Say NO to Penang's newly proposed golf course

Is Penang going to get another golf course? Gee, I must have missed seeing this news in the news media recently. Where have I been?

But it's true. Online news reports here, here and here say that a South Korean conglomerate, DK ENC, is very keen to pump USD100 million into a new golf course in Batu Kawan.

I must ask the Penang government to take a good and long re-look at the business proposal. Don't approve it before you undertake a serious study into the environmental impact of building new golf courses.

Don't give the explanation that building new courses will be good for the economy and the social benefits will far outweigh any environmental impact. It will be highly irresponsible. Don't succumb to the greedy Koreans. Employment and business opportunities for Penangites will be coming with a heavy price! Why don't the Koreans build more golf courses in their own country? Why come here to destroy our environment?

We don't have to search far to find articles on misgivings of building new golf courses. The wikipedia alone has something to say and these are some extracts:

1) Environmental concerns over the use of land for golf courses have grown over the past fifty years. Specific concerns include the amount of water and chemical pesticides and fertilizers used for maintenance, as well as the destruction of wetlands and other environmentally important areas during construction. The UN estimates that golf courses use 2.5 billion gallons of clean water daily, enough to provide fresh drinking water for 4.7 billion people. Diazinon is a toxic chemical used on golf courses. In 1988, the US Environmental Protection Agency prohibited the use of Diazinon on golf courses and sod farms because of decimation of bird flocks.

2) People continue to oppose golf courses for environmental and human survival reasons, as they impede corridors for migrating animals and sanctuaries for birds and other wildlife. It is claimed that the effective non-native monoculture of golf courses systematically destroys biodiversity.

I think it was last year that the World Wildlife Fund Turkey launched a campaign to warn people in their country about the environmental impact of golf courses. The campaign included this poster which, when translated, reads: "200,000 trees with one strike! Millions of m3s of water will be spent for the irrigation of the new golfing facilities to be built on our Southern shores. The water resources of the region are indeed too limited to meet the needs of the new facilities. Help us to prevent this."

I think this message applies equally too to us here in Penang. In my opinion, there is no convincing mitigating effort to allow another golf course to be built anywhere in Penang. There are already at least four full courses in the state with other facilities, like the Safira Club, offering driving ranges. We don't need another one.