I am not against development so long as the development benefits the local as it should. I am against wanton development that is carried out forthe sake of benefiting those involved in the projects; the authorities and the developers. I am against development that depreciate the natural beauty of the landscape and causes more congestion to the traffic flow in and around the city. I am development that caters to he whims of the well to do especially those who can afford to buy and rent out or sell homes simply as investments and most of these would end up being sold to foreign investors, which is rampantly happening in Penang. Most expensive homes are being purchased by foreigner via local proxies I am told. It is sad indeed when the Island has become to be peddled like a pie making it impossible for the locals to keep up with rising so called standard of living simply because some foreigner wants to own a second or vacation home. Real estate investments has become a lucrative business at thye expense of the locals as the presuure of keeping up with rising cost jeopardizes their livelihood and welfare of being.
When my son got into trouble at his school I was asked to appear before the Principal who was a Chinese to discuss his misdemeanor and as the discussion progressed it came to the cost of living a an issue. The Principal suggested that I should move my family to the mainland where i could afford to live rather than remain living on the Island. I let him have my thoughts over the matter short of grabbing the thick cane had laying before me on his table and letting him have a taste of it across his mouth. Witnessed by my son's counseling teacher and his classroom teacher the principal apologized for his error. I told him to get off his high horse and stop teaching me how to live and where to live my life. I told him that he was a bigot assuming that Malays cannot afford to live on the Island anymore and that we should all move out. I told him how I had lived 21 years of my life in the United States, ten years of which was spent in San Francisco where my son was born and three years in Japan where my two children attended one of the most expensive kindergarten in Sendai. I also told how my Grand Uncle had been the caretaker of this very school most of his life since he came to Penang from Sri Lanka That my Grand Uncle was also the caretaker of the Mahindrama Buddhist temple located across the street from where the school is and that all the Murals witihn the temple walls were done by my grandfather. I asked him what has he got to be proud of being a Principal of a school; I was pissed.
My two cents worth of advice to the Chinese is to be be more sensitive in the ways they treat the local Penang Malays especially those who are struggling to make ends meet. The Chinese has to close the widening gap between the two races in wealth social as well as economic well being or they stand to loose it all when the smoldering hot ashes catches fire. I have spent allot of my time among the poor Malay fishermen and listened to their dissatisfaction have a good sense that all is not well and like the former Prime Minister said, "We are sitting on a time bomb waiting to go off." With this COVID-19 pandemic it makes matters worse. for the predicament we are in. I am not saying that the Chinese have to support the Malays in any way but by simply not showing off their wealth or being socially as friendly as the Chinese of my childhood years and by simply being respectful instead of showing arrogance in their daily accounter with their fellow man. Perhaps it is in their inherent nature and nt much can be done about it. One can never change what is in the world but one can change oneself and understand that all all is an illusion of one's own perceptions and understanding of what is real and unreal. Thee are my very own personal observation and my intuitive feelings, not my being bias or judgmental towards my fellow beings, those born and raised in Penang, no matter their background.
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