Firefighting for Fireflies

It's supposed to be a happy weekend for me since I got my car serviced, clothes washed, no weddings or visits to relatives' places; pending work.. chuck first lah. Got my hair washed after 4 days it's been oily (ok I ain't any sophisticated woman but it doesn't mean I don't care about hygiene at all!).

Until I heard about the extinction of fireflies news in the papers through Izwan! I don't know, call me a drama queen but the news of its extinction had reduced my energy like crazy, I couldn't wait to get home to read up about it. Boy am I glad, it came with picture evidences of environmental issues and source of food for fireflies. Thanks to all the researchers, we thoroughly understand the situation now.

While trying to redeem my childhood years when I didn't get to do many things, I have covered many places when I got myself a car early this year. I finally knew how to swim too, now that I can drive to the pool before it's closed!

I've walked through the whole of Lake Garden (which has Taman Orkid, Taman Burung, Tmn Rama Rama, even Nasi Lemak Tanglin and it's famous ikan bakar, got myself treated at only RM1 at Hospital Tanglin, everything there covered.) Went to Penang, Gua Tempurung, Pusat Sains Negara during the Nobel Prize Centennial Exhibition, Bukit Cahaya Alam blaa blaaa, whatever within driving reach with good road signs or with available maps.

The first thing I did once I'm not scared of the water anymore is get to Pulau Perhentian. I have visited Pulau Payar, Langkawi many times and snorkelled for hours there and always wanted to see more. To my dismay, I didn't see as many colours as in those aquariums I saw at Subang. It was nice at first to see so many parrot fish assemblying at one place as if they are holding a meeting. Then they'll shy away when we came splish-splashing clumsily with our flippers.

The corals were all brown and dry, only 1 out of 5 spots we went were nice. That's where I found the 'animone' coral which shelters the clown fish, popularly known as Nemo. I read the regulations and learnt that we were not supposed to touch the corals at all. Rules are definitely made to be broken by those itchy fingers!

Then, I don't think the idea of snorkelling is really good anymore, I started pedalling more cautiously as I feared my flippers would hit the corals although my hands are avoiding them.

We were lucky to catch the scene of mating turtles, then 5 boats carrying tourists from China (or were they M'sian Cina Bukit) thronged and started charging towards them to touch and take pictures. The turtles must be thinking "What a major turn off! Need to start all over again.". Mating turtles last for 4 to 5 hours, and that's only when the female agrees. Only then the male can easily make its manoeuvre.

Back to fireflies issue, I remember reading 'Aizuddin's entry asking where he could watch the fireflies. I have been pestering so many people to plan for a group visit to Kampung Kuantan. As usual, once you start working or have partners, going to places that have mosquitos and no air-conditioning is not such a good idea. If I'm some Tan Sri's daughter or provided with a company car, I'll just go there right now already. I still hope by the time I get the chance to go there, some are still left for the sight to be appreciated.

My suggestions:

Maximise the meaning of 'Fireflies Appreciation for Tourists' by doing these things with the help of a trained tourists guides:

• Tourists watch fireflies.
• Tourists help to clear a small part of the mangrove
• Tourists help to replant the cultured snails
• Number of boats for tourists per night is restricted.

Or rather, just enforce the same action taken on tourists places in Sipadan island, stop the visitings while the authority tries to mend the place.

We are just a small country, conserve the treasures we have fiercely.