For the past three days, the villagers of Kampung Tepi Laut, Mukim Tebengau, in Kuala Kedah, complained about an invasion of thousands of black caterpillars.
Uh-oh, is this the Malaysian version of the Ten Plagues of Egypt?
Below is a simplification of the Bible story of Moses and the Ten Plagues. A story of enslavement, God’s warning and his wrath.
The Hebrews were slaves to the Egyptians but God told Moses to set them free. Moses told the Egyptian ruler, the Pharoah, what God had told him but the Pharoah ignored him. So, to convince Pharaoh, God brought 10 different plagues over Egypt.
Plague #1
The River Nile was turned blood red. Still, the Pharoah did not think this was from God.
Arghhh. The waterways, rivers and seas around Kuantan are stained red from bauxite.
Plague #2.
God sent the frogs which covered the land.
Remember our political frogs?
Plague #3
God sent in the gnats which buzzed everywhere.
The black caterpillars invading Kedah are scary enough.
Plague #4
God sent in the flies.
Just visit Kota Baru, to see the rubbish clogging drains, littering roads, and of course, the flies.
Plague #5.
Cattle disease
Oops…we have no cattle….none were purchased, because the money was allegedly used to buy luxury condominiums.
Plague #6.
God caused painful boils on people’s skin.
The rakyat are boiling with the pain caused by the high cost of living and hearing about corruption scandals.
Plague #7.
The Pharoah still ignored God, so He caused hailstorms over Egypt.
Recently Putrajaya and parts of KL, experienced floods and hailstorms. Uh oh….
Plague #8.
God sent in a plague of locusts and the vegetation died.
i) A “breed” of locusts thrived in Sabah. The “locust” activity prevented clean piped water from being supplied to every household in Sabah, even in rural areas.
ii) One of our main exports, palm oil, is decreasing in production, because of a devastating disease caused by Ganoderma boninense, which eventually kills the oil palm. No cure has yet been found.
Plague #9.
God plunged Egypt into darkness.
Oh dear…many areas in Sarawak were hit by blackouts just a few days ago.
Plague#10.
The stubborn Pharoah still refused to listen to Moses, so God brought in the last plague, the plague of the first born. Only then, did the Pharaoh set the people free.
And the Malaysian version is …… to be continued…
Plague #7
floods for decades…(poor planning or zero planning)
Plague#9
Blackout since the 90s, in MALAYA.
something pertaining to Plague #1, RARE EARTH.
Scientifically speaking, RARE EARTH (the end products) are not poisonous, and not venomous.
The greatest danger comes from the MINING and subsequent PROCESSING, to obtain the final end products called RARE EARTH.
Specifically the fifteen lanthanides, as well as scandium and yttrium.
Rare earth elements are cerium (Ce), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), holmium (Ho), lanthanum (La), lutetium (Lu), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), terbium (Tb), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb) and yttrium (Y).
Apologies for the GEEK stuffs.
The problem starts with the pouring of chemicals onto lands, then excavating them for further processing.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to recover the poured chemicals before mining. (Akin to dumping liquid POISON.)
Environment destruction is sure to follow, slowly but SURELY!
p.s. I have been using high grade Cerium Dioxide powder for the past few decades. The white stuff, not red, not brown, not earth, imported from United Kingdom, before they were overtaken by cheaper prices from China. It is EXCELLENT to polish my astronomical equipment, LENSES to be exact!