Sabah Tourism Causes Environmental Devastation

This generation has probably been one of the worst in Sabahan history. Sabah has been taken advantage of ever since it became a part of Malaysia, by its government and by its own people but the changes that have taken place within my lifetime (mind you, I just turned 21), have been more dramatic and more irreparable than ever before.

Sabah has always prided itself as being an ecological gem and this is no longer as true as it once was. Nevertheless, people keep playing the same card to keep the tourists around. They have the same cliches on loop to distract people from the truth: greed, if not, the mistakes of the government and foreign investors have reduced the Sabahan environment to a point beyond repair. Our people, 'Orang Kita' take it because they're too impoverished to be picky so they sell themselves to whatever industry the government allocates to them, one of them being tourism. "Mount Kinabalu, heritage site!" When deforestation and copper mining has ruined the climate in places like Ranau and Keningau, so much beauty is diminished. Where there was once fog and cold mountain air, there is now dust and carbon monoxide thick, from the masses of lorries and 18-wheelers that drive up and down the mountains on a daily basis. Another problem this contributes to? Health. There have been new hospitals, really nice onces too but nowhere near enough staff. The existing health service is atrocious as it is, to the point where it should be considered inhumane. I've heard of people dying because they've gotten the wrong medication. My grandfather's blind in one eye because he got the wrong medication. And when they say that the people's welfare and their children's education come first, they also relocate funding for medical education for food subsidies. People in Ranau are still suffering from the aftermath of the Mamut Copper Mines to which, they probably have received little or no compensation other than a "we're sorry, we promise not to do it again."

You can make mistakes but don't bury them. It's been one environmental tragedy after the other and we still try to sell our broken up islands and scenery to the tourists and who get shells of the former glories these places once had. And can you believe that the environment and natural landscapes that we're selling to the tourists is one and the same with Ranau where at the foot of the mountains, people are still suffering from cancer and birth defects. Simple village people who neither have the money nor probably, the knowledge to know the severity of what has been afflicted on them. Even better, they receive little to no compensation and have been swept under the rug with nary a worthy apology.

When the government talks about the environment, they talk about the generic things like global warming, save the trees like it's other countries that started this problem when it was the government gobbling up resources that did it. Of course, natural resources are required to be harvested for the interests of a people's income but the at the rate that they did so and where the money was allocated to... if we're so rich and diverse in natural resources, why are the people still poor, sick and hungry? We don't have a large population and 1/3 of it are all illegal immigrants. We have timber, oil and minerals, which are the most lucrative natural resources any place could have, it's not like the only thing we have to offer are bananas and coconuts. And when we're poor, we turn to the new holy saviour of the Sabahan economical income, tourism.

Tourism is the crown glory of Sabahan achievements, or so it seems. Let's call in people from other countries to play at our mountains and islands, let them see how we celebrate our racial harmony and culture, let them see our little island paradise... not. Tourism has become yet another resource which has been over-harvested and has caused great harm to the environment not forgetting - Pulau Sipadan. Who can or should forget the Sipadan Island incident. Come on guys, it's only 3,984ft of coral reef damage, which is why the website is still up. I've heard it before. "Tourism is SO important to the people, look how poor they are." Okay. What about microcredit? What about taking this education that you've so painstakingly invested in and giving people more job opportunities than just showing mat sallehs and Koreans around the place? With all our natural resources, we have to rely on the donations of foreigners still? You have got to be kidding me. For all the irreparable damage that it has done, we're not going to have anything to show off within the next few years.

We've turned doing things for Sabahans into a crime. Where Sabah, as a spirit on its own, 'negeri di bawah bayu', is concerned, I think it's been a while since we've done anything really good for our motherland. As much as tourism has benefited our people, it is killing them too because we're not doing it responsibly. Sooner or later, the Sabah that we knew will be no longer.

via http://starranise.livejournal.com/