Why is Perhilitan not responding?http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/137923Sean Whyte
Jul 21, 10
12:40pm
Much has ben written about the proposed new law offering greater protection to wild animals, particularly those in captivity.
On the face of it the new law holds much to look forward to. Things can only improve. But, wait a minute.
What makes anyone think things will improve from even the low standard of animal welfare already existing in Malaysia? If our experience is anything to go by, nothing much, if anything, will change for the better and animals will continue to be trafficked and abused right under the noses of enforcement officials.
The existing Protection of Wildlife Act 1972 provides the Department for Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) with ample opportunity to clamp down on illegal wildlife trading and the abuse of animals in zoos. It does neither.
Even the highly critical National Geographic magazine report in January of this year failed to prod Perhilitan into action, possibly because Perhilitan itself was openly exposed as being at best incompetent, at worst, very sympathetic to those who break the law.
Since January of this year, Nature Alert has filed no less than six detailed, critical reports on conditions in zoos in Malaysia. None have been acted upon.
We have sought help from the Public Complaints Bureau who on the face of it whilst supportive, they have been unsuccessful in persuading Perhilitan to respond to the reports and additional criticisms of how they operate.
Dozens of people have reported their concerns about Perhilitan to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), who, worryingly, seemingly have failed to investigate the reports. If MACC cannot be trusted, who in government can?
Minister Douglas Embas has been kept fully aware of the growing public concern regarding Perhilitan but he also refuses to respond to complaints. One can only wonder why.
How does this all bode for the future? Not good. In fact, it looks very bad for wildlife, particularly those animals and birds unfortunate to be already incarcerated in zoos and wild animal parks.
If Perhilitan will not enforce even the existing wildlife law (and it does not), what hope is there the department would even consider enforcing a new law?
All the evidence to date suggests it will be 'business as usual' for the illegal wildlife traders and zoos – sometimes one and the same thing.
A sad prospect for those Malaysians who do care and international visitors who often find the sight of animals clearly suffering in zoos to be very upsetting.
Jul 28 2010, 02:49 PM
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