Kalyanee Mam Reflection

Kalyanee Mam's presentation put into perspective something that many may take for granted. She began her presentation with a question of "What is home to you?" The general trend among respondents was a series of responses pertaining to family or interpersonal relationships. However, Mam's film that she screened, Lost World, covered something radically different yet equally significant: the land beneath our feet.

The film covered the story of a Cambodian woman, Phalla Vy, and her perspective as she observes dredging, piles of sand being used for the expansion of Singapore, and Gardens by the Bay, an artificial garden theme park. What struck me about the film was how Mam displayed the flippancy of the dredging industry as a whole. They failed to recognize the importance of sand to the locals in Cambodia, as without sand, the local crab population goes down, and the livelihood of fisherwomen like Vy is endangered. The government stopped protests by the locals who were being directly harmed by this process, and from Vy's own perspective, when the people on the industrial boats see villagers coming by, they just dredge harder and faster to spite them. This resonated with me, as my studies in Biology this year have shown me the far-reaching repercussions of environmental disturbance both for those affected and in the future. As Vy said, the destruction of entire islands has been the "destruction of their grandchildren's future, home, and way of life." After the film, Mam went on to name three islands that were completely destroyed because of the extensive dredging in Cambodia. All the harm to Vy came with the destruction of one island, so extending this to many others means the destruction of regional culture for many more than just one culture in Cambodia.

What's more was that land from the islands in Cambodia was being used to create a theme park intended to encourage sustainability and an effort to fight climate change, ironic because the very land was wrested from the hands of Cambodian people living sustainable lifestyles. What's worse is revealed in Vy's revelations concerning the park. Vy in the park notices a flower that is beautiful but belies key features that portray the reality of Gardens by the Bay. She makes the observations that the flower does not have seeds, and it doesn't seem to be well-attached to the ground. Following these observations, the flowers probably have to be replenished every couple of weeks, as well as the substrate that they grow on. The flowers themselves, it seems, are a reflection of the unsustainability we live with in our society, as even if we want to dance around issues concerning sustainability with catchy terms and amusement parks, these issues cannot and will not resolve themselves. We as a society need to recognize that prosperity at times, can come at a price, and in this case, the Cambodian people suffer at the expense of Singaporean hotel owners who want to continue a facade of sustainability for cold hard cash.