Consider a future headline: "Malaysia fights the sea and loses parts of itself". Be warned, such a future isn't generations away.
As honorary professor Datuk Dr Zulfigar Yasin of Universiti Sains Malaysia's Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies tells this newspaper, it may be less than 10 years away.
For a maritime nation with 4,809km of shoreline, coastal erosion caused by ever-rising sea levels is certainly a clear and present danger. If nothing is done, he warns, low-lying areas in Penang and Kedah will be swallowed up by the hungry sea.
So, too, will low-lying areas in Sabah, Sarawak, Johor, Perak and Terengganu. The government isn't unaware of such dangers. As long ago as 1984, it commissioned a national coastal erosion study that found 1,390km of the country's shoreline subjected to erosion of various degrees of danger. But those were times when climate science was in its infancy.
An analysis by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) tells us that the average rise of sea levels in the country was 0.1 m over the last 10 years. If the UPM study is right, this rate is expected to accelerate to one metre by 2100.
Malaysia isn't the Maldives, but it doesn't mean with such high sea levels, our coasts will be spared death and destruction.
Notwithstanding the fact that climate science is much more advanced now, Malaysia is still on a slow amble to net zero.
Imagine in this day and age, coastal dwellers are not aware and educated on the danger they are in.
Here is why. All the governments we have had, despite their talk of inclusivity, found it so hard to bring the people into their climate change process. This must change.
True, we have the Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Ministry. But couldn't we have set this up earlier? We tell the government this: Be very worried.
The coastal areas of Malaysia are of great socio-economic importance as they support more than 70 per cent of the country's 33 million people. A fair bit of it — one estimate puts it at 13 per cent — are within 5km of the coast.
Let's not forget some six per cent of our oil palm plantations and four per cent of rubber estates are located near coastal areas. Remember, too, our padi fields in the rice bowl state of Kedah. Briny intrusion may just put an end to our staple diet. Food for thought?
Malaysia needs a sea defence system. We may not need the sophistication of the Dutch dykes because the South China Sea doesn't rage like the North Sea does there. Besides, Rotterdam, Europe's mighty port is 80 per cent below sea level.
But it doesn't mean Malaysia can't learn from the Netherlands, a country with 27 per cent of its land below sea level.
The Dutch sea defence system is a story of capital and culture. We may not have the former, but we can surely develop the latter.
For this to happen, the government must include the coastal dwellers, if not others, in the sea defence system.
Climate change mitigation measures will only succeed if Malaysia adopts a whole-of-nation approach.
One more thing. Malaysians must stop thinking that climate disasters are what happens somewhere else. Recent extreme weather events tell us climate disasters can happen here too.