'Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.' ~ Native American Indian saying.

' ... ataukah alam mula bosan

bersahabat dengan kita

cuba kita bertanya pada

rumput yang bergoyang

' ~ lyrics of a song by Indonesian poet Ebeit G Ade

'The steady destruction of the environment is not primarily due to environmental disasters but to human activities. Human activities that bring destruction to the environment are designed by economic activities dictated by the nature and economic culture of the modern State.' ~ former US Vice President Al Gore, in An Inconvenient Truth .

Had the Johor government be responsible enough in implementing environmentally-sustainable development projects over the decades, Johoreans would not have to suffer and die of floods. How much destruction of the rainforests has been going on since the Johor State Economic Development Corporation embarked upon massive and chaotic real estate projects? How much more must the hills be shaved bald and the land made arid with the next phase of breakneck high-speed development projects glorified under the name of the 'Iskandar Development Region'?

How much of this will make Johor another Philippines or even Bangladesh where flood waters ravage lives and destroy homes on a regular basis? Will the government care about the lives of Johoreans? Or will it simply care about the megalomaniac profits it will make out

of this 'Southern Super Corridor', fantasised to be an Utopia better than Singapore? Have we perfected the 'sampan' (lifeboat) mentality wherein we save ourselves by madly plundering what is not ours in the name of economic progress, leaving the helpless ones to drown?

How will this Iskandar Development Region become 'the greatest gift' to Johoreans when, like the ancient Huang He (Yellow River of China,) it might become the greatest sorrow at the speed with which the trees and hills are being destroyed now. Who will benefit from these transformations when even the Multimedia Super Corridor project is a failure? Who will actually own this huge real estate project and what social, political and environmental impact will it have on the rakyat? This idea of this development is stinkier than Johor Baru's Sungei Segget.