unfortunately, endangered. Preservation & conservation sadly, is just so-so. See my attitude towards open air burning? No enforcement, so why should i care. Heard about that 'Cintailah Sungai Kita' campaign? I did, ONLY after the Director of DOE made a press conference and stated it FAILED (electronic & printed media). See? We're totally ignorant. Have you seen the state of our rivers lately? You can even find human body parts, dead babies, dead people, instead of cute little fishies. Industries are just not monitored enough (industry does not have anything to do with dead babies floating, mind you) for their emissions and toxic wastes. If fined, they can easily pay. 3 times in a row, possibly get a stop operations order, then after some this and that, continue operating. Issues like this, in addition to corruption, public ignorance, is almost impossible to overcome. Personally blame the government. The top folks are just not strict & transparent enough. Hell, all issues just blame the government. Simple as that. They say it isn't easy to change people. I say it is if you do your duty and utilize the power in hand with an iron claw. Just see what Dr. M did. Despite the evil doings here and there, NOBODY dared oppose him. Authoritarian yes, but it gets the job done.
The Klang Valley is running out of land. Development is now moving towards north, Rawang, Ulu Yam, Serendah... up to Ipoh. South bound, Seremban is already up and running its way towards KL. The new highway from Kajang running thru Beranang, Mantin, Lenggeng is expected to be finished soon. Property hunters, buy buy buy!
The East coast is also expanding at an alarming rate. Thanks to the East coast highway. Businesses thriving, job openings... Mega Mall Kuantan!!! Heard that Kedah will get its own refinery + industrial hub, the North Corridor... pipelines going all the way thru banjaran Titiwangsa to Kelantan. Kelantan too has it's share of planned refineries and possibly a new port. Hopefully it will be a large one at that. Imagine, West coast = WPI + Port Klang + North Corridor, East coast = Kuantan + Kerteh, + Kerengga (Industrial Developement? Last time i heard it was at proposal stage in 1998) + Kelantan. WOW! Singapore sure would be deemed useless. That is of course if our politicians or balachi's of state heads don't SELL OFF these strategic investments to them already. Pos Malaysia. PantaiMed. Possibly thousands more that we Malaysians don't know of.
The East coast is also expanding at an alarming rate. Thanks to the East coast highway. Businesses thriving, job openings... Mega Mall Kuantan!!! Heard that Kedah will get its own refinery + industrial hub, the North Corridor... pipelines going all the way thru banjaran Titiwangsa to Kelantan. Kelantan too has it's share of planned refineries and possibly a new port. Hopefully it will be a large one at that. Imagine, West coast = WPI + Port Klang + North Corridor, East coast = Kuantan + Kerteh, + Kerengga (Industrial Developement? Last time i heard it was at proposal stage in 1998) + Kelantan. WOW! Singapore sure would be deemed useless. That is of course if our politicians or balachi's of state heads don't SELL OFF these strategic investments to them already. Pos Malaysia. PantaiMed. Possibly thousands more that we Malaysians don't know of.
posted by dunsuntutmybuntut @ 8:49 PM
1 Comments:
At November 11, 2008 at 3:48 AM ,
Anonymous said...
Good for people to know.
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