Sin Chew Daily Opinion 2012-06-01 18:29
With the petrochemical complex of Petronas now in the active phase of development and with the Kuokuang petrochemical hub project in the pipeline, public outcry continues to be heard.
Pengerang-born chairman of JB Newspaper Distributors Association Mr Zhu Suiling told me, "I'm afraid my hometown will soon become uninhabitable."
I was not able to see the fury planted deep inside his heart, but from his face I could perceive a deep sense of melancholy.
His narration just yesterday morning transported me back in time to the rustic fishing village of his childhood.
In late 1940, Zhu, a 10-year-old boy then, woke up about seven every morning, and later walked with seven or eight companions to school from his house.
The almost 1-hour journey was made along an extended stretch of white sandy beach bisected by a stream where the boys had to take off their shoes and wade cautiously across the water with their shoes in their hands, watching out for the crocodiles rumoured to be present in the water.
Zhu said he could not forget the turtle egg-laying season, when one or two giant sea turtles could be spotted laying eggs on the quiet beach as the first ray of sunlight broke the darkened sky.
"We were still very young at that time, knowing nothing about the need to protect the endangered species. Sometimes we would dash forward and mischievously turn the turtles on their backs, and laughed our way home.
"By the time we finished school at five, the tortured turtles had died, and again we yelled jubilantly and tossed the dead reptiles into the boundless sea.
"Sometimes we would catch little crabs on the beach, or played with turtle eggs as if they were footballs."
Zhu recalled that the Japanese troops built a trunk road and a rail line across Pengerang during the Occupation, and started mining for aluminium. However, the Japs surrendered before they could even afford to freight away the ore.
Zhu could not quite remember when aluminium mining operations were revived after the war, but he could remember very well that the water which had been used to rinse the ore was drained straight into the sea, contaminating the giant sea turtles' habitat. Before long, sea turtles were out of sight on the beach of Pengerang.
"Later, probably because of a government directive, the water used to rinse the ore was diverted to a nearby low-lying swamp, and very soon the trees there were all killed.
"No one knew anything about environmental preservation back in those years. We didn't know how to protect. We only had to accept things quietly and in resignation."
To older generation of Pengerang residents like Zhu, what is closest to their hearts is an inborn affinity to their homeland.
Time has changed. What young Malaysians today want is a green home. They won't keep their mouths shut like their fathers and grandfathers. They insist on their entitlement, and would fight to this end.
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