Extreme makeovers: Malaysians must learn from Indonesia
All it takes is imagination and a will to change for the better, to turn our own kampungs and city squatters into global attractions.
By JD Lovrenciear
The story of a slum Indonesian village that sprang back to life as a tourist attraction deserves a collective revisit and soul searching here in Malaysia.
The recent article published on FMT must get Malaysians to re-think how they have wasted government aid and support.
If a slum village could be turned around with sheer imagination and a will to change for the better, why can’t we Malaysians also turn our own kampungs and city squatters into global attractions that not only become a showcase of our own imagination and will to make good, but also empower communities with innovative means of economic growth and financial well-being?
According to the report, “a slum area on Indonesia’s Java Island has become an unlikely tourist attraction, as well as a social media hit, after its homes were painted vivid colours to transform the district into what is now being called ‘Kampung Pelangi’ (Rainbow Village).”
What is noteworthy too is the fact that the “poor hill-side area received a month-long facelift costing 300 million rupiah (US$22,500) and paid for by the local government in a bid to rejuvenate” the wasted slum.
Transpose that scenario back home here and see what we do:
• We only talk of development on a one-way route. Tear down what you have and make way for mega structures.
• We displace people and livelihoods because our city squatters are an eyesore. So drive in the bulldozers. Tear down the decades-old squatters. And anyone who protests is arrested.
The Indonesian authorities could have done that. But they chose to take another route. And now they have a much talked about novel “Rainbow Village”.
Of course, it calls for a major shift in the mindsets of Malaysians.
After all, the government has helped Malaysians with funding with all sorts of projects, from homestays to eco-tourism attractions. But take a drive through the remote interiors and see how Malaysians have wasted it all away with an unending chorus of complains on why they could not sustain these ventures.
We forget that the humble wooden structures of bygone times and whole communities of even squatters and communal townships or villages can be transported or transformed into a future that can bring much happiness to all.
Hopefully the media will see the wisdom to publicise this “Rainbow Village” innovation to get our local authorities, business circles and citizens thinking aloud and seriously too.
JD Lovrenciear is an FMT reader.
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Once-drab Indonesian slum rejuvenated into ‘Rainbow Village’
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