The Tainting of the Pearl - Edward Ong

The Tainting of the Pearl

Edward Ong

Someone, most probably a writer, said once you left home you could never really go back. I am reminded of this each time I make my monthly pilgrimage back to my hometown Penang, dubbed the "Pearl of the Orient". Once a pearl that shone bright in the Andaman Sea, catching even the fancy of Francis Light, it is now a concrete jungle of the worst sort that haunts every environmentalist's sleep. Penang, far from the tropical paradise touted by tour guides, is an ecological heart attack waiting to happen.

To get an idea as to what sort of a nightmare this island of erstwhile natural beauty has become, all you need to do is to rent a car and attempt - yes, "attempt" is the word - to drive around. You will not fail to notice them - those high-rise condominiums that have sprung up like voracious weeds all over Georgetown and beyond in the past ten years. Every billboard you drive by will be an invitation to own a "stately home in the middle of paradise"; every empty patch of land you see is being prepped for yet another "prestigious home project". Foreign investments, they say. Land development brings in money by the truckload, obviously, and we must not stop Penang from reaching its full commercial potential, must we? So let us flatten hills and uproot trees, which we have too many to speak of any way. Let us clear a couple of dilapidated, worthless heritage buildings, which we have too many any way, and make space for a grand, multi-storey shopping mall. Since we are on the subject of shopping malls, let us consider the incredible revenues shoplots will reel in. Never mind that Queensbay Mall, which has been open for close to two years, can hardly interest enough entrepreneurs to fill all its lots. Never mind that the new Time Square building, open since early 2009, is standing empty in the middle of Georgetown, unable to attract businesses. Never mind that Komtar, the glory of 80s Penang, has been left to rot for more than a decade, and nothing and no-one in the human realm can resuscitate it. We definitely need more malls (Gurney Paragon, 1st Avenue Penang, etc.), as they are great investments, and you probably do not know this, those Penangites just LOVE new places to shop.

If you are looking to buy a "prestigious home", then you have definitely come to the right place. Pay a visit to Gurney Plaza at the weekend, walk around the ground floor, and you will get to meet plenty of land developers who will make you believe that a home in Penang is heaven on Earth. Well-to-do, business-savvy Penangites, cannot wait to own the next "prestigious home" so that they can re-sell it at twice the retail price. It is a dog-eat-dog market, and the land developers, too encumbered by money-filled pockets to even move properly, just LOVE to put up more properties for those Penangites who cannot seem to own enough of them.

Let me get specific. Take a district I know well: Farlim. Twenty years ago this was no man's land. It was considered the heart of darkness, underdeveloped and undesired. A good friend of mine moved there from the more populous Air Hitam, and we all thought he had moved out of the country, so remote it was. Today's Farlim is the island's beating heart, but it is dangerously clogged and faces, on a daily basis, some of the island's worst traffic congestions. Why this dramatic decline? For a major residential area that it is now (population 200,000), it is only accessible, rather puzzlingly, via two ancient two-lane roads - one coming from Lorong Batu Lanchang (where there are three schools, one of which was my former secondary school), and one from Jalan Air Hitam, which is of course another perennially congested affair as it leads to some of Penang's famous landmarks. There is another hillside road leading from Paya Terubong, but this one is out of the way and inconvenient to most travellers. So there you have it, two meagre excuses they call roads serving thousands upon thousands of Farlim residents. To compound the irony, along the narrow Lorong Batu Lanchang, next to a centuries-old Chinese graveyard, two development projects (both luxurious condominiums) are underway. As an outsider, you cannot help but marvel at the city council's total disregard of the residents' needs, and the self-same residents' complacent attitude towards the injustice.

Just when you think the last thing the Pearl can be accused of is underdevelopment, think again. And here the irony keeps on piling up. Anyone who tries to go up Penang Hill via its primitive funicular railway will know what I mean. You should count yourself fortunate if you are standing behind only some fifty clueless tourists fanning themselves to exhaustion in the stifling heat. While you are at it, pray to the gods of the Hill that the cars are running. Yes, they do break down once in a while and make ascending the hill impossible for days or, according to my father, weeks. If fortune really smiles upon you and you do get to the top within an hour, you will find that it is near-impossible to spend an hour in a place that is completely devoid of fun, charm and acceptable culinary services. The last time I went up, which must have been five years ago, I saw a Hindu temple, a lame botanical/bird garden, and a couple of colourless cafes. As a tourist who has travelled from afar, the first question that enters your mind is: Is this all there is, or has the city council performed an invisible act that is concealing all the exciting treasures of Penang Hill? Compare this to Hong Kong's Victoria Peak (HK has more similarities to Penang than most Malaysians would like to admit, simply because, upon comparing the two, it becomes instantly painfully clear who is the retarded twin). It has a similar funicular system, believe it or not, which works all the time. But for precautionary purposes, there are public buses and taxis that will take you to the peak. Once you are up there, you will be spoilt for choice. The Peak Tower or the Peak Galleria? The former is an eight-storey architectural wonder designed to complement its natural surroundings. It has a roof terrace, from which you can have a good view of Victoria Harbour on smogless days, innumerable gift/souvenir shops, restaurants, tourist attractions such as the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium, Madame Tussaud, and the Peak Explorer Motion Simulator. The latter is a top-notch leisure and shopping centre that attracts millions of tourists each year; it also houses a bus station used by the public buses that serve the peak. No wonder a Singaporean acquaintance of mine, when asked what he thought of Penang Hill after a second visit, had this to say: "I was here fifteen years ago, and as far as I can tell, nothing has changed." I did not think he had meant it positively.

Why is the Pearl the way it is? Politicians blinded by self-interest. This may not be as heinous a crime as their inability/unwillingness to admit to having failed the very people who voted for them. When coerced to face the witches' brew they have collectively concocted, they get defensive, belligerent, and self-righteous. This is not a surprise either, if you examine some of the country's leaders past and present, with their tendency to defend their own foibles and blacken others (especially economically superior Western countries). This is not a country blessed with an introspective political mindset; it is a culture of blaming one's inefficiency on others and shifting responsibilities. Therein, brothers and sisters, lies the reason for the tainting of the Pearl.

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A note to the reader: During the composition of this article, The Star (21/2), as if personally responding to the issues raised in it, announced that the Penang Hill funicular railway system would make its final run after 87 years of service, and an upgraded system costing RM63mil was on the horizon. I await with bated breath.

This article was also sent to The Star, but it should not surprise anyone that there was no acknowledgement of receipt.