Tahun Melawat Malaysia or Tahun Dilawat Masalah?

Malaysia and Malaysians are experiencing some disastrous moments lately. One of the worse one is the unresolved disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines MH370 plane. The whole world is watching and waiting anxiously for the latest update on the search and rescue (SAR) of the ill-fated plane that has yet to be found. This would be the biggest airplane accident/incident/disaster in the country, and also the longest accident that left all of us clueless on its whereabout. Each day we are hearing new theories and findings, but none of them is bringing any conclusion, though there are close to 10 countries participating in the SAR.

When the whole nation is focusing on the lost plane, they didn't realize that there is another 2 big issues happening right here at the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur and administration center, Putrajaya.

1) The haze and air quality is deteriorating each day, and yet it is not significant enough for the ministry to take action. The only thing that interests them is to announce the air pollution index with no follow up action. The hazardous areas such as Port Klang and Banting can have a API reading of up to 350. We will be seeing more places getting into the ranking soon. Previously, we can blame our neighbours. But now, the problem comes from domestic sources such as forest fire and irresponsible open burning.

2) Water in the dam in many parts of the country is drying up. In Selangor, most of the dam are at below 50% of the max capacity. Hence, the people in Klang Valley has to undergo water rationing. Water supply can only be given to each area in alternate manner, where 2 days of supply to be followed by 2 days of rationing. What is worse is that the water supplying time is only 41 hours, whereas rationing time is 55 hours.

Though the haze and water issues are happening right in front of our PM and relevant ministers, none of them took any action to mitigate and prevent the situation from getting worse. We don't hear the Ministers of the affected ministry coming forward to voice out their concern. It is as if they accepted these phenomenon as fated and beyond control.

Since this is Visit Malaysia Year 2014, I wonder who still thinks it is a good place to visit when they can't even take a decent photo of the Petronas Twin Towers on a clear sky. It would be a bad image for the country when they are forced to stay inside the hotel the whole day to avoid the smelly and choking air, no water condition, and hot and heaty weather.

This makes me wonder, if this is Tahun Melawat Malaysia or Tahun Dilawat Masalah?