Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Treasure or Trash?

By Vivien Lee Chooi Xian
2013-121520
Topic: Ministry of Tourism and Cultural

           Malaysia is one of the most vibrant and the most active countries in the world. The popular venues such as the food and the wall arts of Penang, Twin Tower in Kuala Lumpur, the Jonker Street in Malacca and the highest mountain in Malaysia, Mount Kinabalu of Sabah, these places are indeed the best choice for the foreign tourist to visit. The local government has tried their best to preserve the ‘treasure’ of Malaysia.

          Christ Church in Melaka

           But recently, we don’t notice that our country is getting more and more ‘sampah’. The waste and trash had covered the beauty of Malaysia. Wherever we go, the trash can still be seen everywhere. For example, on the road, in the public toilet, under the taxi driver’s seat, at the riverside, in the drains until the drains stuck and so on. This is why the amount of tourist in another country is more than Malaysia. This is due to the lack of awareness and knowledge among the Malaysian community about solid waste management issues.
           Currently, about 22,000 tonnes of waste is produced every day in Malaysia. This amount is expected to rise to 30,000 tonnes by the year 2020. Due to the increasing of population, the waste produced is increasing slowly too. Only less than 5% of the waste is used to recycle. This is considered as a big issue in Malaysia. This will reduce the attraction of the foreign tourist to our country.

         Mountain full of trash
            
          Since this is cause by the local citizens which have lack of responsibility, a healthy campaign should be organised in order to increase the sense of patriotic and the sensitivity of every Malaysian citizen. Besides that, using biodegradable plastics which are more environmental friendly than traditional plastic is recommended. Biodegradable products will decompose within a short time and this will reduce the production of waste efficiently. The using of biodegradable plastics is rising slowly in most of the countries including Malaysia.



           In this way, this country Malaysia will be a better place to live and to visit with the teamwork between the government and the citizens. The holiday destinations in Malaysia surely will attract more foreign tourists to experience the beauty of Malaysia and have a good impression to our country. We must protect our precious treasure, if not, it will become a trash.     

      Clean snorkeling site at Tioman Island

            Make Malaysia a better place to visit!!


Reference
1.         In Advantages and disadvantages of tourism in Malaysia . Retrieved October 14, 2013, from http://www.ehow.com/list_6756434_advantages-disadvantages-tourism-malaysia.html
2.         Retrieved October 14, 2013, from http://www.gecnet.info/index.cfm?&menuid=83
3.         Retrieved October 14, 2013, from http://penerbit.uthm.edu.my/ojs/index.php/ijie/article/viewFile/190/347
4.         In Biodegradable plastics. Retrieved October 14, 2013, from http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/do-we-need-biodegradable-plastics.htm
5.         In Malaysia Truly Asia. Retrieved October 14, 2013, from http://www.tourism.gov.my/en/my
6.         In 1 Malaysia Green and Clean (keep our tourist sites clean). Retrieved October 14, 2013, from http://www.1malaysiagreenandclean.com.my/


16 comments:

  1. Hi, good post.I have some questions,what does it mean by healthy campaign?Are the campaign involve only the local people or together with the tourist? This is because,some of the tourist also pollutes the place simply because maybe they don't know the rules here in Malaysia.

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    1. Hi, thanks for your comment. the healthy campaign means that we should encourage both the local citizens and the foreign tourists to make the tourist site cleaner and make it to be a better place to visit. Besides that, we can give them the brochures of the tourist site to let them know more about the "Dos and Dont's" of this country.

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  2. Yes, I agree with the point that u mentions about the increasing of the trash in our country which is cause by lack of responsibility of local citizens. Besides, do u have any others suggestion to solve this problem except the health campaign?

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    1. Hi, thanks for your agreement. Other than that, we can encourage people to use the recycle bag. In this way, we can reduce the use of plastic bags and products.

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    2. but for the price of recycle bag it may be expensive then normal plastic bag and for the people nowadays, they will choose the things and products which is more cheaper. So, how u want them to use the recycle bag and not normal plastic bag which we can get it easily?

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    3. I agree with your opinion that the recycle bag may be expensive. Actually the price of the recycle bag is just a bit more expensive than the normal plastic bag. But once you buy a recycle bag, you can use it again and again, even can use it for years as long as the recycle bag doesn't break. Other than that, we can give recycle bags for free in the supermarkets. For example, if they purchase items, the price is more than RM30 then we can give them one recycle bag for free.

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    4. Yes. Recycle bag can be reuse for long period. Nowadays, the supermarket had start a program which every sat no plastic bags given. Bt there are still no lots people buy the recycle bags and there prefer to spend more money to buy the normal plastic bag compare to the recycle bags. And, if the supermarket free one recycle bag for those who spend more than RM30, i think this supermarket will bankarp earlier. Besides, most of the people nowadays will not wiling to bring or reuse the recycle bag when going to supermarket. Bcos they felt it was so inconvenient for them.

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    5. I would like to apologize about the free 1 recycle bag for those who spend more than RM30. Originally, i was writing RM130 and wrote it in a careless way. A law can be set to reduce environmental problem, that is, every supermarket and shopping complexes must prepare the biodegradable plastic bag.

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  3. HI,I agree with your point you mentions.But the price of biodegradeble plastic is much more expensive compare to the normal plastic bag,so most of the place or shop will prefer to use the normal one.So how the government solves this problem?

    -LIM HUI YING-

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Hi, thanks for your agreement. Government can invest more in the purchasing of biodegradable plastic. Besides that, government should set a law that using the normal plastic bag is prohibited, and biodegradable plastic is compulsory in every shop or restaurant. In this way, the usage of plastic will be reduced and more environmental friendly.

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. I agree with you. But the rate of society attend to the campaign is getting lesser and lesser now. Many people do not bother about the campaign which had organized by Malaysian Government. So, how should the government solve the campaign problem in order let more society to participate on it?

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    Replies
    1. Hi, thanks for your agreement. A solution can be made by attracting the people to attend by giving some presents or gifts. Besides that, we can give brochures in the crowded area such as shopping mall and markets to let people know about the severity of the trash issue.

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