effects of development on pulau perhentian

RPK 535–REGIONAL AND RURAL PLANNING

INTRODUCTION

PERHENTIAN ISLANDS

The Perhentian islands- Pulau Perhentian Besar (big) and Pulau Perhentian Kecil (small), just

over 20 km off the coast, are separated by a narrow sound with a strong current. Despite

considerable development in recent years, with more hotels, restaurants, bars, diving outfits

and much more noise, the Perhentian islands still remain a paradise, with excellent diving

and snorkelling, magnificent beaches and some of the best places for swimming on the east

coast.

Perhentian Island is a paradise for diving enthusiasts due to its great variety of marine life

and fascinating underwater wonders, where most of these attractions can be found very

close to the shoreline.

Development on the islands is still generally low-key with most accommodation consisting

of low-rise chalets and bungalows. The island therefore retains much of their original forest

cover and within the resort itself it is possible to see monitor lizards, spectacled languor

monkeys and flying squirrels. The surrounding crystal clear waters of the South China Sea

are home to an abundance of coral and marine life including green and hawks-bill turtles,

moray ells, beaches combined with a very relaxed atmosphere make this a mecca for scuba

divers, snorkelers and those just wanting somewhere "to get away from it all".

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DEVELOPMENT IN PERHENTIAN ISLANDS

For many small islands, tourism is economically significant as a source of income and

employment. In some insular areas such as the Caribbean, tourism accounts for over 75 per

cent of some countries’ Gross National Product (Weaver, 2001). Islands, especially small

islands, continue to fascinate and attract tourists, and for tropical countries such as Malaysia

with many offshore islands, developers and government planners see the potential to

develop resorts.

Within the emerging South-East Asia backpacker trail, the Perhentian islands are one of the

“honeypot‟ sites in northern peninsula Malaysia. Typically, backpackers enter Malaysia from

southern Thailand (or travel north from Singapore) and then journey in a circuit between

Penang via the Cameron Highlands and then to the east coast specifically to visit the

Perhentians. Backpackers often stay on islands or at other beach resorts as mini “holidays”

as a break from harder travelling within their larger trips around the region.

Islands in Malaysia have been aggressively promoted with the development of the tourism

industry due to their myriad attributes such as physical isolation and difference from the

mainland, a relaxed atmosphere, scenery and the presence of the three ‘s’ of tourism –

sand, sea and sun. Often, there is the added attraction of pristine corals fringing many of

these tropical islands. However, the fragile island ecosystem and limited resources of water,

land and even beaches raise questions about sustainability, especially in the light of plans to

develop the islands for tourism as a main source of income for the islanders, whose

traditional livelihood is fishing.

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For many years, large-scale development on the Perhentians was kept to a minimum. This

was just as well, given that both islands are home to several turtle nesting sites, active from

April to early August – the only organized viewing is through the Bubbles resort – and that

the impact of the existing resorts on the environment is far from negligible, as per claimed

by both the state authority and the developers.

But yet, with every development, there will be environmental issues, such as conflicts over

the use of fresh water, solid waste management, destruction of corals and the natural

vegetation, as well as socio-economic issues on whether the locals will be able to cope with

the pace of the development imposed onto them.

ASSIGNMENT

The paper discuss on a model of island development suitable for Perhentian, incorporating

ideas on carrying capacity and community participation, from the perspective of various

parties. The Perhentian islands is chosen as a case study because the islands are presently

largely unspoilt but are increasingly being subjected to social and environmental pressures

with the development of new resorts and the additional inflow of tourists over the past few

years.

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DEVELOPMENTS IN PULAU PERHENTIAN- LOCAL COMMUNITY’S PERSPECTIVE

SOCIOECONOMIC

Based on Ibrahim Yahaya’s Paper “Komuniti Pulau Dalam Era Pembangunan: Terpinggir atau

Meminggir? (2007)”, tourism development on Pulau Perhentian has greatly altered the local

community’s economic fabric as a traditional fishing industry. The introduction of tourism

industry at the island enabled diversification of economic opportunities which allowed wider

sources of income for the locals.

According to Ibrahim, based on JKKK report, almost all of the households were involved in

fishing industry before the introduction of tourism industry, compared to less than 20

percent of locals remained in the fishing industry nowadays. Based on his survey, there are

39.9 percent of households involved in tourism sector as chalet operators, tourism boat

operators, tour guides and etc. Among the 34 chalet businesses on the island, 15 are locally

owned.

About 35.8 percent of residents stated that their income has increased more than double of

their initial income, 34.7 percent stated their income has almost doubled, 16.8 percent

faced little changed of income compared to five years ago and 18 percent faced decrease in

income. The introduction of tourist industry in Pulau Perhentian enabled the housewives to

work full time or part time to provide extra means of income for the family.

However, the involvement of locals in resorts is limited to low-paid jobs such as

housekeeping and serving, while paid at lower rates compared to non-local workers which

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can be seen as some level of discrimination due to their lower education level and

qualifications.

EDUCATION

Sekolah Kebangsaaan Pulau Perhentian in Kuala Besut area provided primary education for

local children which helped in reducing illiteracy level of local communities. However, the

population of 1,300 is not large enough for the establishment of a high school which means

they have to travel to mainland to continue their secondary education upon completion of

their primary school studies.

Many of the children might not be able to continue their secondary education due to

challenge imposed by poverty, as 25.4 percent of them live under RM500 per month, 47.4

percent earn between RM500 to RM1000, with only 27.2 percent of villagers earn more

than RM1000 per month; (Ibrahim, 2007) combined with the need to assist their family in

the highly competitive tourism business.

This would mean that the education level of the majority of children remain low, creating a

vicious cycle that traps the community in the low income group.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The development of Pulau Perhentian has directly and indirectly improved the quality of life

of local residents with the provision of infrastructures such as the public jetty for tourists

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and village jetty, kindergarten, health clinic, police base and post office dedicated for the local

communities.

A floating mosque which began construction since July 2011 aimed to replace an existing old

mosque to cater for religious needs of the locals while a 150 unit four-storey apartment is

allocated as part of the effort to provide decent housing to the residents of the island. A

futsal court will be constructed near to the jetty for the youth’s recreational activities.

(Laman Web Komuniti Desa)

These can be seen as the positive impacts of tourism development in the island to the local

communities as part of the efforts by state government to enhance the image of Pulau

Perhentian as tourist destination. The introduction of Traditional Fisherman Village

Relocation Program by the state government of Terengganu (Laman Web Komuniti Desa)

where the villagers will be relocated from the existing 9.78 hectors of fishing village land.

However, similar village relocation program by the government in other places does not

necessary yield better quality of life to the residents as such apartments requires residents

to pay certain amount of rent per month, which is a financial burden especially for those

village communities living in poverty, while they have been living in their ancestral houses in

village without having to pay for rent every month.

It is suspected that the relocation program is part of the strategy by the state government to

maximize available land for further resort development by investors. This will inevitably

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cause a major impact to their way of life as well as loss of cultural identity due to much

different living condition and location.

ENVIRONMENT

The increase of tourist arrivals and new resorts has affected the environmental quality of

the island due to poorly planned tourism development, ineffective sewerage treatment and

solid waste disposal. This resulted in algae growth on coral reefs due to overflowing septic

tanks which are unable to handle the increasing tourist numbers.

The residents become the victims of the success of Pulau Perhentian itself as a tourist

destination. Further pollution will affect the livelihood of the local residents involving in

fishing activities as well as their quality of life, which they also bear the responsibility in

polluting the sea by their unprofessional tourism practice due lack of information and

resources. Illegal fishing done by the local communities in marine conservation area due to

lack of education will eventually affect the tourism prospective of their fellow villagers,

which might cause conflicts among the villagers due to their conflict of interests.

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CULTURE

The transformation from original fishing based economy to tourism based economy

inevitably changes the lifestyles of the local community, which consequently changes the

local customs of the villagers due to the effect of globalization brought by the tourism

industry.

The villagers who are unable to adapt to the highly competitive nature of the tourism

industry from the originally laid back lifestyle of fishing village are often tagged as lazy by

the resort employers, resulting to a growing preference to employ non-locals for the jobs.

Tourists who are from other countries with different cultures performing their leisure

activities at Pulau Perhentian without knowing the local customs has brought cultural shock

to the local communities. Nude bathing, rave party on the beach and alcohol drinking which

is considered normal at their countries is unacceptable according to Islam. Performing those

acts in front of locals is an insult which will cause the erosion of moral values of the younger

generation.

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DEVELOPMENTS IN PULAU PERHENTIAN- FROM PLANNER’S PERSPECTIVE

Island generates a positive though in the tourism image. Island normally is isolated

from mainland, as places where people go for relaxation and rejuvenation has long tradition

that continuous unabated. Facing with a limited number of development options due to

their isolation, small physical size and lack of resources, many islands regard tourism as a

panacea for their economic difficulties despite the more pervasive negative economic, social

and environmental impacts that are often associated with island tourism. With their natural

attractions, the problem of isolation is easily overcome to a degree by consumers travelling

to the product, while the resources sought by tourists - sun, sea and sand - are often

renewable, abundant and inexpensive to provide.

INFRASTRUCTURES AND FACILITIES

The physical infrastructures on the islands are very basic due to the isolation of the

islands, and the small population size. These include a jetty, a primary school and

kindergarten, a health clinic, a police base and a post office, all located in the village itself.

This is because the population on that island is low. As an equal development, no matter the

size of the development is bigger or vice versa, the facilities and infrastructures must install

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first before any developments to prevent any shortage problem on electrical or water.

During proposing tourism spot in islands, the first things must located M&E services such as

TNB and water utility company where are common infrastructures needed according to

council requirement. Shortage of infrastructures will reduce the incoming tourism to the

islands to create bad image.

Lack of common facilities like nursery centre also an issue in development islands.

Small clinic should be first planning in facilities due to the islands is far away from the cities.

Hospital planning is unsuitable in islands due to limited on the site to construct. Therefore,

small stationary medical centre can be proposed. During the site planning, planner can set

the healthy spot, centre in the islands where not far from each destination. A safety island is

a key of development of tourism.

DEVELOPMENT

For a community on a small island which is a late-comer to development, oftentimes

its members will face problems adapting to the process. As a result issues are raised

regarding whether they are marginalized or had marginalized themselves because they are

unable to cope with the demands of development. The reactions of the members of the

community who basically share similar background, but have different levels of capabilities

as well as different notions of development, are shown in their actions, participation and

achievements in the socioeconomic and entrepreneurship. Development in phase must

proper plan in resident zones to provide healthy and harmony lifestyle. Suitable plot ratio

according to council requirement to avoid of any congestion occurs in that area. Land can be

evaluated according to location, topography (whether it is totally level or not), the shape,

the condition of the ground, security (whether fencing exists and the type of fencing), access

to public streets, availability of power (crucial for industrial land, and even elevation. The

prospective purchaser must evaluate a complicated set of criteria and judge not only

whether or not to purchase, but how exactly to develop the property. Land being a sensitive

commodity, various limiting conditions may also apply in certain circumstances, making the

advice of the consultants useful.

With the campaign done by Terengganu State Government, ‘Visit Terengganu Year ’,

and easy availability of loans to local entrepreneurs for tourism projects believe that can

generate tourists’ interests in the Perhentian Islands. Tourists come to Perhentian either to

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seek these attributes or to enjoy the tranquillity and natural beauty of the islands. Much of

the islands are still left in their natural hilly and forested state, fringed by rocky slopes and

steep granite cliffs. The attributes of the Perhentian Islands - limited area, lack of flat land

and isolation, determine the range and type of tourist activities and development. The

natural resources of the islands are the only touristic resources that exist. For example like

Cocohut Chalet, where fulfil this scenery, proper site planning can be done to increase the

income for that area. Even in council planning, Cocohut Chalet is under commercial zone.

This allows it to develop as commercial area.

The shortage of suitable land is forcing resort developers to consider other

beachfront sites fringed by pristine coral reefs or coastal slopes/headlands. The

development of such resorts will result in the dredging of channels across coral gardens for

boat access or destabilising slopes and releasing sediments into the fringing coral systems.

Destruction of the fringing and protective corals will expose the beaches to bigger waves.

There is also concern that many of the resorts are highly vulnerable to a potential sea level

rise, which will narrow beaches and allow the waves to directly attack resorts without an

adequate construction setback.

Look at the site planning for Cocohut Chalet where similar to all chalets in the

Perhentian Islands; it is divided into two zones, which are chalet zone as per name, places

for tourist to stay and it built at the coastal slope. Besides, set a spot activities zone for

jungle tracking, scuba diving, snorkelling, deep-sea fishing, windsurfing, kayaking and boat

trips. Adventure trails through pristine tropical jungle and spectacular coastal cliffs will be

delightful to the most discerning adventure seeker. Indeed the annual Perhentian Island

challenge attracts many local and foreign adventure sports enthusiasts to this tropical island

appropriately organized with the intention to highlight the delicate fragile ecosystem of this

tropical paradise.

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Typical layout plan for Perhentian Island resort.

- Zoning divide for activities and accommodation

- Huge Setback away the beach (mention below)


The general pattern of development that has emerged is one that characterizes most

island tourism destinations, where resorts are concentrated in a small number of coastal

localities.

When talking about development one location especially near beach side; EIA

(Environment Impact Assessment) should be carry out before any development. Perhentian

Islands is a National Maritime Park. Government is more crucial in development planning to

avoid any pollution happen at there. It is good to set up an organization to secure the

cleaner of seaside. As a planner, during design stage divide the land use, need to consider

having more setbacks away from the sea to prevent any obstructive construction nearby

sea. If that is near to turtle breeding area, any development should far away. For example

like six sandy beaches of Perhentian Islands like Tanjung Gantung, Pasir Pengalau, Pasir Tiga

Ruang, Tanjung Tiga Ruang, Tanjung Tukas Laut, and Tanjung Pinang Seribu where can

attract the Penyu Karah, Penyu Agar to lay eggs.

WASTE MANAGMENT

Few time ago even nowadays, Perhentian was facing the danger of pollution and

poor waste management, which in turn affected the island’s tropical-wonderland image and

the health of its coral reefs. So, a proper dumping site should be located in Islands. Island

planning for dumping areas should be study before set up because of its smell at the

garbage can spoilt the health of resident in the same time also affect the image of tourism.

Perhentian Islands should plan to build a new waste transfer station on the island to reduce

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the back- log of waste. With the help of Besut District Council, New station would expedite

the compression of the garbage before it is shipped to the mainland incineration site and

can be used for landfill in future. The advantages of set up new station are:-

a) Able to reduce the pollution of the environment

b) Raising the delivery capacity of domestic waste Landfill Site in future

At that garbage loading area, a room consist of sprinkler system must be install to

emits enzyme solution to reduce dust and foul smell, also to create a secondary leachate

treatment system to treat leachate water from the garbage. So, as a town planner to do

planning in the islands, this is the crucial things should be study on good location to set up

garbage loading area and new waste station.

To tackle the waste water disposal issues, individual resort operators must construct

their own waste water disposal, usually through the use of a common septic tank where the

effluent is soaked into the sand and discharged into the sea. A huge sanitary treatment plant

as construct at mainland is not suitable in the islands due to site constraint. While this (own

waste water treatment) may be the most appropriate and economical form of waste water

treatment, it is a potential source of contamination of the ground water used by all the

tourist resorts. Dislodging is not a common practice and the tanks may be flooded during

the monsoon season.

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

Due to potential constant wind speed at the islands, Perhentian Islands has potential

to built energy farm to generate its own energy. A thorough research and analysis of the

wind speed was done by the NEB ES and the University Kebangsaan Malaysia. An average

monthly wind speed was recorded from 2003 to 2005. The wind data is shown in below.

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The average wind speed throughout the year has potential to set wind solar farm. If

the wind turbine had been running well there would be some extra power that could be

eventually sold to the hoteliers on the island who have been depending on their own

individual diesel generating sets for power thus contributing to air and noise pollution with

the risk of oil spillage on the beautiful tourism island where diving and water activities is a

major attraction.

CONCLUSION

Islands can be significantly damaged for generations and perhaps forever by

unplanned and uncontrolled tourism. The depth of resources is not simply allowed to

recovery. Therefore, due to its small physical size, the caution well planning should be

carrying out during development in Perhentian Islands. Mega tourism project promote by

tourism planner is inappropriate for Perhentian; conversely, it would destroy the very

resources that tourism depends on and bring about the malaise of the industry.

Under the development concept for islands proposed by the Department of Rural

and Town Planning, the development strategy for Perhentian should emphasize on its rich

flora and fauna. This development concept is to be based on resort development,

environmental preservation and community development. The present form of

development characterized by small resorts, local community participation and small tourist

numbers falls in line with this development strategy and should be maintained. However,

existing facilities should be upgraded, while at the same time provisions can be made to

ensure that the local community benefits more from the tourist industry.

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DEVELOPMENTS IN PULAU PERHENTIAN- FROM DEVELOPER’S PERSPECTIVE

According to Lonely Planet, the largest travel guide book publisher in the world,

Terengganu’s Perhentian Islands are “arguably the most beautiful islands in Malaysia”.

Consists of Pulau Perhentian Kecil and Pulau Perhentian Besar, both Perhentian islands are

surrounded by beautiful palm-fringed sandy beaches and crystal-clear turquoise-blue sea.

Even as a world-famous tourism spot, the islands have dodged major developments so far,

as compared to Tioman Island and Krabi islands. Due to the under-development of the

tourism spot, some shortcomings and issues have been identified on both islands, especially

on Pulau Perhentian Besar in particular.

ISSUES

Lack of proper power supply- Resort and chalet operators on Pulau Perhentian have been

depending on diesel-running generators to generate electricity as there is no direct

electricity supply from national grid. The diesel needed to generate electricity costs

thousands every week, and yet there would be no reliable power supply with blackouts

occurring every now and then as the generators will be malfunctioned from time to time.

Costs and impacts of the uses of diesel- From the last 20 years, both islands sustained their

tourism industry with the consumption of diesel, for both power supply and transportation.

Expenditures on the fuel are not subsidised by government even though both islands are

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guide_book


one of the major tourist spot in Malaysia. Furthermore, oily discharges from engines will

foul the waters of Perhentian.

Ineffective waste management- During peak season, in July and August, visitors are likely to

spot a mound of overflowing black plastic bags on rickety pontoons scattered around the

islands. Resort operators dumped all their rubbish onto pontoons floating off the island, to

be later collected by boats and sent to the mainland daily. When the sea got rough, rubbish

spilt into the water. Sometimes when there is too much rubbish, the contractor just dumps

the rubbish somewhere without bringing them back to the mainland.

Lack of proper water supply- Clean, drinkable water is only available to a handful of resort

and chalet operators on the island. The owners have to fork out more money to buy

drinking water from mainland every year, thus adding to their expenses. Although there’s

plenty of tube well on both islands, it is for non-drinking purposes only as there are no

proper filtration systems available yet.

Poorly planned tourism development- Most of the resorts planning on the islands were

either too concentrated on a particular hotspot, or too scattered all around the island. The

area which has higher occupancy rates will have pollution issues. Without a unified tourism

development system, every resort operators have their own rules and regulations to attract

the tourist and gain profits. Turtle riding, illegal fishing and more activities which claimed to

be held to please their client, are having a great impact on the ecosystem and the

degradation of the reef.

Lack of health care facilities- There are no formal health care facilities on both islands.

Although there are medical assistants been stationed on Perhentian islands, it is still not

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adequate especially during emergencies, where the locals have to go as far as Hospital

Besut, Hospital Kota Bharu, or Hospital USM at Kubang Krian in order to consult a doctor.

DEVELOPMENTS?

Developments are always desired by the communities that understand its benefits.

However, each proposed development that introduced to the communities often leads to

different reactions from its members. Most of the time the locals will face problems

adapting to the process, especially for the community on Perhentian islands which is late-

comer to development.

As a result, many issues are raised regarding whether they are marginalized along with the

development process; or they had marginalized themselves as they were unable to cope

with the demands of development.

It is undeniable that sometimes, a development that is meant to bring greater good to the

locals will have negative implications in the end, due to the ineffective planning and lack of

participation from the locals. The locals play a vital role when it comes to a positive tourism

development. Thus, a good developer should integrate as many local residents as possible in

their respective development, and to support them for a positive social and economic

transformation.

PROPOSAL

There’s no doubt that Perhentian islands are one of the most significant tourist spot in

Malaysia, but issues that occur due to under-developed of the island will have a major

impact on the island itself in the near future. A further development proposal which will

band together the resort operators on the island is needed to keep the island healthy and

adaptable to social and economic growth.

The islands need to be supplied with a proper electricity supply from national grid and clean,

consumable water supply for the locals and resort guests. Only when these fundamental

needs were fulfilled, the locals will start to feel involved in the development process and

willingly to participate in it.

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Implementation of a proper and greener waste management system, such as Bio-Robic

septic tank which uses an anaerobic and oxidation filtration technology to produces treated

wastewater that is low in ammonia nitrogen and can be used for irrigation and washing,

helps to reduce the wastage that been discharged into the sea. In the long run, both tourism

and fishing business on Perhentian islands will remain unaffected as the sea will be free

from domestic pollution.

More private developers should be welcomed by the locals to invest in the tourism industry,

and to provide more variety of facilities and amenities for both the locals and the guests,

such as a better jetty for boarding or a modern tourism complex. The involvement of private

sectors should be minor, to prevent the island to be commercialised by the developers.

MARGINALIZED?

Generally, the tourism industry of Perhentian islands has been greatly affected the socio-

economy of the locals. Most of them have positive views on the changes brought by the

development, where the increasing number of guests will lead to more job opportunity for

the locals. From tour guides to restaurant chefs, the variety of job opportunities is so wide

open that the locals were not limited to fishing activities anymore from the past decade.

Although development will increase the income of the locals, there are still some downside

scenarios. One of them is the negative perceptions among the developers on the local

residents. The discriminations were mainly due to the lack of knowledge and skills as

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compared to those in the mainland, thus making them uncomfortable with the changes and

feel marginalized. The locals are not to be blamed as they have limited access to resources

and information, which in turn makes them less competitive and dedicated.

SUMMARY

Tourism in Perhentian should be developed in a planned and orderly manner so as to

provide the maximum benefits to the island and its residents while ensuring that adverse

effects on the social, economic, cultural and general quality of life of the people and the

environment are minimised. A development should integrate with the locals to ensure a

harmonious and reciprocal relationship between both parties. Developers have to be very

sensitive when it comes to socio-economic and environmental issues to avoid conflict with

the locals. Lack of skill and experience of the locals could be overcome as long as there are

supports from both developers and government. The locals should be exposed with the

implication of the development at the early stage of planning, and give them the

opportunity to take part along with the development. With the participation and supports

from the locals, a development will be benefiting and meaningful.

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effects of development on pulau perhentian

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