Exploiting the Hillside

Ravishing the hillside to develop scenic high-rise buildings, bungalows and other housing units, is now a common sight. Lush green and soothing hillsides are suddenly "raped" by huge bulldozers exposing large tracks of raw brown earth for several months or even years before the construction of concrete jungles are begun. before the construction of concrete jungles are begun.

That's modern development, folks, the way to creating a modern, progressive nation,full of scenic urban centers and housing development.Such rape of the green virgin forest can occur even in the center of large tracks of virgin jungle to lay the foundation of a new city. Every country in the world has been doing that. Some wisely, some in an idiotic and unscrupulous fashion.

Malaysia is reputed to be the 21st most biodiversified country in the world, about 60% of which is covered by virgin forest some 130 million years old.We've some 2,199 endemic species of forest vegetation 18% of which are threatened with extinction.As a result of land development, especially on the hilly slopes adjacent to the city centers, there has been a spade of landslides and land-spills in recent years, some of which killed hundreds of people with high-rise towers and bungalows crashing down or being buried in mud.Building construction on hill slope with some 20 degrees ingredient has been prohibited but you can still see it being done. After all any hillside can now been terraced with the giant tractors and caterpillars available. Even a 90 degree slope can be filled in and reduced to a 15-20 ingredient.

So, don't be surprised if a scenic green hill some hundred yards away from your house suddenly sports a red-brown scar which kept increasing until it swallows the whole hill. Some months later a brick, steel and glass jungle with grow its place.

No, nobody can stop this from happening unless we want to build houses on the trees.But like the time when Felda was biding residential homes for the settlers, must the ground be leveled and cleared of all beautiful tress before construction begins. Can't we allow some of the glorious green crowns to remain. The giant tress can also help to ensure that landslide dan landslips will not happen. More importantly we don't destroy nature's beauty entirely by replacing it with our odd idea of a beautiful housing scheme in the development of a modern, urbanized nation.