1. It is great to watch Kuala Lumpur grow. We see everywhere the cranes marking the sites of new development. There are skyscrapers in every corner, great skyscrapers of fantastic shapes and heights. Kuala Lumpur now looks like other great cities of the world.
2. But if you look again you will see that it is still quite green, greener than most other cities. New landscaping with mature trees have contributed towards this greenness.
3. But there are here and there patches of forests, as dense as the well-known tropical forests of Malaysia. They are thick with undergrowth which make them as impenetrable. The trees are tall and so leafy that they cut off all the light of the sun in the day time. You cannot see through these miniature forests and I think you cannot walk through them either.
4. They make Kuala Lumpur truly green and at times you feel as if you are driving through a forest. How wonderful to be able to drive through forests right in the middle of the city. Then you emerge to see the towers of the skyscrapers, the shopping complexes and the manicured streets once again.
5. The experience is unique and it is characteristic of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.
6. Sadly I have seen these forest patches disappearing one after another to be replaced with hard concrete and granite towers of development. I fear in time, in not too long a time, the forests will all disappear. Their green will no longer colour Kuala Lumpur. They will no longer give shade to passers-by. The sunlight will be hard and hot, bouncing off tarred streets and concrete pavements and heating up the air above.
7. We need to develop. But we need to care also for the environment. The patches of forests of Kuala Lumpur are unique. We should try to preserve them even if it will cost us a lot of money.
