an open secret that no one could raise just a few years ago. In 2018, I visited the lake to do a report on its alarming decay - floating dead fish, horrid smell, and grey, think water - I wanted to interview a prof who lead a research that classified the lake as ‘near dead’...
https://twitter.com/mkini_bm/status/1400304811812208645
I got her number and...she didn’t want to be interviewed, she said she had nothing to say. It was the first time I encountered a researcher who doesn’t want to defend/explain their work-didn’t want to be quoted too. interviewed the villagers and indigenous community instead...
On the ride out of the village, I saw a yellow signboard on the side of the street, almost hidden by a fallen tree branch, that says the area is gazetted for mining work. My eyes widen. The driver remarked, “Now you know why no one wants to talk”. A couple of hundred meters...
after the sign board is a two storey research centre for the study of Tasik Chini biodiversity. It looks empty and has been empty for awhile. I remember a newspaper report I saw on the researcher I wanted to interview who conducted her research there. It was a sensational one...
It was a report on Utusan that says the lake might lose its UNESCO status due to pollution and is reaching a breaking point to salvation. As a native Pahangite, the report riled me up on a personal level. Anyways on a side note, based on my time there, the lake is mystic fosho
On a sampan manned by an OA guide, my mouth ran (stupidly) wild, I jokingly ask him, "Where is the dragon?" T_T I wish I didn't say it cause after that - I legit feel that something was following our sampan from under the waters, the sky turned dark & everything went silent
yes, I was chanting apologies to the dragon in my heart and told her that "Okay, I get it, you are here". Cause after the second tall grass we glide through, I was convinced the sampan will flip over.
Also, I met the loveliest people on my trip there. We visited orang asli villages - most of them have moved out of the little island on Tasik Chini and live alongside residents at the malay village so their children can go to school and work in town. There are some...
who choose not to leave the little island and rely on boats to cross over so they can do odd jobs, catch fish and act as your guides. However, the lake’s condition was deteriorating so bad that there’s barely any visitor there. So economy was bad. 
And the thing that never left me was the fact that most of the children who live on the island stopped going to school - especially females - after they reach a certain age. When I spoke to them I can see the hurt in their eyes.
It’s a full contrast to the OA students I met at SK Tasik Chini who are learning computers, science and math, and are performing their traditional dance and songs, guided by talented and resourceful young teachers 👩🏫
The school was rife with support - students from UMP would conduct science experiments to inculcate the children’s interest in science. While ECER conduct entrepreneurship & skills programs for the parents
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