Thursday 29 July 2010

Threat on Tabur

They're going to do damage to my beloved Bukit Tabur!

That's the longest quartz ridge in the whole wide world!

Below which nestles the Klang Gates Dam that supplies clean water to much of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

Tabur is a *geological monument and may be declared a World Heritage Site if left untouched.

Home to a *unique vegetation with five species of plants that are found nowhere else in the world, and the serow, our endangered wild goat


But the Federal authorities are building a highway right through it.

As well as through a couple of forest reserves, which have been designated as part of the Selangor State Park.

Just  take a look:



This highway is the Kuala Lumpur Outer Ring Road (KLORR) connecting Rawang to Cheras.

It will definitely threaten the eco-system of the ridge as well as the park.

Not forgetting that the forest reserves provide natural flood mitigation, slope protection and landslide prevention to the hillside developments of Hulu Kelang / Ampang - the sites of a number of recent landslides and slope failures.


Bukit Tabur, it is actually a ridge comprising a series of hills that runs in a semi circle bordering the Taman Melawati area.

Made up of mainly quartz, some believe that there is a spiritual value connected to the quartz crystals that directs and amplifies "universal energy" .

And is supposedly extremely beneficial for manifesting, healing, meditation, protection, and channeling - if you are into that kind of thing.


As for me Bukit Tabur offers rugged yet pristine unblemished landscapes.





and panoramic views from its peaks





I should know because I climbed it's eastern ridge with my family in December 2009.

It will be a shame to have it all destroyed in the name of progress and development.

And deny our children's children its beauty.

If you feel strongly about the preservation  of nature and the environment, please take a few moments to sign the online petition below by clicking this link:
*Protect Klang Gates Quartz Ridge and Selangor State Park from the proposed KL Outer Ring Road (KLORR)

And if you wish to read about our adventurous climb up Bukit Tabur, then click here:
Not for the faint-hearted



_______________________________________

31 comments:

Tommy Yewfigure said...

Good on ya!, Maria, I like that u actually cared; ‘for our children’s children’…hehehe.

“KLORR” seems like an appropriate name for an ugly monster tearing into the heart of nature. Do we need progress & development at the expense of upsetting the balance of nature? No definitely not!!

The time has come for all of us to stand up & say enough is enough; we want to preserve our irreplaceable natural pristine environment instead of creating more artificial concrete jungles. Yea, don’t go upsetting the forest ‘datuk kung’, u would not like to be at the receiving end of it wrath!!!

Guys, it’s time for us to pay our rent to Mother Earth & all the universal energy that she provide.

Cheers,

Tommy

P/S – Ooh Zen, it shud be Selangor AND Kuala Lumpur…..hahaha, just pedantic me, Tom Petty

Tommy Yewfigure said...

Life - The Natural

Now compare this experience to all your shopping malls. So calming!!

Wan Sharif said...

Salam Zen,
To destroy the longest quartz ridge (Geological Monument!!!) in the whole wide world and probably provide silt and dirt to the Dam that supplies clean water.. can those nitwits (ambitious Billionaire to be) think of better ways/things to satisfy their greed?.. Can they do their so-called "development" without destroying our God-given beauty?..
Enough is enough.. we have already destroyed our environment so much that 1000 years would not be enough for nature to recover what have been lost.

Zendra-Maria said...

Tommy, KLORR's going to claw at everything in it's path wreaking untold havoc to the surroundings - it IS an appropriate name, unfortunately. And you know what? with the highway there, next thing you know more property developments will spring upon either side of it - further denuding the forests. Very, very sad indeed.

"ant" - ok fixed the typo :)

Zendra-Maria said...

Wasalam Wan, the route cuts across Tabur just where the dam is - I'm no engineer but any layman can see the risks of such a proposition. Plus disturbing the forest ecological system as well. Yup, whoever it is can get rich selling quartz and timber even before the highway is built!

Anonymous said...

...human greed has no limits ! I have seen virgin jungles destroyed by dams/highways/plantations/mines in my hay days flying across the country..they call it progress !!!.
...even the corals are not spared yaa.
...are there no virgins left ?.
,,, eerrmm man's greed indeed.

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Zendra,
Humans just don't learn...or don't want to learn from past mistakes. Tampering with nature always result in a disaster. My relatives in the forests are crying....roar! roar! roar!

Lee said...

Hi Zendra, Holy Smoke! Your this picture of the bukit really brought back memories to me.
It is a beautiful place, and sad the government putting a h'way thru it.

Kalau disini, the person who thought of that da habis cherita....the public will camp outside his office and the media will go downtown on him or her.

Here, you potong a tree in YOUR OWN GARDEN, mesti get permission.
Small branck okay.

Orang puteh sini ada funny priorities, smuggle drugs, shoot somebody, the judge lebeh kurang give a slap on wrist, cannot kill an ant, and say, "naughty, naughty, don't do it again....okay, 5 years, and fine $1500"!

Kill a cat, cut a tree down, or whatever re the environment...habis cherita....

That areawas my playground early teens, before I discovered SYTs, ha ha.
And used to go poaching fot toman's at Klang gates dam....later when discovered SYTs, malam park car there talk about weather, makan rambutans.

Used to fool around the rubber estates there, during the Emergency, Chin Peng's members had hideout nearby too.

And I would cycle with my gang all around there, keluar di Setapak...
I sure hope someone with some common sense will stop that highway...pity.
You keep well Zendra....

Incidentally, those days that road from Ampang road into Ulu Klang road lots of cows, road very small...there was a couple of tin mines there we used to fool around on our bicycles....

Zendra, thanks for the memories, Lee.
ps, you keep this up you'll tempt me to balek kampong....ha ha.

Zendra-Maria said...

Capt - the love of money is the root of all evil - so the saying goes. And hence for the riches that may be reaped, not many natural wonders stay "virgins" for long :(

Zendra-Maria said...

Cat - Garner the support from your fellow beings and ROAR ROAR ROAR LOUDLY!!!

Zendra-Maria said...

Dear Lee, do come back and visit your old haunts - don't worry, I'll take you and Mrs Lee around in my small-carbon-footprint of a car :), only make sure your heart is strong because you wouldn't believe how ugly your once favourite places are now - surrounded by a jungle of concrete. The govt should take a leaf out of the Canadian authorities' book and revamp the laws re the environment. But then it was the govt that approved the highway *sigh* :(

tireless mom said...

That's AWFUL!! Grrrrr....

mekyam said...

omg, is there no end to the wretched things our people would get up to to achieve god knows what!

one day soon we'll be repaid for this senseless destruction with another ugly tragedy.

azeimcash said...

yatt and mekyam , my sentiments exactly :(

Zendra-Maria said...

Alamak, the previous comment was from me - silap login id pasal pakai laptop pinjam :)

Anonymous said...

hahaha you sound like the real tireless mom indeed ! ha ?..all the travelling to ensure sonny is A o.k. plus a taste of the honeymoon suite hihihi

cheers to RA too, great to have met him plus you again at my hideaway or my way joint.

tok uban

Tommy Yewfigure said...

And here I was thinking young Ace is like Dustin Hoffman in 'The Graduate'...kakaka, And if I might add if this is so, he's got good taste too, wow yatt & mekyam :))

I was once lidat too, so it's perfectly normal for a strapping young kid :))

Bergen said...

Salute!

Zendra-Maria said...

Tok Uban - you can blardy sing, can't you? But why you guys always want to belt out MY WAY? Anyway, Azeim's looking good n enjoying his work, but mom had to put in some elbow grease help him tidy up the galley and wash the dishes, etc etc.... Honeymoon? errmmm...

Zendra-Maria said...

Hahaha Tommy, lidat sure Ah Soh's mom thought u were good son-in-law material :)

Zendra-Maria said...

Mr Bergen, tabek spring??

Pak Zawi said...

Zendra,
Whose project is this? My guess is only the Fed goons have the money and stupidity coupled with greed to embark on such a project. When will it ever end?
If the land belongs to the state of Selangor, they should block the project. It is senseless.

Anonymous said...

hahhha,
...should try to sing for a living next ? in fact, i play the sax like a pros. too hihihi unfortunately my baby has gone missing eerrmm can't remember in which house i left her last. you should have requested for me to play my piano for some real life music hehehe...or my guitar-lah. sorry too late now !. Actually am in blues plus jazz. hahhhaha you guys might just faint in my life performance !!. no kidding.

Zendra-Maria said...

Pak Zawi, what we need is a radicalisation of the public transport system in KL and the environs - not just another jugular that feeds traffic streams into the already congested heart. Every morning and evening highways that lead into KL are jammed with vehicles, an additional one will dump even more - yes, I think you're right - we think they are dispersing traffic, but it's actually public money they are dispersing into some pockets.

Zendra-Maria said...

Tok Uban, playing the blues would be just the thing in the coming monsoon season... aiyaaah now must make another trip pulak ;)

Red Alfa said...

Yo Capt.

Now, weren't you what I had imagined in your writing and then some!

But your voice - the singing and talking surprise! Now that's ONE a lot of us must get to know of you! I didn't imagined it before meeting you. The surprise started when we talked first time on the phone at the Marang jetty and then your Sinatra-like "My Way!"

Anonymous said...

RA,
,,,tks again for visiting my hideaway and won't be long am on my way again !. Having this itch to travel to the North and may end up in India somewhere after my China trip if things can be sorted out at Kapas by my son once he is ready for it. Mean time, Azeim plus the rest shall act as one hahhaha. Its all about healthy life & living here plus being cool. Its paradise or hell depends on the individual and you should stay at least 3 days to get the actual feel of it too.
,,,tonight ts full house again and its masak melayu for all to taste-lah...eerrmm waiting for baharom from his shopping trip. Azeim done 2 dives yesterday and getting his ground school lessons today plus some tips from me last night !. A seafarer he would be from the way things are going. He did b'fast this morning with baharom, good job...and housekeeping for the new Frenchy couple. Got to get him to change his gears to high speed mode soon enough. He will be in F1 class by the time he leaves, no worries.
,,,noticed you other half malu malu kuching a bit but no worries am no tiger, just a pussy cat really. hahaha Azeim knows me better by now !.

cheers !

DrSam said...

the fate of our green mother earth is at serious stake. Every now and then the, inch by inch is disappearing at a very alarming rate. Some do not realize, you poke the mother earth, the payback is even more disastrous in the future.

My current lush and green playground is experiencing the same fate. From 3000 hectares, will now be reduced to a mere 100 hectares soon. Mother earth is weeping.

Zendra-Maria said...

DrSam, sad to hear about your playground being slashed - pity the resident monkeys, no more privacy for them - because some other bunch of unthinking primates want to make a little money!

Tumin said...

Thanks for making us aware of this. It would be ashamed that if we cannot save this treasure for our future generation.

Zendra-Maria said...

Thanks for your support Tumin. Really appreciate it :)