 The Firefly Colony of Port
Dickson |
 Most Malaysians still
believe that the biggest firefly (klik klik) colony can be found at
Kampung Beluntas, near Kuala Selangor, about 120km north of Kuala
Lumpur. |
During 2008/09, a large area adjoining the famous firefly colony has been cleared for commercial agriculture, depriving the resident insects of their security and a large area of their habitat. A search through the internet, indicates that despite the existence of a large tourist trade to that area, no government action has been taken to protect these unusual creatures. There is however, other bad news on this subject. In 2009, our company was fortunate to have a private audience with our state Menteri Besar during which we proposed that the state government legislate for a marine park at Sungai Linggi, some 25km south of Port Dickson town on the Linggi River, which forms the border between the states of Melaka and Negeri Sembilan. As a result of that meeting, we also gave a 30 minute presentation to the state's "PASCO" or committee on tourism development, as well as meetings with the Tourism Action Council and UPEN, the body responsible for considering and recommending monetary allocations for worthy tourism development projects. For all these meetings, we included a budget estimate of between RM25,000 and RM45,000 for this special area comprising less than 2 1/2 acres (1 hectare) of riverbank that was totally unsuitable for any other commercial activity. This budget included the cost of buying several hundred seedlings of the berembang tree (at a whopping cost of around RM1.50 each), the cost of erecting a barrier to protect the insects from over-zealous tourists, and to facilitate easy access to awaiting tour guides, from the recently completed jetty nearby. After two years of trying, the end result was NOTHING. This entire area around Sungai Linggi is a veritable menagerie of elusive and endangered wildlife, most of which are described on these pages. It now seems that, despite the government's lack of concern, the Sungai Linggi colony may be the biggest in Malaysia, a fact that the locals are very proud of. I personally met with a number of people from the area and in halting Malay, managed to discuss their attitudes towards these insects. All were very keen in protecting their habitat and in doing whatever they could to encourage development. They could also recognise the huge potential to create a tourist industry there. One local who could not speak a word of English, told me (through his friend) that he had a friend that was a wild, white crocodile. More on that story elsewhere.  This is what happened to the Kuala Selangor firefly colony. Could it be repeated at Sungai Linggi? As a result of our sale of a 60% equity in our company, we believe that in the near future, we will be able to achieve our objective of rescuing these insects. We will add to this page as developments occur. |
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