PENANG – The Pearl Of The Orient Or Is It “The Mud Of The Orient?”

Yesterday I went to the Gurney Plaza and watched the movie “Ice Age 3″ Man, it was really cool.  I watched the one with 3D effects. And so happened I parked my car away from the Gurney Plaza, about 5 minutes walk along the promenade. And what I saw when I was walking back to my car was really heart-breaking. Just look at the pictures below. Pictures don’t lie, of course unless you a “photoshop” it.

Maybe I should photoshop it and bring the pictures back to the days when Gurney Drive was a paradise to the people of Penang. I can remember form my childhood days where my family would cooked nasi lemak with beef rendang and we go picnic at the “beach” along Gurney Drive. Now you can’t see any beaches expect maybe a beach of mud!

Even in my schooldays, we would go swimming, fishing or net dragging for prawns, yes prawns, there! The sea was clear and blue. On Saturday and Sunday. The sandy beach would be packed with picnickers. A day of family outing. Now you could swim in the sea of mud and maybe catch mud crawlers! And school children can only play with the mud as seen the picture above.

And have you ever wonder why there were rocks along the walls along the promenade? As I recall, those days, the waves would pound against the walls and damage it. Yes waves as high a 4 -5 feet. So the city council lined the beach with rocks to stop the waves from reaching the walls. Now what’s left on the rocks? Not waves but rubbish!

I read in Anil’s blog on a report by video journalist Chanlilian (The Gurney Drive swamp) on the pathetic state of Gurney.  And also did post an article of it on my other blog www.danielykl.com (If it swims, we have it)a while ago on the same topic.

According to Lilian’s report, it was the previous BN state government who is supposedly to blamed for what Gurney is today. The previous state environment committee chairman Teng Chang Yeow from Gerakan blamed the global warming situation and not the reclamation land which is just about 500 meters away. I don’t whether you have seen or been to that piece of land which is now a housing project with houses that cost anything form RM800K and above. It is a huge piece of land. And surely it has blocked the tides from reaching gurney Drive.

I’m sorry for the next generation Penangites. Soon the beauty of Gurney Drive will be just another main road in Penang.  And the sea and beaches along Gurney Drive will be gone forever.

~ by pisangrepublic on July 2, 2009.