TAED masterplan must be sustainable in long term
Published on: Sunday, December 08, 2019
By:
Augustine Wong Chee Ming, PLA
Text Size:
I want to point out a few statements in Lo’s article that, as a die-hard Sabahan, I find disingenuous and appalling, to say the least.
Lo mentions that TAED is not a moral/ideological issue. Tanjung Aru beach has always been the common ground for public gathering during weekend and holidays. Even today, one could find hundreds of beach goers and families barbequing and co-mingling along the sandy beach from Beach 1 to Beach 3, Prince Philip Park, under the Aru trees and any grass areas. The beachgoers are there regardless of religion, race, wealth or differences. That is truly Sabah in its purest essence and public milieu. If this is not moral/ideological, then we have bigger societal problems than TAED.
Tanjung Aru beach has become much more than just part of our culture; it is our heritage and arguably the best area to enjoy the sunset in Malaysia and possibly the East.
The TAED plan includes reclaiming almost 1 km into the sea, which would forever alter the shoreline and the current natural beach characteristics, thereby limiting public activities now freely accessible.
Lo mentions the extensive reclamation over the last 30 years in Singapore. I totally agree but if one understands the physical limitations of Singapore (I lived and worked there in 1997-1998) there is no other way to have land except through reclamation. Well, Sabah is not Singapore. We have lots of inland at our disposal. And, by the way, during weekends and holidays, Singaporeans travelled to West Malaysian beaches to soak in the “heritage” and “culture” of the West Malaysian beaches since there is no equivalent place in Singapore. Tanjung Aru beach is a must-visit place for the Singaporean tourist. The last thing we need to do is limit this tourist attraction.
In terms of Environment Impact Study that Lo mentions, I agree we should evaluate. However, Malaysia Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) noted a need to address the environment, social and cultural perspectives and not just the economic and technical factors of a proposed project (see page 225, Clive Briffett, et. al.). And, public participation (page 227 of Briffett, et. al.) is a huge component of Malaysia EIA (Handbook of Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines, DOE, 1995b).
So, the litmus test is, has TAED addressed these five seemingly fundamental elements of the EIA? I let readers decide.
Read up on: Clive Briffett, Jeff Obbard & Jamie Mackee (2004) Environmental assessment in Malaysia: a means to an end or a new beginning, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 22:3, 221-233, DOI: 10.3152/147154604781765923
To say “we should accept the decisions of the state and federal environmental agencies on TAED just as we have accepted them for all other projects”. This old paradigm mentality is no longer applicable in a new progressive society where due process matters and heritage counts. We send our children to be educated for critical and analytical reasoning of due process and the ability to provide systemic solutions to challenges, not to blindly accept plans.
As a landscape architect and urban designer, I am happy to learn that the TAED landscape plan received a GOLD award from Singapore Landscape Architecture Awards (2019). But my congrats stop there in landscape design. Taken as a whole, the project missed the big picture of what Tanjung Aru and the region is about. The “essence” and “heritage” of the place were totally disregarded. Understandably so, as the consultant was probably given a set of design program elements that needed to be included in the master plan.
However, as a professional, one’s design lexicon approach and methodology is to look at the context (history, social, culture, environment, transportation, etc.) of a place and encourage robust public engagement, especially when it involves public lands. As such, TAED plan works in Singapore but not in Tanjung Aru, where the people value the heritage, culture and history.
The reclamation cost of just the beach area of TAED is estimated at RM1.83 billion (in 2013 est.) or about USD440 million. This is just to reclaim the sea, without any infrastructure, and about RM 7.1 billion (USD1.7 billion) for the whole project. Those who are familiar with mega-projects know the price tag can go way above that. Is the cost justifiable?
To Lo’s question of “Can oppositionists offer a better alternative?”
The readers and our leaders must understand that I (and speaking for the other “oppositionists”) am not against economic development. The backbone of every successful country is sound economic development policy and implementation.
To do otherwise will provide short-term returns and create havoc on long-term sustainability. The Urban Renewal Policy in the USA comes to mind with issues related to transportation, environment, societal inequities and more. We do not need this.
To encourage economic development, the planning approach and methodology should be one of a holistic planning process considering of the essence of the place, to study the past to define the future.
Only then, place will have meaning to all people (previous beachgoers, tourists, etc.), develop recreational connectivity to Tanjung Aru, Sembulan, Kota Kinabalu, Kepayan, Putatan River and surrounding areas, provide opportunities for economic development (biotech startup, incubators, research and development, etc.), revitalize the “Beach” and the immediate areas, mixed-use development - residential, commercial and institutional.
In short, the master plan must be based in organic, holistic design thinking to ensure long term sustainability.
What are our other opportunities? For one, we should start calibrating our economic mindset to a “look-inland” policy.
This narrative is not just for our leaders but for all Sabahans and those who have graduate degrees.
Sabah is blessed with so many natural resources that other countries could only dream of. From twelve hours of sun, to diverse flora and fauna, to lack of natural disasters with an occasional tropical monsoon rain.
Our leaders should be looking at these inland opportunities to drive our economic development and ecotourism. The flora and fauna provide incredible opportunities in biotechnology, bio-pharmaceutical and bio-marine fields to mention a few.
Have we looked at expanding technology in solar energy, creating plant-based medicines, or developing cutting edge techniques to handle storm water management?
These would provide opportunities for all our local graduates (according to the Ministry of Education, 57,000 of 173,000 of last year’s graduates remain jobless, DE November 4, 2019), create high paying white colour jobs (not the stagnant wages of service industry, tourism, that Lo said is a game-changer), and above all, allow Sabahans to be leaders in the industry of the future – biotechnology. We have not yet tackled the issue of waste recycling, but you see my point.
We can agree to disagree what leadership traits should one abide by, but one thing is for sure, Leaders Lead and Followers Follow. I think using TAED to follow what Singapore has done is certainly missing the point – and a follower, no less.
l Augustine Wong Chee Ming is landscape architect and urban designer from Penampang, Sabah and practices landscape architecture and urban design consulting in the USA. He has lectured at many US and Malaysian Universities, given talks at US conferences, chaired as past president of the North Carolina Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects, written and graded the US and Canada Landscape Architecture Registration Examination, and reviewed numerous technical journals from around the world as a member of the US Transportation Research Board Landscape and Environmental Committee in Washington, DC. He is a die-hard Sabahan.
n It would have been good to know what then should be done rather than leave the beach in its present state. A Daily Express check found the beach most frequented by foreigners than locals – immigrants or perhaps project holders and foreign tourists – Ed.
ADVERTISEMENT
