Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The Sabah government has banned swiftlet houses from cities

Click here and here for details

10 comments:

Unknown said...

We really have to applaud the Sabah government for this step taken! Their priorities are right! Public health and the environment come first. I hope the Penang State Government takes note and shows the same political will.

ramlan said...

I hope you will be able continue applauding once the authorities go on to enforce the ban as happened in Sarawak last year.
Go check it out yourself here what you are applauding
http://yippeego.com/ypwordpress/?cat=27

Anonymous said...

Ramlan please don't mix the issues.

Let's say you have illegal hawkers/pasar malam operating 12hrs outside your house everyday. can you bear with it if it disturbs your peaceful living everday? of course we will complain but at the same time, we are not asking the authorities to come and shoot all of them with a gun.

Conversely, should we allow ALL illegal swiflet houses to proliferate and disturb others just becoz some idiotic sarawak troopers were high-handed in their enforcement?

Anonymous said...

hello georgetown ..do u know how many ppl r going to die because of ur ixxx complaint ...pls dun jealous wit the farmer .. 1 day u will know wat is swiftlet

Anonymous said...

complain complain! i spent a lot of money to buy the house and renovate it for swiflet you know.....who compensate me? next time i change it to karaok or bar or chicken house see which one is worse la...haha

ramlan said...

Anon,
The end result to the birds remain like I have linked irrespective of how one wishes to slice and dice the issue/s, if the authorities are swayed by your cause. It's indisputable as of now as there is no known 'moving' method. These new hatchlings and fledglings (in the link I posted earlier) were not MURDERED by some gruesome method (overzealous?). Merely closing the entrances to the birdhouse result in the same. You (anonymous and blog fans) have only the option of mitigating nos (HOW MANY LESS) you will facilitate killing, through wheter you champion ALL or only the delinquent (thru non compliance to the soon to be release 1GP) birdhouses to leave . Just keep in mind there are bad apples in any trade.
Also a gentle reminder that UNESCO money is involved and the west with it's usual larger contribution with it's vocal animal rights NGOs (like PETA) is not likely to be impressed when news of hundreds of thousands of dead BABY swiftlets are MURDERED in order to qualify for their handouts.
I would urge you thread with care as there are disproportionate downsides. I am sure some regulars on the swiftlet forum will be glad to share their thoughts as I have sighted mutual invitations for further discussions. I sincerely hope some mutual understanding of sort results. If you had read thru the swiftlet forum on LowYat none will deny the issues (and I am certain will be surfaced anyways).
I will like to stress, if there is need to move, there will be bird deaths... it's just a question of.. how many.

Anonymous said...

Ya, convert all the old historical buildings to pubs and karoake, make all these buildings into Mohamad Sultan Road of Singapore in Penang. Party all night long. May be you fellow will be happier.

By the way, are there a lot of tourists visiting Penang nowadays? Penang still Pearl of the Orient? With or without bird houses, make no difference.

And please, dont bring politicians into this cottage industrial! Our education system has be fart up enough by the politicians. Still not enough to fart own local business? Some fellow must be insane!

Hey, close down all pasar malam pasar pagi then, very noisy dirty and jam up all roads and drains, inviting tikus, pulau tikus and politicus lah! Non of your business anyway, people earning a living, you talk for living! Own country men die not your business lah!

Anonymous said...

These semi-retiring semi-educated folks staying in the aircon rooms nothing better to do, complaining complaining complaining. People are making a legal living ok. Do they rob, kill, steal like the politicians? Go, go and join politics, build more mansions around the country and chase away all investors both local and foreigner! Make yourselves little kings and queens. People cannot find jobs have to migrate overseas, what you guys in aircon room complaining about? Aircon not cold enuff?

Unknown said...

What about the people who have invested in homes in George Town like me? What of my investment? What of the health of my family? The birds will move as more rural swiftlet houses are built, it is just a matter of time and this is a fact. The swiftlets prefer to be closer to their feeding grounds. The key to moving the swiftlets out of town is to shut down the urban farms in batches starting with the totally illegal ones which have sprung up recently. The State has to set a deadline and then enforce the move. I do not live in an airconditioned environment. I live in a restored residence with open courtyards. I participate in the local economy of my neighbourhood buying my groceries and other requirements within my local neighbourhood. I support the local community and I pay my taxes and my rates. The swiftlet farmers do not live in town and have invested peanuts compared to what I have put in and they seem to have no regard for the health of the people in town and are ignorant to the consequences messing about with the natural balance of nature. Tourists are coming to George Town, more and more as time goes on- these farmers know it as well. Tourism and the UNESCO listing, and the revitalisation of George Town through long term investment that benefits the community is far more sustainable. The guidelines require farms to be 10 m away from residents. This makes pretty much all the urban swiftlet farms incompatible with urban and residential areas.

Anonymous said...

If you stay in commercial shoplots, you are expected to have traffic noise in the day. If you can't bare with that, you have to move into a residential area. In the night, if your neighbors blasting the sound like the discotheque operators, of course you have every right to complaint and bring it to the authority.

Bobby