KUALA TERENGGANU: A prime business district in the centre of town is going to the birds, and shop owners, patrons and residents in the area are up in arms.
Jalan Tok Lam, a 1km stretch of shophouses, home to many families and service and retail businesses, is being invaded by operators of unlicensed "swiftlet motels".
Such premises house hundreds of birds whose saliva is harvested to make bird's nest soup.
Beginning five years ago, operators of the bird establishment built illegal extensions to their two-storey premises to accommodate their wild 'guests'.
To attract them, they set up loudspeakers through which blared recordings of swiftlets chirping away.
As a result, the once-clean district is today heavily polluted with smelly bird droppings and noise from the loudspeakers.
Further contributing to the health hazard has been the demolition of the area's central concrete septic tank.
The tank had been situated on land purchased by an operator of a swiftlet motel, who replaced the tank with another illegal structure to house more birds.
As a result, backed-up raw sewage from the tank has overflowed onto sidewalks and back alley drains and has even clogged up toilets in the area.
Residents and business tenants say the situation is having a terrible effect on their living and working conditions.
They say that they have been pleading with the relevant authorities for years to shut down the swiftlet motels and rebuild the septic tank, but to no avail.
Recently, the occupants of 19 shophouses staged a protest with banners to voice dissatisfaction with the local authorities over their inaction on the matter.
Spokesperson for the group, Ong Pok Kok, 55, said various complaints had been lodged over the years with almost every government agency, including the Kuala Terengganu City Council, Health Department, and Environment Department.
"We even lodged a report with the police but, thus far, that has only resulted in a few visits by government officials and Indah Water personnel, who seem to only be inspecting things around here.
"All that we have been told by our Bandar assemblyman Toh Chin Yaw is that the local authorities have yet to come up with a guideline for rearing swiftlets (and, therefore, no action can be taken).
"As far as the septic tank was concerned, he said the state government was still studying the matter," said the coffeshop owner after putting up protest banners at his shophouse yesterday.
Ong said his family had resided and been doing business at the shophouse since 1967 and stated that life was good until the invasion of swiftlets some five years ago.
"It was not too bad in the beginning when my next door neighbour converted one floor of his building into a bird motel. But over time, not only did he begin to add more floors, but others had come with similar ventures to the area."
Ong's mother, Foo See Guan, 76, said she could no longer remember the last time she was able to open all the doors and windows of their shophouse without having to hold her breath, or being rained on by swiftlet droppings.
"Also, the chirping of the real birds is bad enough. Yet, we have to continuously listen to the recordings of bird sounds played over speakers.
"I have become unwell over the past five years due to this unhealthy environment."
Restaurant owner M. Chandran, 58, said he feared his business might suffer further setbacks should the problem of overflowing sewage continue.
"It is unhygienic to have waste water flowing down into the regular drain and I have to be very careful when preparing food as contamination is just a splash away.
"I understand that former menteri besar Idris Jusoh promised to look into this matter some time ago. I hope now Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said will eliminate this health risk as soon as possible."
Meanwhile, city mayor Datuk Razali Kassim said guidelines for swiftlet operators would be presented to the state government next month. However, he claimed that the septic tank problem did not come under the council's jurisdiction.
Found at: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/National/2303508/Article/index_html
1 comment:
If you can't beat them you join them, and if you can't join them you leave them.
We should not be complacent; we should change with the circumstance. Because of the birds, the value of the shop houses must have gone up. Those still not in the bird business should make use of the opportunity to dispose of their shop houses or convert them into birdhouses instead of creating a hue and cry.
I hope they agree with me.
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