As Suanie Sees It

Bitches… ‘Coming soon’ means that I was too not sober last night to properly reply. By the way Kiwi Express at Hartamas serves cheap beer and good food.

First of all, I do not mind development that much. If they wish to upgrade the area I am all for it. As the MP Fong Kai Lun said herself, “There is no point in upgrading one part of the area and neglecting other sections.”

Better lighting, better safety measures and if the plans go well, then more park benches. And stuff.

So if you want to feel safer walking down the street back to your house, you can. At the cost of a tourism spot nearby your house, that is. After all, someone’s got to pay.

But that is not really my point.

This is not a racial thing. There are a lot of Malaysians with Arab blood, I do not mean or intend to offend any of you. The first thought that came into my mind upon reading the news was associated with the direction our tourism is heading.

And this is not going to be a long ranty post about the whole deal. It’s being implemented, it’s done, people will have to live with it whether or not they like it.

Of course we must cater to those who bring the money. But since it is very obvious that it is being catered to the visiting Arabs during their summer time, then the reason is deeply rooted in tourism.

But is it just me or is Malaysian tourism losing her identity? What IS our identity anyway? The Petronas Twin Towers? Most of us are short arses. Chinatown? We all love pirated goods so yeah, maybe that is an identity. It seems that we try to cater to everyone that we are losing our uniqueness.

People come here for a reason. When they go home to their countries, I would like it if they remember Malaysia as having warm and friendly folks instead of having a little Venice somewhere in town.

So if they got the money to spruce up places, why not start with what we already have? The dangling lights at Chinatown are getting kind of old. The line of steel grills to the old railway station is broken and rusty. The old railway station itself is not very clean. Neither is Jalan Alor. Colours of Malaysia is a good concept, why not expand it? Clean up Jonker’s Street while you are at it. Spend more money on the Sepilok rehab centre.

When was the last time you went to the National Museum? It is a national joke.

Really, so many things that could be done.

Kim commented :

“Most chinatowns did not have roots traced back to tourism. It’s just an inevitable thing to happen when there is an influx of Chinese, they set the shops up and everything. They have to make a living. That they become a tourist attraction is basically it’s always been a part of the country.

Now malaysia trying to set up an Arab square so that Arabian tourists would feel more at home? The thing is if they wanted to feel at home they would stay at home. I raised euro disney earlier because it was a failure. They emulated everything European in the park when they started. Nobody went coz what the hell for they grew up in it anyway. Then they realised their mistake and turned it into everything Americana and Mcdonalds. Now only they’re recovering the losses from previous cockup.”

This is similar to a joke I’d heard ages ago.

A man checked into a hotel and told the manager, “I hope I have a pleasant stay.” The manager beamed and proclaimed loudly, “Of course sir, at our hotel we like our guests to feel as if they were home.” Naturally he was a little crushed and dismayed when the man proceeded to cancel his reservation and asked why. The man replied, “If I wanted to feel like home, I would have stayed there!”