Save Klebang

A reader wrote in the Star Friday: Help save Malacca bay.

Yesterday's Star carries more meat - a group of Melaka residents along the Klebang coast have started organizing themselves to lobby against senseless land reclamation along this historic waterfront. The nice thing is, they seem to have way more intelligence when arguing their case, unlike what's been happening over at Penang and Umno youth.

Says a 10-year-old, Brandon Pau: "There's no more sea left."

(!) Does it take a 10-year-old to teach us such things?



Above is an undated image of Melaka lifted from Google Earth. That white patch left of centre is what they mean. Move your eye right and you'll see the Melaka River, this country's most storied chapter. It's easy to see how much has been destroyed in the name of insensitive progress. The wonderful fine-grain of the historic core which used to reach all the way to the sea is now pushed inland by Mahkota Parade and Kota Laksamana - a foolish legacy of the 80s and 90s. It mustn't be repeated.

Yes, stop Klebang's land reclamation. Stop it for simple good sense. It's a true-blue Malaysian heritage we have here; transracial and transreligion. Especially in a time such as this, it's something worth fighting for.

The sea, and all its history and stories, is also Malaysia, no?