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There is a tract of land to the west of the road snaking down from Teluk Bahang to the fishing and pig farming village of Pantai Acheh called, naturally enough, the Pantai Acheh Forest Reserve.

As forest reserves go, the Forest Reserve  is unspectacular,  probably bordering on the vulgarly common, but it does have some tantalising high points. It is one of the few areas on the island that has remained relatively untouched by development. The more valuable timber has been logged out since before living memory, but some less wanted yet huge trees survive. And it is relatively isolated, with approaches from Balik Pulau and the long thin tarmac currently staggering under the tourist hordes along the hotel belt. A meromictic lake, apparently the only known one in Malaysia graces the northern end of one of its finer beaches. There are those who live their entire lives in this modern, metropolitan island city without knowing of its existence.

Penang is famously not a clean place. The island had the dubious honour of  being dubbed the "rubbish bin of the Orient" by no less a person than the prime minister. It is also infamous for its beautiful beaches which are softly lapped by waters suffused with excrement discharged in raw form directly into the sea, human in the north and east, swine in the west and south.

It is small wonder that increasingly larger groups of people hanker for something clean, washed and natural right here on this island. The Pantai Acheh Forest Reserve does not quite fit the bill exactly yet, but with a little stretch of the imagination, it just might. Thus this  unlikely real estate is drawing some attention because some people want it turned into a state park, Penang being one of the minority of states without one. Already one finds a trickling of adventurous foreign tourists, desperate to escape the disappointment of the filthy beaches, tramping the main trails in the Reserve. Beach hotels, finding the beaches more a repellent than an attraction are starting to organise hikes into the reserve. As usual, in this country, it is the foreigners who are one of the first to see a good thing.

Some of the first applications to turn the reserve into a state park were done way back in 1956. Further attempts were made in 1978 and then again in 1989. Hopes to get the Reserve turned into a state park were boosted by the arrival of an enlightened administration, but after more than 10 years of enlightenment, promises remained promises, hopes began to deflate. It was beginning to look as if a dark, massive nebulous blob with numerous suckers and tentacles was obstructing the approvals. The Star Wars Han Solos of Penang were challenged. A fresh desperate attempt to turn the tide, before the torch of enlightenment is extinguished, was made on April 15 - 23, when an expedition supported by the University Sains, Perhilitan, Perhutanan, Fishery Research, Mountaineering Club, Swimming Club, Golden Sands, Turf Club, HHH, Cheah Optometrist and Nature Society went in to document and record the wildlife and plant life found in the Reserve as well as to investigate the potential for recreational activities that the Reserve may offer. Quite some number of lecturers, teachers and students from  Sri Mutiara and Teachers College put in an appearance to clear the beach area around Kerachut and some of the trails of rubbish. A second smaller self-financed expedition went in on May 19 - 21 to look for medicinal plants. An academic seminar and exhibition on  the forest reserve will be held on the 23 and 24 September at the Universiti Sains.

Between the first and second expeditions, fun seekers and picnickers, true to form, had already defaced the bath and latrine facilities in Kerachut. Rubbish was more visible than before and more carelessly strewn about. It is to Penang's shame that new generations of louts show no better appreciation than the older generation of louts for what nature provides. It is more shameful that Penang's leaders show little leadership in securing the educating and civilising opportunities that a state park on the fringe of a great and modern metropolitan island city provides. Leadership training, civic consciousness, conservation, nature education, camp craft, training on proper rubbish handling and disposal, safety awareness, pollution control, organisational skills, etc are some of the possibilities.

Imagine the tensions and conflicts that such a situation poses. Imagine the type of Penangites who will rise to the occasion. Imagination is not reality however, and the Pantai Acheh Forest Reserve may not live up to its full potential, but this is more a reflection on man than on nature. Imagination is the germ of creativity and world class thinking. It does hold the promise not only for opportunities for a physical cleansing of the island, but more urgently, for a spiritual cleansing of the inhabitants. Whether the Pantai Acheh Forest Reserve becomes the pride or shame of Penang depends much on whether becomes a regulated State Park for a start.

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[Ed. Note: Meromictic lake - A lake where there is temperature inversion of its waters, the hotter water staying at the bottom, a marvel of physics and nature.]