The Star 23 Apr 12;
I READ the report “Posh Perhentian?” (The Star, April 17) as a tourist on the flight back home earlier this week, and am saddened to report that a similar sorry state of affairs would seem to apply to Pulau Tioman.
I have been to the island with my partner three times over the past 20 years with my last visit one week ago.
We had hoped that despite some negative reviews, that the island would have developed more positively over the years.
On this visit, most of our time was spent on the once outstanding Salang Beach. Sad to say, the first thing we noticed was the pollution from the river leading into the sea, smelling like a third world sewage outlet.
We saw cesspits connected to some buildings, though we had no idea of their eventual destination. However, more telling, was the waste pipes and foul water being vented directly into the river.
Walking along the seafront, our spirits rose initially, as efforts had obviously been made to keep it tidy with collection points for plastic bottles and cans clearly visible.
However, a quick stroll round the back of the chalets and restaurants revealed large quantities of dumped cans strewn amongst huge piles of mixed rubbish.
Seemingly, like Pulau Perhentian, it was all waiting for a rubbish collection policy, or one to take effect.
Granted, the beach seemed clean enough.
However, the snorkelling experience is substantially diminished as there is very little coral left and the water no longer has that appealing translucent quality that I remember from 15 years ago.
It occurred to me that I had seen markedly fewer animals and birds on this visit. Enquiries elicited a sorry story from some locals who spoke about the extinction of porcupines and mouse deer through relentless hunting.
I remembered during my first visit to Tioman over 20 years ago, how proud the locals had been of the rare species on the island.
They were proud of the coral and the beautiful clear water and uninterrupted view of the jungle, white sand and sea that made Tioman one of the 10 most beautiful islands in the world as voted by Time Magazine in the 70s.
The outlying islands are still beautiful, but there seems little understanding or care exercised to preserve this natural beauty with water taxis running over live coral as they take people to these remote beaches.
More care is urgently needed here as the coral has already to contend with the damage from climate change without having to cope with the additional damage from local pollution and breakage from boats and tourists.
It is clear that the ability of the islands to generate tourist ringgit will only work if there exists the natural beauty that they want to see.
Without concerted action, islands like Tioman risk being left as an embarassing ecological wasteland shunned by tourists and unable to support the fishing villages that once lived off the coral reefs before the tourists came.
LUCY SOMMERS,
Stoneyside,
Nr Bridport, England.
