JUST leave your footprints behind and not the rubbish after enjoying the beach.
Balik Pulau MP Datuk Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik sent this strong message to the public after participating in a plogging event at the beach near Angsana Teluk Bahang this morning.
The event, marshalled by Penang Island City Council (MBPP) councillor Edward Tan Chiew Chun, saw 130 volunteers haul in a whopping 337kg of garbage from a one kilometre stretch of beach in an hour exercise.
Among the items collected were a discarded tyre, a spoilt fishing net, hundreds of plastic bottles and containers, and cigarette butts.
In all, there were 164kg of non-recyclable items, 157.7kg of recyclable items, a 14.9kg tyre and 475-gramme of cigarette butts.
Muhammad Bakhtiar said more important that the thrash collected was the need to inculcate in everyone the habit of not littering.
“I’ve been to Australia and you can see they are civic minded. You never see people there working on the beach (to collect rubbish).
“In Japan, the place is so clean. And you can’t find a tong sampah (rubbish bin). If visitors or tourists say, they throw rubbish because there is no tong sampah, I say this is wrong. The monkeys will come when there is rubbish.
“Whatever you bring to the beach you take home, except for your footprints,” Muhammad Bakhtiar said in his speech.
He said more than 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear are abandoned in the sea every year, the same weight as 55,000 double-decker buses.
Plastic pollution, he said, is so bad that we may be consuming fish with micro plastics in them.
Muhammad Bakhtiar added that he hoped the event, which was held in conjunction with the World Cleanup Day 2021 (Sept 18), could be collaborated more often between MBPP and the beach resort.
He also thanked Angsana Teluk Bahang for being the host and all the volunteers for their participation.
State executive councillor for Tourism and Creative Economy Yeoh Soon Hin, who also took part in the beach cleanup, said the state has often stressed the concept of responsible tourism.
“The beach is our asset and it is everyone’s responsibility to keep it clean.
“While we continue to observe the SOPs (standard operating procedures) to curb the Covid-19 infection, we also need to educate not only the locals but also the tourists on the importance of beach cleanliness. We want to promote Teluk Bahang beach,” Yeoh said in his speech.
Senja Aman Holdings director Datuk Simon Foong Choong Heng and his wife, Datin Mina Cheah Kim Choo, the managing director of The Body Shop, were also among the participants.
“This is something we would like to do every year. This beach is a pristine beach and we must keep it clean. I think awareness and collaboration are the way to do it and I would like to thank everybody for being here today,” Foong said on behalf of the Angsana Teluk Bahang.
Spotted among the participants were a family of three, SJ Ghouse, 51, his wife Princilia Lee, 48, and daughter Lyeana, 16, a Form Four student of Convent Green Lane.
Like the other participants, they donned blue T-shirts, with the words “There’s Is No Planet B”printed on the front and “I Love My Balik Pulau” on the back.
“We’re happy to participate and give back something to the community. I agree that educating the people not to litter is crucial.
“I think people are becoming more aware of this. For instance, my daughter is involved in school activities related to environmental issues, discouraging the use of single-use plastic.
“I am running a cycling business and sometimes, my clients from overseas like to cycle to padi fields and oil palm estate in this rural area.
“When locals, like myself, advised the foreign workers there not to litter, they didn’t really listen to us. But when my overseas clients, especially the Japanese, advised them, they listened. So, sometimes I ask my clients to advise them,” said SJ, who runs the Matahari Cycle Tours & Travel.
Also joining in the beach cleanup were Balik Pulau OCPD Kamarul Rizal Jemal, Teluk Bahang Fire and Rescue Department officer-in-charge Mass Rafiuddin, Penang Global Tourism chief executive officer Ooi Chok Yan, MBPP councillor Wong Yuee Harn, Petace (Penang State Exco Office for Tourism and Creative Economy’s officer Grace Teoh, Angsana Teluk Bahang marketing communications manager Karen Chee, MPKK Teluk Awak chairman Zul Saad, MPKK chairperson Noor Rizan Mohd Yusoff and MPPK Kuala Jalan Bharu chairperson Eicia Kang.
The biggest team that came to take part was from SJK (T) Bayan Lepas, which sent 20 of its pupils and teachers.
Others who chipped in were a team of four firemen in uniform, members of MPKK Teluk Awak, MPKK Teluk Kumbar, MPKK Kuala Jalan Bharu, SMK Teluk Kumbar, SJK (C) Yeok Hua, Kelab Sukan Teluk Bahang, Angsana and The Body Shop.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Chan Kok Kuan
