Marco Polo named Suzhou the Venice of Asia when he visited the city in the 13th century. Is Penang becoming the next Venice of Asia too? Do not get me wrong. I am not suggesting that Penang is rivalling the scenic Suzhou as the next tourism hot spot in Asia.
But I was shocked to find that the heritage city, Georgetown, was crippled by flash flood during a heavy downpour yesterday. It happened again today. If this situation persists, it will soon threaten Georgetown's UNESCO World Heritage status.
The state government should focus on solving this problem. A root cause of the flash flood is the failure of the city's drainage system. Most of its drains are clogged with rubbish and litter.
There are several things that the state government must do:
1) Clean up the city;
2) Launch a clean up campaign to instill the need to keep Georgetown and Penang clean and litter free;
3) Change the mindset and behaviour of petty traders and hawkers who continue to dump their waste indiscriminately into the drain;
4) Start to reprimand those who dump their litter illegally into the drains and along the streets;
If a concrete action is not taken, the present state government can continue to dream making Penang an international city. For now, it is an international laughing stock. Probably one of the dirtiest and badly kept living heritage cities in the world.
I dread having to show any of my foreign friends around the city. Talk is easy, it is time for the state government and the local authority to walk the talk.
File picture taken from the internet.
15 comments:
I used to love Penang and would make my annual holiday trips there. But I haven't been there for the past 8 years because the place has turned into a dirty and crowded place. You cannot stop a city from growing but surely you can maintain it's charm and cleanliness. For those who love Penang, I suggest that you try Kuching for a change. It's more like Penang in the old days. People are very friendly, the city is neat and clean and the old charm is still there. The food is great too especially the laksa (better than Penang) and the kolo mee. Go there before it turns into another dirty Penang.
Khoo,
While as a neutral party for this case and a Penangite, I urge that you start a campaign to ask Federal Govmen to allocate fund for the above mentioned. Without budget, there will be all talk and no action. Then people will blame the PR govment, that is what BN wants. It is high time, BN come clean and be fair to all Rakyat, allocate fund fairly to all state govment regardless they are BN or PR. These are also taxpayers' money. We deserve all these fund for state development.
I know what the state gov will do, blame the previous gov or Dr Koh for this issue as well! and waiting for fund from federal gov.
) Launch a clean up campaign to instill the need to keep Georgetown and Penang clean and litter free;
3) Change the mindset and behaviour of petty traders and hawkers who continue to dump their waste indiscriminately into the drain;
4) Start to reprimand those who dump their litter illegally into the drains and along the streets;
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sounds quite an impossible task as being a litterbug is rather synonymous being a Malaysian ... as it is in parking vehicles haphazardly, ... extending a 2-lane road into 3 or 4 lanes by taking up the emergency lane during traffic jams ... etc etc and also as much as corruption being a culture, a way o life.
sad, isn't it? but whose fault? it is the government !!!
once i had some australian friends who came visiting and i took them to mount ophir .. guess what? along the way up and down the mountain, they were picking up rubbish left over by others. i was too embarassed to say anything. as it is, it is their culture to pick up rubbish anywhere and everywhere to keep the place clean ...
can we have such culture, or any culture that is positive to be proud of?
=Freddy Toh=
isn't drainage problem a common occurence all over M'sia? Look at the housing estates? Which ones don't have clogged drains? Who bothers? Local authorities? Never seen anyone of them !!!
After PR took over, still nobody bothers !!!
Talk is cheap, Mr. Khoo!
If it's as easy as your pretty words on how to clean up the city and curb the flash floods, you think BN wouldn't have done it long before?
Change in mindset starts from birth, from school, from education!!!
With our Education Ministry fooling around with our education system every year, blame who?!
I agree that talk is cheap. Instead of making sweeping statements how about making detailed suggestions on how to improve Penang? To make improvements you need MONEY and POLITICAL WILL.
The central government regards Penang as an "anak tiri". I get the impression from visiting and living in different states that they receive more money from the central government than Penang. Look at the development in Ipoh and Melaka. Penang contributes a lot to the government coffers but get crumbs in return.
Political will is also sorely missing. DAP as everyone knows owes it strength to the support of the traders and hawkers. So DAP will not do anything to offend its supporters. So the hawkers are free to litter, pollute, illegally park etc without any fear of reprisals. If DAP does take any action it will find itself without the support of its most loyal cadres. So, who will take care of the poor ordinary Penangites?
Littering is still our bolehland bad habits. In Singapore enforcement of stiff fine on litterbugs kept it clean. We have anti-litter Law but it was not being enforced. Anyway in Malaysia when litterbugs are caught, they might get away with a bribe. All our politians and leaders must set a act without fear or favour. Then the civil servants will buck up on their jobs.
Kay Peng,
How about you running for office and if you get elected, let's see if you can make drastic improvements. Probably about time to step up the pedestal?
Pakatan should talk less politics
and get going to keep the economy
of Penang vibrant.Without federal
support and funding, one of the
revenue generator is service and
human resources.They should do
more promotion on tourism and food
fest which the state can compete
with.Another revenue they can source
is land which they can auction to the
developers on a open tender basis,likewise with land reclamation.Get going before the
rakyat vote you out.
In Malaysia when one being caught for littering and being fined, below are the options:
1. Bribe the enforcement officer
2. If they are not willing to accept bribe, curse them for being not sensitive to rakyat need. Fine is a hugh burden for rakyat.
3. Keep the summon and wait for discount.
4. Go to your MP and ask them to help by threatening them that if they don't your whole family won't vote for them.
5. Go to media complain that you are poor and the fine is too heavy to pay. ADUN or MP also cruel and unwilling to help.
Khoo you only see the problem today? That is too late. I know this would happen long long ago when you were still sucking your mum's nana.
Can you give someone to do a job in one year when soomeone else can't do it in 50 years?
You need to grow up Knoo.
Giving suggestions and passing critics are much easier than implementing the ideas. I believe, when one has had experience in implementation, one would be more reserved in his comments. Have a nice day.
Actually, I love going to Penang as it is now. It reminds me of the Singapore of my childhood, right down to the flash floods, dishes being washed in the toilet and excellent food. It's kind of a heritage site in itself.
hello friend, please, we all can really help penang by setting a good example ourself. Go join a NGO and then actually doing the work of cleaning up or doing recycling activity with some NGO, that is the only way, we show good example to our children, kids, how we care, and it start from one heart, another heart, another heart, ..... I started joining NGO to do just that. will you ? talk is cheap.
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