Over the past 9 years I have grown to love many things about Malaysia. After each visit I find myself longing for the things that make the country so distinct. I miss the sound of rain tapping on the leaves of the palm trees, the aroma of blended spices which forms the base of nasi kandar, the refreshing taste of teh ais or freshly squeezed mango juice on a hot, humid day, a drive through the rainforest or a walk through the bustling narrow lanes courtesy of its colonial heritage.

When I visited Malaysia in 2007 I anticipated that things would be even more spectacular than in the past since the government had hyped up 2007 as visit Malaysia year. Unfortunately, I was left frustrated, bewildered and even angry, perhaps for reasons some of you may not expect.

During my stay I read a few articles in the mainstream press quoting the top ten things that tourists liked and disliked about Malaysia. The top dislikes were dirty bathrooms and beaches while the top likes were the people and the food. Now I cannot really argue with this, who doesn’t like their bathrooms and beaches clean? No, the problem I had wasn’t with these opinions, it was with how the ministry of tourism seemed to think they should solve them and how this attitude seems to seeping into the policies of the government to rationalize massive development at the expense of the local Malaysian population.

For those of you from Penang, lets take the example of Swatow Lane. This tiny street in Georgetown once contained a section of the best hawker stalls in the country. It was locally famous and was even listed in Lonely Planet as one of the best local places to eat in Penang. Eating there was a unique experience and any visitor who was lucky enough to sit on the side of that road with a plate of mee goreng and a bowl of ais kacang would have a story to tell all their friends when they went home. Nonetheless, despite being popular for both locals and tourists, the government decided that it needed to be “cleaned up” and moved all of the stalls into a newly built food court next door. Now a visit to Swatow Lane provides little more than a view of a deserted street and the depressed faces of the shop owners who can barely earn enough money to stay in business. Since these so called “improvements” one of the most famous stalls in all of Malaysia, Mee Sultan, has completely disappeared. In the government’s effort to clean up, they ruined not only part of Penang’s past, but also its future by forgetting the primary reasons that tourists appreciate Penang, its charm, history and people.

Swatow Lane before hawkers were moved.	Kampung House in Penang.

But Swatow lane is sadly not the only example. One of the oldest Kampungs in Penang is set to be demolished after years of battle by the local inhabitants. The waterfront facing Butterworth was paved over by a freeway in the name of development and even Gurney Drive, perhaps the most famous night walk in Georgetown is soon to be destroyed by a landfill development. Developers will tell you that all these changes are necessary for the future of Penang. Economic growth they will tell you. But who is benefiting from this? Who benefits from having the charm and history of the city destroyed? Who benefits when an entire Kampung is bulldozed to make way for high density housing aimed primarily at the high end of the economic ladder while the inhabitants of the village are put into low cost flats? Sadly, it is not only the local population that looses in this battle, it is everyone. For after the short term profits are made, the developers sell their houses to eager foreigners and the banks cash in on the increased land values there will be the realization that the very thing that made Penang special had been lost. The top ten reasons why tourists love Malaysia (which I suspect are also the reasons why Malaysians love Malaysia) will no longer exist. Once the locals are forced to leave the Island, what friendly Malaysians will the tourists refer to? Once the waterfront is covered with highways and resort hotels, what beaches will they complain about being too dirty? Why does the quest for “modernity” and “development” often mean destroying what already exists? Isn’t the whole argument for these developments that they will benefit the Malaysian people? I have yet to see that happening, especially since most of the housing being developed is far out of the reach of even educated middle class Penangites.

Various homes in ruins and signs protesting the destruction of their village near Tanjung Tokong in Penang.

Foreign investors and foreign tourists can find sunny weather and beaches a lot closer to home than Malaysia. These are not the reasons why they come. They come for the people, the culture, the food and the way of life. I have met many Malaysians who have worked hard to stand up for the rights of local people and are aware of how special interests, the government and its government controlled media work against the interests of the population. I only hope that many more Malaysians will become more aware about what powerful special interests are doing to these precious areas and ask themselves, who is really benefiting from this? Will another new super project really bring "progress"?