Langkawi – a wonder of nature or ‘white elephant’ sanctuary?

 

Everyone knows Langkawi’s famous Dataran Lang, where a giant brown-and-white eagle spreads its wings to welcome visitors. Get set now for the island’s next big thing – a colossal white elephant.

That is what the new RM1.3 billion “racing circuit resort” looks destined to be.

It’s a resort that will include auto dealerships, a vehicle warehousing facility, racing academy, sports hospital, housing projects and petrol stations.

There will also be hotels, condominiums, villas and supervillas – touted as trophy properties – with swimming pools, a full track circuit, a championship race circuit and many, many more.

It will truly be a playground of the very rich – in a very poor state.

It’s another of menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor’s grandiose ideas, all of which seem to be big on money and small on real solutions.

Let’s face it, there have already been many failures on the island.

There was a plan for a cosmetics island in 2016 and that flopped. You could say it was an idea that made no scents. There was also a flower island that withered and died before it could bloom, and a Book Village that has since been shelved.

The Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre is floundering, the Langkawi International Convention Centre is under-used and many expensive hotels are low on occupancy, from even before the pandemic.

Galeri Perdana that houses Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s prized items has been taken over by the museum department. The go-kart track on the island is also under-used. The list is long.

Sanusi already has a running battle with Penang over his threat to throttle water from Sungai Muda with 14 huge catchment tanks, which will leave only “selut” (sludge) for Penang.

He has also got the locals riled up over a plan to reclaim 81ha of land in Padang Matsirat near the airport, to build more high-end condominiums, commercial facilities and berthing facilities for ocean liners and yachts.

For one, Langkawi already has two marinas for yachts, the Telaga Harbour International Terminal and the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club. It does not need more.

The Padang Matsirat reclamation will destroy marine life, corals, fishing areas and the livelihood of locals. And where is all that sand for reclamation going to come from?

Now, Sanusi’s got his eyes on Bukit Malut.

Langkawi folk, however, are horrified. Kedah is not a place for the rich. It is one of the poorest states in the country, with its GDP only better than Melaka, Perlis and fellow PAS-ruled Kelantan and Terengganu.

For those who don’t know, Bukit Malut is a notorious area on the island, where thousands of outsiders – said to be from Myanmar and Thailand – are living, sometimes in squalid conditions. Locals claim most of the island’s crime stems from there.

Cleaning out the area is a good idea, but in exchange for what? More outsiders? Only this time, it will be filthy-rich people who will want the local folk to care for them hand and foot.

And what does the state expect to do with the thousands already in Bukit Malut?

The project will be on a 66ha piece of land. That is huge. It will involve the destruction of what could be a pristine green lung, a hill resort where nature can be viewed in full bloom.

It will be a gigantic hill clearance for the benefit of just 1,600 luxury car owners on the island. What benefit does this bring to the other 98,400 people on the island?

It’s a project with little place for the low and middle-income groups. The locals can only be bellboys, hotel workers, service staff and things like that. Even those jobs might go to mainlanders or worse, Bangladeshis, Myanmar nationals and Thais.

Langkawi’s small businesses are in trouble. I am told there are plenty of shuttered shops in Langkawi with no takers.

Langkawi also has no self-sufficiency in food. Fruits, vegetables and even rice are brought from outside, mostly from Satun in Thailand. The island would be better off with agriculture projects where locals can cultivate and sell these products.

The padi fields of Langkawi, mostly in the Padang Matsirat area, are all gone. Even the rice that tourists take home from the Padang Beras Terbakar (field of burnt rice) is probably from Thailand.

If there’s anything that works for Langkawi, it’s the geopark. Now, that’s something to lure the tourists.

The geopark is the first one in Southeast Asia and is teeming with life, really ancient life. Its Machinchang formation is 550 million years old and could well have been the birthplace of the peninsula and the entire region! It also houses one of the world’s strangest mammals, the colugo or the “flying lemur”.

Dolphins and porpoises are also found in Langkawi waters.

The billions the menteri besar wants to spend would be better used to help nature thrive instead of cutting hills and reclaiming land from the sea to build more luxury hotels and homes. After all, the tourists come for the wildlife, not the expensive condominiums.

The local Malaysian Nature Society chairman Eric Sinnaya says he is fed up of politicians “making use” of the island for their money-making schemes.

“Langkawi has a rich biodiversity, its fauna and flora are incomparable. They should just leave the island alone,” he says.

I agree. I prefer nature, the sea and watching dolphins any time. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.