Leanda Lee
Holidays away mostly bring with them some sort of clarity. Focus elsewhere usually lends an objectivity that is impossible from within the noise and mess of day to day life. How many of us make life-changing decisions and resolutions on holiday?
Those decisions come after confusion, dissonance and an unknowing. This is where the new year brings me. I have no resolution, there is too much dissonance. The fires in Australia have had a destabilizing effect.
I am travelling in beautiful countries surrounded by beautiful people who seem to be living quiet and relatively content, if not resigned lives. What is there to do in Brunei Bandar, we ask a young chatty Filipino at an empty concept café. “Me? I work, I eat. I sleep. That’s all”. Simple. Surely there’s some turmoil, doubt or searching in his inner existence?
Now in Kota Kinabalu, we walk the streets after dinner in search of the red-fleshed durian dahlit. The central market is bustling. It’s clean and abundant, and a smelly-fruit haven. An orange “meat” dahlit is found. It’s smaller than most durians, cuter, less pungent – the Hello Kitty of the King of the Fruits. We are on a mission for the red one, though. Go under the overpass towards Chinatown, we’ve been told. There, a red one is found, as well as taraps and cempeduks and kampong durians, D8s and musang; it’s a durian connoisseur’s heaven. I dislike them, but am on the losing side of a family obsession. It’s about the search, the stall choice, the bargaining, the flavor comparison, and the personalities.
We watch the antics of the stall holder. Chinese tourists are given a show. Stall-holders banter in mandarin. They laugh. They tease. A decision is made; the fruit chosen. The knife enters the hull and with “yi, er, san!” it’s twisted open with an orchestrated chorus of “Hwaaaah!” as the seeds are revealed. It’s a festival of durian flesh.
The boss is different from the others, fairer complexion, outgoing, erudite. “Where’re you from, boss?” He smiles, “What do you think?” Part Kadazan? I have my doubts. “Half Chinese, half Tagalog” he laughs as he turns to tease a brazen (given the Muslim sensitivities) Chinese lady with a bare midriff. She looks the sort to be doing a visa U-turn from Macau.
Chinese tourist numbers are down and the durian-seller is a little worried. He shrugs. Who knows why? Our search complete, for now, we eat. Simple.
Yet, the holiday simplicity has not distracted me from unease caused by the fires and the heated divisive arguments. Australia still burns and will continue to burn for weeks more. We need rain, but not too much to erode our precious soil devoid now of vegetative structure.
The blame-game and ideologies are pitting citizens against each other – less to understand, more to vent and win arguments. Extended drought, fuel reduction (mis)management, global warming, population growth in fire-prone areas, conservation policies, government response, funding – there’s truth in all arguments. Armchair ideologues do little to help while our 56,000-odd volunteer firefighters get on with it, now finally with defence force backup.
Yet, here I am, guiltily flying away adding to carbon emissions, staying in air-conditional comfort while smoke haze prompts the government to advise vulnerable Australians to stay indoors.
What we are seeing and reading about in Australia is environmental feedback. Take this as a gift of warning from Australia to the world.
This is the precise time to remind people that we are not taking heed of centuries-old indigenous knowledge – that man’s role is guardian of, not master of, the natural world – and decades-old scientific evidence – that industrial emissions will precipitate climate-related risks for natural and human systems. In times such as this of heightened confusion, emotion and relevance, we learn best.
Change and adaptation is needed on a global scale. Due to socio-economic, political, institutional, technological, financial and environmental constraints, there is yet to be a consensus on how, but growing consensus that it must be now.
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