KOTA KINABALU: The Sembulan River is so polluted that buaya pun tidak boleh hidup (even the crocodile cannot survive), Culture, Tourism and Environment Datuk Masidi Manjun said it in jest in September last year at the packed National Seminar on "Impact Study of Palm Oil Mills, Oil Palm Plantations and Other Pollutants on the Quality of Selected Rivers in Sabah", at Sutera Magellan.
The joke gave everybody a big laugh!
Well, it looks like Masidi may have to withdraw that statement, following the sighting of a 5-7 feet long crocodile sunning on the bank just below the Sabah Museum Complex last weekend!
A Telekom Malaysia staff spotted the surprise of his life while driving past the area at 6.20am and the news spread like wild fire, but the reptile had disappeared without trace as curious onlookers turned up in the hope of catching a glimpse.
A security man who saw it captured a handphone shot of the crocodile sunning near a flight of steps leading down to the river, which suggests that it might have been lying in wait below the steps for a potential prey.
Unconfirmed reports indicate several such sightings over recent days, which suggest the crocodile has been lurking in the river for some time.
Masidi said he remembered the Sembulan River teemed with fish during his boarding school days but pollution had killed that off, to drum home the need for Sabah's palm oil mills and plantation industry to clean up its act.
So, in a foul river devoid of fish, what is the crocodile in the Sembulan River for?
Well, more than just plastic bottles and every kind of garbage imaginable, urban residents have been seen throwing dead cats, dead dogs, dead chicken into the river.
What a feast for a reptile that enjoys rotting animals!
One fine day, it may even make away with a City Hall garage collector who must regularly get down to collect the tons of flotsam for disposal! (DE)
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