It is at this point that we ask ourselves, are we living in the best of times? Or are we living in the worst of times?
We are the most advanced in science and technology at this point in history. Yet at the same time – temperatures are breaking records faster than BTS. If it is not extreme heatwaves, then it is extreme rainfall. Goldilocks can pack her bags and find an AirBnB on the moon – she can no longer find a place on Earth that is ‘just right’.
We also have solutions to these problems, yet at the same time – if solutions are already out there, why are Conference of the Parties an annual thing? And it seems like they have no intention of slowing down. Imagine them reaching to COP56, that will give the Fast and Furious franchise a run of their own money. Imagine them reaching to COP69 as well. Oh the memes of the future that will arise from that one.
Maybe they should rebrand themselves as Conference of the Failures.
“In short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Let us dwell far away from host countries of these previous conferences who will usually only dwell at this special region for holidays because of its weak currency (except for one place). In fact, we are like East Asia, but only South. And without all the cool pride of saying that we own factories that the rest of the world depends on. Or that we own Spider-Man. Or be host to the first non-English film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
We could have gotten a cool name like our neighbours Oceania, but no. Alas, we are called…Southeast Asia.
Singapore is the Elon Musk of Southeast Asia that everyone else is envious of. Bali is the closest you can get to Australia without the need to go to Australia. But where I come from is the Dog’s Head. No really, Sabah geographically looks like a dog’s head.
Sabah. Host to roads with lunar surface conditions. Sago worm sushi. But also home to one of the best diving spots in the world – Barracuda Point, Sipadan. A spot in the Coral Triangle. A 130 million-year-old rainforest that is over twice older than the Amazon, yet we know which rainforest is more popular of course.
“He lowered the window, and looked out at the rising sun. There was a ridge of ploughed land, with a plough upon it where it had been left last night when the horses were unyoked; beyond, a quiet coppice-wood, in which many leaves of burning red and golden yellow still remained upon the trees. Though the earth was cold and wet, the sky was clear, and the sun rose bright, placid, and beautiful.”
That being said, tell someone outside Southeast Asia you are from Malaysia and they nod their heads. Tell that person you are from Borneo Malaysia though, and they start whipping napkins on top of tables. Sabah might be one of Sir David Attenborough’s favourite places to make a television show. Yet the truth is, he most probably has seen more of Sabahan nature than Sabah’s residents have seen of nature itself.
National parks, both terrestrial and marine, are accessible for both locals and internationals. As a resident of Sabah though, whenever I pass by Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal and see it flocked with tourists, it makes me not want to take these trips to the islands. It is not uncommon to ask a Sabahan why they would not want to visit natural places in their own homeland and their answer is, ‘oh it’s because it’s full of tourists’.
And in some cases, it is not entirely affordable either. Some eco-tourism places cater more towards foreigners. Understandable, as that is where the money comes in. But it took them a pandemic to realise that they could not fully rely on foreigners for profit.
And suddenly, Sabahans hear of cheap deals to places that they have never heard of before.
How could a land be so rich in biodiversity and culture to the foreign eyes, yet be so underrated to their own people? Admittedly, I only fully appreciated what my homeland had to offer only when I left. I crossed over the Atlantic pond to another island that I had never heard of until someone said they had studied there a few years before I did.
“I hope,” said Mr. Lorry, after another pause of feeble sympathy and humility, “that you accompany Miss Manette to France?”
Australia is such a vast land – but this is the Down Under of Down Under. Behold – Tasmania.
Tasmania. Known for a misunderstood nocturnal marsupial understood as a psychedelic Loony Toon character. The two head theory. Apples. Tasmania is also known for one of the Irwin Family’s favourite places to visit (Cradle Mountain). The air is so fresh that it inspired Cadbury to set up its first and biggest factory here. Over 2800KM of walking trails. There are also private lands, expensive lodgings, and private lands with expensive lodgings. But you can also get a National Parks pass and go all around Tasmania to bushwalk until your knees pop.
Interestingly, the Parks pass has the same pricing for both locals and internationals. Malaysia does not, but we are comparing two different currencies here. And yes, Tasmanian weather is ‘lovely’ – not only does it only have an average of 44 days of sunshine a year but it is one of those places where you can get all 4 seasons of weather within an hour. But the walks are lovely enough that many do not just care.
Whereas in Sabah, for us to be located 5 degrees off the equator – any mention of walking more than 5 minutes in the sun and you will find yourself walking alone and all your Sabahan mates unfriending you on Facebook.
And then I met Tasmanian people. Differences in culture sure had some shocks to me but this one trait united us all – our disdain for punctuality. But what I also noticed was how green they were as a community. Lightweight plastic shopping bags have been banned since 2013, thus everyone has been conditioned into leaving the house with some sort of contraption to hold their groceries or be shamed to pay the hefty price of 15 cents for a plastic bag. Although at this time of writing, big supermarket chains are phasing out their plastic bags. The state capital that is Hobart has also banned single-use plastic food packaging since 1 July 2021. Every house is given a recycling bin and I admit – seeing how recycling and trash trucks mechanically pick up the bins is a technological marvel.
Tasmanians really love their nature and their parks. Announce that you want to cut down a few trees and people will rock up to the parliament lawn in raincoats and protest signs. Some might chain themselves to those trees. Doing a hike or some other outdoor activity is a perfect weekend as a local – so long as you have a car. The university business students tend to leave as soon as they get finish their degrees – Melbourne is the skyscraper dream.
Tasmania is a nature and nature-loving paradise. And the people know it.
I get my Bachelor’s Degree testimur. I pack my bags and leave 2 days later. I come home.
“I hope you care to be recalled to life?”
And the old answer:
“I can’t say.”
People can’t even put the right material in the freaking recycling bins. They even give you pictures for goodness’ sake! But oh wait, you look around and then you see why – the normal trash bins are full.
Back to our beloved international treasure Sir David Attenborough. Thanks to him and the BBC, Danum Valley is a trigger word for National Geographic photojournalists and well-known foreign researchers. Mention the word ‘Borneo’ to foreign institutions – money will come pooling in faster than Niagara Falls.
“If my career were of that better kind that there was any opportunity or capacity of sacrifice in it, I would embrace any sacrifice for you and for those dear to you.”
Yet somehow I have a feeling, that if some group ever did cut down some trees in the valley (illegally of course, it’s a Class 1 forest reserve), I doubt most Sabahans would bat a single eyelid. Well we might, then some mad person organises a protest in the city but then it starts raining.
We would rather stay home and open up the cabinets to find our 3-in-1 instant coffee packets.
“With a roar that sounded as if all the breath in France had been shaped into the detested word, the living sea rose, wave on wave, depth on depth, and overflowed the city to that point. Alarm-bells ringing, drums beating, the sea raging and thundering on its new beach, the attack began.”
The Tasmanian public wonderfully appreciates what their land has to offer, because they can see the value within it. And they are fully proud of it. Sure, they still have a long way to go in terms of sustainability and doing way much more for their natural environment. Not to mention that the land truly is not even theirs to begin with.
For Sabah, we are part of this environmental race, no doubt about that. But with Greta Thunberg screaming into a megaphone, ‘WE NEED TO SAVE THE EARTH. NOW’, we are definitely a few laps behind. Quite a lot of laps behind actually. And we cannot ask climate change to wait for us at the finish line to catch up.
In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, the story ends with our selfless hero, Sydney Carton the English barrister (not the coffee one), exchanging places with French aristocrat Charles Darnay (he probably does not do coffee either) to be guillotined for Darnay’s ‘crimes’, all for the love of a woman that friend-zoned the poor Carton bloke. Plot twist: if you have not read the book it is Darnay that Lucy loves. The ultimate Twilight dream.
“I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out.”
The big question is, who is in charge of this evil?
