Editorial: Are We Cursed as a Nation?

The Environmental Pain of Dredging in Gunjur Sambuya

The devastation unfolding along the Gunjur Sambuya coastline is a painful reminder of how little value is placed on our environment and communities when corporate greed goes unchecked. The dredging operations of Sino Majilac Jalbak (SMJ) are not only disfiguring a once-beautiful coastline but also exposing a troubling pattern of negligence, impunity, and disregard for the people of Gunjur.

The Chinese owned Sino Majilac Jalbak (SMJ) dredging equipment at Gunjur Sambuyang beach

From the very beginning, environmental advocates sounded the alarm. Gunjur Online and other concerned citizens insisted on a thorough Environmental Impact Assessment and genuine community consultations before any dredging could begin. Instead, these safeguards were dismissed or reduced to box-ticking exercises. Today, the consequences are plain to see: pipes laid into the sea obstruct natural movement along the shoreline, destroying access between Gunjur and Sanyang, while the coastline itself bears fresh scars of reckless exploitation.

This is not an isolated tragedy. The painful experience with the Golden Lead Fish Meal Company should have taught us a lesson. Yet here we are again, witnessing the same cycle of exploitation, our resources extracted, our environment degraded, and our people left to grapple with the fallout.

What should have been a blessing has become a curse. Gunjur’s rich natural resources ought to bring sustainable livelihoods, food security, and prosperity. Instead, companies like Golden Lead and SMJ have turned them into sources of pollution, displacement, and despair.

The costs are immense:

• Marine ecosystems are being destabilised.

• Fishing communities face dwindling catches and uncertain futures.

• Access to traditional spaces is being eroded.

• Tourism potential is being undercut by environmental ruin.

The long-term damage from unchecked dredging cannot be overstated. It threatens not just our environment but our identity, economy, and survival as coastal communities.

The question we must ask ourselves is stark: Are we cursed as a nation, or are we simply failing to stand up for ourselves? If we continue to allow companies like SMJ to operate with impunity, then we are complicit in the destruction of our own future.

The time to act is now. Environmental protection cannot be treated as optional. Regulators must enforce the laws that exist, and where they are weak, strengthen them. Communities must not only be heard but empowered to say no when projects endanger their way of life. And as a nation, we must finally decide that the long-term well-being of our people and environment outweighs the short-term profits of private interests.

Otherwise, the curse we fear is not fate, it is our own doing.