Monday, January 4, 2010

"Holidaying family swears not to visit Penang again"



Here is a comment that came out in the Star Newspaper on the 4.1.10.
What has Penang became after the last general election? who do we blame?

PENANG is unique among local tourist destinations. It has everything and more – culture, heritage, beach, hills and above all, fabulous food.

For this reason, our family has visited Penang numerous times over the last decade and thoroughly enjoyed each trip.

However, our latest visit during the recent school holidays proved to be a bitter and a thoroughly forgettable experience.

Much to our shock and sadness, we found Penang to have deteriorated so much that it made us swear not to visit the Pearl of the Orient ever again.

The trip from the airport to our hotel took us two hours instead of the usual 30 minutes as we were caught in a massive traffic jam. We later found that this snarl was caused by the closure of several key roads.

There was no notification or any instructions on alternative roads to use.

Only when we finally checked into our hotel did we realise the cause – a motor GP was being held on several busy public roads. The authorities failed to provide the necessary traffic management, thus creating massive traffic congestion and chaos.

Further unpleasant surprises awaited us. Our rental car was issued a ticket for not paying parking fees even though it was a Saturday evening.

Upon checking we were told by the hotel staff that the state had extended the hours for parking fee collection – from morning right up to midnight, even during weekends.

Along Batu Ferringhi we discovered monstrously ugly structures were being built seemingly at breakneck pace and with scant regard to Mother Nature or public safety.

The famed beaches were dirty and badly maintained with the cleaners, who used to be efficient in our previous visits, nowhere to be found.

Downtown, we were dismayed to find frenzied construction work going on at various historical and heritage buildings.

Some of the most valuable buildings were being turned into pubs, individual homes, showrooms, galleries, restaurants and other businesses.

Double and triple parking seems to be the norm. In popular commercial areas such as Pulau Tikus, Weld Quay, and Little India, irresponsible parking and illegal businesses make driving hazardous.

At Little India, our initial joy of seeing road signs in Tamil turned to disappointment on seeing the poor translation.

Unchecked development and poor enforcement were again evident here.

What is so surprising and sad is the rapid rate of decline of Penang within the short space of two years since our last visit in December 2007.

We are unsure what really caused such an alarming deterioration but the Penangites we spoke to pointed their fingers at the new state government under the stewardship of Guan Eng.

We are not sufficiently familiar with the state’s politics to make an assessment or judgment but if the state government does not act quickly to arrest this decline, Penang and Penangites will be the biggest losers.

Tourists like us will give the state a wide berth if nothing is done.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/1/4/focus/5405999&sec=focus

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