Among many metropolises in the US, Chicago is the city I have visited the most. It is one of my favorite cities, beautiful during autumn and winter time, much better during spring and summer. I wish my old hard drive had not died on me. Too much of my past is buried in that hard drive, driving me insane, losing my mind for a time. For me to get to Chicago from little Ann Arbor, I always rode along I-94 highway. Crisscrossing the Midwest, it took me some time to notice a town called Gary in Indiana. My recent hiking trip brought me passed Rawang and the surprisingly bustling town north of Kuala Lumpur reminds me of that town in Indiana.
Gary is a typical, mostly uninteresting town around Lake Michigan. By comparison, Ann Arbor is richer in so many ways despite being slightly larger than Gary. Gary’s history however pulls it out of obscurity, if one cares to learn about its dark past.
Apart from being the home of the Jackson family and for fans of Star Wars, Ralph McQuarrie, the city was closely linked to the steel industry. It was the home of the largest integrated steel mill in the northern hemisphere, owned by the United States Steel Corporation. Perhaps, needless to say, in times when environmentalism has yet to firmly take hold in public consciousness, heavy industries like steel manufacturing produce heavy pollution. For Gary, the air, water and earth were not spared. Nothing escaped the unwanted byproducts of steel manufacturing. Hurley writes:
Every evening the mills presented viewers with a display of giant torches, erupting sparks, and massive factories engraved against a glowing red sky. Day and night, black and red smoked wafted through the atmosphere while oils, greases, and chemicals streaked across rivers and lakes. [Environmental Inequalities. Huxley, Andrew]
While on my way to St. Louis to celebrate Thanksgiving, I remember passing through Gary and explaining to a friend why Gary was remarkable as far as the steel industry is concerned. Unlike what had been pictured by my readings however, Gary nowadays does not suffer from the pollution it once had to endure any longer.
Prior that trip that brought me to Rawang, years ago, it was a forgettable town. The only thing that kept Rawang inside my consciousness was the fact that the town sat at the very end of the Malayan Railways’ electric train service. Now, it is an active town with respectable night scene and noticeable traffic congestion, perhaps signaling the economic growth it is undergoing.
My friends and I stopped at Rawang for dinner. It was not long before we found ourselves leaving Rawang, hopping on the North-South Highway back to Kuala Lumpur, back to home. Just after the Rawang toll gate, visibility suddenly dropped to an alarming level. Naturally, the question had to pop up: “Wassup?”
A friend on the wheel explained that Rawang is home to a large cement mill. “Dust is everywhere”, he said. Just a few kilometers behind, APM, a cement producer, churned more cement that many dependent on, undoubtedly contributing to the bad air quality.
“Had anybody complained?”
Sadly, “yes and it is falling on deaf ears.” He continued further by stating that foreign companies enjoy lower cost in Malaysia because of lower environmental standards. In developed countries, the environmental requirements are so tight that it makes economic sense to move out and operate elsewhere where the cost is cheaper.
I am unsure how much a parallel Rawang is to Gary but the dusty, smoggy Rawang air does somewhat perfectly fit the bill I had in my mind for Gary. I will not be happy in Rawang, coughing all the day, clearing my throat of residuals from industrial activities related to cement production.