When my aunts were told that we were going up to Cameron Highlands during their visit here from Johor for CNY, they arrived all well equipped with thick brown blankets, multi-layered jackets, windbreakers and wool scarves.All of us kept reminding each other not to leave our jackets behind. "You can leave your hand phones but DON'T forget your jackets!" said one of my aunts.
We all packed and stuffed our luggage into 3 separate cars before heading off to the highways. I offered to drive as one of my uncles woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He had a migraine.
This definitely was not one of those offers that I thought I would enjoy. Reason? Cameron Highlands was just not Cameron Highlands anymore!
It was a long and painful drive up Simpang Pulai, the newer and supposedly faster way up to Cameron Highlands. There were so many cars. You know how you can somehow see the roads winding up and curving away at the corners of the hills? You used to be thankful to know that you can care-freely cruise down that S-shaped road while enjoying the cold mist of the Cameron Hills brushing your face. Air cons would usually be switched off and windows rolled down. Some would even pop their heads up from their cars if they could and have their hairs blown back like they were on a roller coaster in an air conditioned room.
I drove from Puchong expecting to escape into that surreal feeling but no. The long and winding road was filled with cars. I peered back using the rear mirrors of my car only to find myself sandwiched between the roars of a huge lorry and the big red lights of the back of an Alphard car. Definitely not a comfortable and securing position to be in for a midget Myvi like mine.
It took us 4 hours to get to Equatorial Hotel from Brinchang, one of the towns in Cameron Highlands. According to locals, it would usually take only 45 minutes. But I forgive the time spent because well, it was Chinese New Year, everyone wanted a break in Cameron.
I winded down my windows only to get air that was as warm as my breath. It was not cooling. On top of that, the sun was glaring and it wasn't just annoying my eyes as a driver, it was HOT. Heat was never a word uttered in Cameron Highlands but I drove anyways and sweated.
The only time I felt cold was when I stepped out of a shower at night. I did not need a jacket to walk the night market in Brinchang.
Even the view on the way up took a shift. What used to be a mountainside of green is now a paved brown wall sheltering silver zinc roofs for stalls.
I saw more sites ready for new stalls and saw tractors parked beside them.
Huge trees that once allowed only bits of sunlight to peer through its leaves diminished, bearing heated grounds from the sun.
I began asking myself why people could not lay their hands off this probably greener part of Malaysia. Was it wrong to have just left it undeveloped? Did it irritate people to see the trees lacking industrial infrastructure and the rocks lying down unfurnished?
Do people not realize the changes they are making to Cameron Highlands? Don’t they feel the difference?
We hear people talking about saving the environment.
We hear people wanting to make this world a better place, healing the dying planet.
We hear people quitting the use of plastic bags, using their own recyclable carriers.
We hear people planting trees, creating shades from the UV rays of the broken ozone.
We hear people going to sleep with only fans and winding down their windows while driving.
We hear people car pooling and walking more, taking the public transports and driving less.
If that is so, then why do I see people walking out from a honey shop swinging a meter long plastic bag with only a 10 cm tall container inside?
Why do I see huge tractors stationed beside fallen and timbered trees along the naked hillside?
Why do I see every car shut out from the fresh air of the hills, incubated with air conditioning?
Why do I see someone whose is wearing a WWF t-shirt asking for a plastic to wrap a steamed corn he was going to eat on the spot when the stalk he could hold onto was not hot at all?
Why do I see people cramping themselves in their cars and drive to a stall that is just a 10 minutes walk away from the hotel?
Why?
I began to think about the validity and truth behind all those questions I asked.
How can people boast about their love for the environment when they themselves are not playing the role of someone who does? They are not practicing what they preach.
This world won’t heal if people only just say that they want to heal it. Actions speak louder than words. Corny I know, but it is so so true.
And besides, the world won’t heal either if just one out a million people were to sleep without air conditioning.
It is a joint effort.
I am aware of the damage we are inflicting on the environment and I know many are too.
But, who is playing their part? Who cares enough to be doing something about it? I alone won’t be able to change anything if everybody else in the world cared less.
In the end, I can only sigh and wonder, "Who am I to complain?"
I rolled up the windows, turned on the air-con and hit the accelerator. Ignorant.
Cameron Highlands might just end up being another Kuala Lumpur in future.
I couldn’t even keep the strawberries I bought fresh for 3 days.
