Thursday 26 June 2008

State Stupidity Leading to the Desertification of Malaysia

Environmental Rape in Kedah & Negeri Sembilan

Example number 1:

Kedah


BEFORE


AFTER




Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak yesterday made light of plans to log RM16 billion worth of trees for timber logs in the Ulu Muda forest reserve, an area twice the size of Singapore.

He said his friends wanted to know what the fuss was about and that he had told them former Perlis MB Shahidan Kassim had once said that Perlis did not have to pay for water as it was a gift from God.

"I am now saying timber is also God's gift and I want to make money from it. What's wrong with that?" he said.


"This is just chopping down a few trees and you want us to hold a referendum?" he asked.

Md Rawi (Kedah UMNO Youth head, who called for a referendum, was among several people including Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who had asked Azizan to reconsider the proposal.


Several non-governmental organisations, including Sahabat Alam Malaysia and the Malaysian Nature Society, have condemned Azizan's plan to log timber in the water basin.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia honorary secretary R. Meenakshi, who estimated about one million (1,000,000) trees would be chopped down, had described Azizan's claim that the proposed logging would be environmentally friendly as "nonsense and untrue".


"We have been helping the country preserve the area for clean water. If the Federal Government gives us compensation, we will preserve the forest reserve," said Kedah
State Secretary Syed Unan Mashri Syed Abdullah.

Narrow minded, ignorant, stupid, destructive and selfish are a few adjective which come to mind here!

Are gifts, from God, or from anyone else for that matter, things to be squandered, especially if they are life-giving things which provided vast benefits to us all now and will be vital to our future generations?

Azizan must be a narrow minded, greedy, ignorant and selfish fool.


Example number 2:

Negeri Sembilan

BEFORE


AFTER


The Negeri Sembilan state government lifted its ban on the export of granite to other states in Malaysia and to foreign countries on 25th June 2008, the reason, or logic, for this was reported as “increasing local and international demand” said Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan.

Even when the ban was in force , granite was still being mined and taken out of the state and even exported to neighbouring countries, [this is surely an indication of the lack of enforcement which must be tied in with bribery and corruption?].

A higher royalty will be imposed on granite quarried from private (up by 526.32%, from RM 1.90 to RM 10.00) and state land, (up by 554%, up from RM 2.20 to RM 12.00) Mohamad Hasan was reported as saying.

"More than 75 per cent of the land in the state is filled with granite and we feel it is timely for us to lift the ban, especially since demand has increased over the years," Mohamad reportedly said.

He also said there was no such ban imposed in other states and he did not want Negri Sembilan to be left out.


"The new royalty fees will apply to granite which is being exported out of the state, whilst the old rates would continue to be applied for granite which is mined for use in the state," he said, adding that “the State Land and Mines Department was also looking for other natural minerals in the state which could be profitable”.


Another two nails in the coffin of the Malaysian, and global environment, in time to come Malaysia will probably become an arid desert unless the wanton destruction of the environment is halted.

The future generations will curse the present senseless and greedy federal and state government leaders who think only of money and power.

Conservation is the key to the future! Not the wanton destruction of the environment.


Or perhaps the covert desertification part of the grand plan to 'Arab-ise' Malaysia to make it appear more "Islamic"?

We already have many Arab-style domed mosques which are totally unsuitable for Malaysia's wet equatorial climate. Many of these mosque domes leak, and they are extremely difficult to repair!



"Giving money and power to the government is like giving car keys and whisky to teenage boys."

"When politics are used to allocate resources, the resources all end up being allocated to politics."

"Politics is the business of getting power and privilege without possessing merit. "

"A politician is anyone who asks individuals to surrender part of their liberty -- their power and privilege -- to State, Masses, Mankind, Planet Earth, or whatever. This state, those masses, that mankind, and the planet will then be run by ... politicians."

"God has no role to play in politics except to make sure politicians go where they belong. To hell."

P.J. O'Rourke


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