Dance delicately with nature, not wrestle it

THE sight of a crocodile swimming in the waters off Teluk Bahang, Penang, on Tuesday was more than just an anomaly: it was a symbol of our strained relationship with nature.

The reptile’s shocking appearance – not in a remote river but at a popular tourist beach – should serve as an immediate and uncomfortable wake-up call, reinforcing a lesson Malaysia has been learning the hard way: rapid, unsustainable urban expan­sion inevitably leads to conflict with nature.