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The corals in Pulau Tioman have been steadily declining over the years, and they will be finished off soon if the marina is built .

Apparently, someone is going to spend RM40 million bucks of our money to build a parking lot for their yachts because god knows they have so many yachts and marinas in Langkawi, Kuala Kedah and Port Dickson no longer suffice.

How on earth are we going to recoup RM40 million in parking tickets? Are tourists even going to come anymore? As I see it, tourists go to Tioman to enjoy the corals and to enjoy nature. If there are no more corals to see but only a concrete jetty and a concrete shopping centre, will there even any tourists going there anymore?

But that's not a concern for the people in charge, is it? Because they would already have pocketed their RM40 million and sailed off in their yachts. And that leaves the people who live there the dive centre operators, the hotel owners, the boat operators, the busboys, the restaurant dishwashers - who will have to sail off themselves to find other means of existence. And the people of Pahang will be left holding the bill.

But of course, there's the other scenario that the marina and duty-free shopping would now attract a new breed of tourists. The yacht-sailing Datuks and platinum-card-wielding Datins and cash-dripping Saudis who have shopped KLCC clean and are now looking for fresh pastures. Perhaps then, yes, we can recoup the RM40 million, but in reality, we still lose in the end.

Because what doesn't change is the fact that the corals will be destroyed for ever, and the small island does not have the capacity for the high-consumption lifestyle of the hordes of rich and famous.

How much you want to bet that the government will provide the fanciest shopping mall and the largest marina and the longest airstrip, but will forget to provide the best toilets? Not toilets really, but sanitation system. Sewers and waste processing plants, in particular.

Without those, all the waste generated by all 'em high-livin' tourists via yacht toilets will go straight into where it has gone all these years the sea we swim in but in much higher concentrations.

Fish will run, but those which cannot will die, and the once lush coral-laden underwater gardens will become cesspools of stinky sewage with layers of rubbish floating on top. Say, haven't we heard this story before?

At what price the race to development? Who exactly benefits from this 'development'? Them. Who actually bears the cost for this? Us. If this vision is achieved, we would have lost more than we have gained. Except those who stand to profit from it, of course.

Like a cancer, all it takes is one cell, who gets the idea that it should start hoarding resources and make itself fatter, bigger and more powerful than all the others. The body's defence system tries to attack it, but it has grown so big and powerful that it soon bullies the defence system into submission.

Other cells say, 'Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em - I want to be big and powerful too!' and before you know it, the cancer has spread all over the body. Those who choose not to join them grow leaner and wither away as they watch the other cells suck up their due.

Cancerous cells do no work and take up more than they need, and with many cancer cells, the body no longer has enough resources to feed their greed, and eventually the whole system collapses under the deficit.

This very cancer has eaten up our rainforests and destroyed Bakun and Kuala Selangor and displaced countless Malaysians. Will we now stand idly by and let it spread to Tioman too?

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