Malaysia Entering Green Politics?

Finally, the general elections have been announced. Everyone's preparing for it and the final round of voters have already registered to vote next month when the campaigning period comes to an end. As usual, you have a lot of party bashing between both pacts, lot's of ceramahs and lot's of propaganda being churned out by the newspapers and airwaves. Of course, this should be of no surprise. However, what caught me attention was this.

From what I've been seeing, it is apparent that the environmental NGO known as Himpunan Hijau is about to enter the Malaysian political scene and join the opposition parties of Pakatan Rakyat(Translation: People's Pact).

Naturally, we all have to ask ourselves a few questions regarding this recent political development in Malaysia. What will happen after the Lynas plant in Kuantan is disabled? Will Himpunan Hijau disband itself or will it continue to stay in the political field and introduce 'green' politics into Malaysia? And if it does, to what extent will they do that?

I myself am a nationalist. A fence-sitting nationalist if you must but still a Malaysian nationalist. But no matter how much of a nationalist I am, I'm still guilty of committing a crime against my own nation; a crime which I am sure every Malaysian is guilty of: littering.

Yes, I do try to dispose my trash in trash cans as much as I can but when there are none to be found, I just leave whatever canned drink or food packet I was carrying on the roadside. Why? Because its just too damn troublesome to continue carrying them around like an idiot but then, this is why you see litter everywhere in Malaysia.

A lot of us love to preach about being 'green' to our associates. Recycle, buy hybrid cars, carpool, use public transport, don't litter, use shopping bags, use recycled products, save energy, the list goes on and on. And yet most of us don't even take the initiative to practice whatever we preach!

Which brings us to the question of whether Himpunan Hijau's participation in Malaysian politics will lead to wannabe treehuggers who preach about saving the Earth being born and trust me, you don't want to see those people around you. In fact, I dare say this openly here. I wouldn't even want them in my contacts list. If Himpunan Hijau is going to address relevant issues like litter, illegal logging and stuff like that, then I have no problems at all. However, if they give rise to a whole new group of retards, then I'm sorry, but I'm pulling my support for Wong Tack right after the Kuantan plant is dismantled.

What 'green' NGOs really need to do is to address the illegal logging, forced dams and increasing amounts of palm oil plantations that could actually ruin the nation's environmental condition especially in states like Sarawak, Negeri 9 and Sabah where most of Malaysia's revenue is coming from.

The issue of littering can also be solved with simple logic. Whoever wins in the elections will have to start putting up trash cans all over Malaysia if the winning party is serious about reducing litter and going green in Malaysia and trust me, this will significantly reduce the amount of litter we have. I'm sure there are more than enough Malaysians who are willing to dispose their waste into trash cans but they can't be assed to walk all the way to the nearest rubbish dump which can range from 100m to 5km, depending on the location.

Some might think that this is a ridiculous idea but if you go to places like Singapore, Australia and America, you'd be creating a scene if you ever litter in public. That, and there are trash cans to be found all over the place unlike here in Malaysia. This should be enough to explain why developed countries look so clean(or at least, clean enough to be acceptable) and let's face it, no matter how much it costs, it will still be more productive and cheaper than say.... the purchase of 'unsinkable' Scorpene submarines, the purchase of useless Raptors, the construction of condominiums in a historical site or if you must go to the extreme, 1Malaysia 'incentives'.