LETTER TO THE EDITOR
CRACKDOWN ON WILDLIFE TRADE SORELY NEEDED AND APPRECIATED
It is with relief, hope, and gratitude that environmentalists
received the welcome news that Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Abdul
Hamid Bador has directed that all District Police Chiefs will have to report on
wildlife trade in their jurisdictions within a month (19 Aug 2020). This is
consistent with the IGP’s earlier pledge in October 2019 to crack down hard on
wildlife crimes and push for harsher penalties for those convicted of wildlife
crimes.
We further commend the Royal Malaysian Police
(PDRM)’s decision to revoke the firearm licenses of licence holders who are
found to have engaged in the hunting of wildlife, and hope that PDRM will
continue to investigate licence holders, and revoke licenses and confiscate
firearms where necessary. This is not only an important move to curtail
wildlife hunting and to prevent the killing of wildlife in situations where the
wild animal does not pose an actual and immediate threat to human lives and
safety, but also to preserve national security and reduce firearm-related
accidents, injuries, and deaths.
Our IGP’s commitment to protecting Malaysia’s
wildlife is applauded, as is the Department of Wildlife and National Parks of
Peninsular Malaysia’s (Perhilitan) recent operations which resulted in the arrest
of poachers and the timely rescue of live animals and recovery of wildlife parts
and products. The public is, however, understandably concerned that many such
operations succeed in the arrests only of rural and indigenous hunters and
couriers and other bit-players in wildlife crime networks, while the kingpins who
fuel demand and create supply in the wildlife trade manage to avoid detection
and arrest. This is why recommendations such as a shoot-on-sight policy will
not work – not merely because it goes against human rights and the due process
of law and may lead to abuse of power and extrajudicial killings, but because
it unfairly targets the pawns in wildlife trade, and may even delay or hinder the
discovery and arrest of wildlife kingpins. What we need is for our enforcement
agencies to work together with INTERPOL, conservation groups such as TRAFFIC
Southeast Asia and MYCAT, and governmental and intergovernmental agencies to
gather incriminating evidence against these ringleaders and masterminds and
bring them to justice. Without the incapacitation of these wildlife trade
syndicates and their leaders, there can be no effective and lasting justice for,
or protection of, wildlife.
Malaysia’s wildlife species have been declining
rapidly due to poaching, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and
human-wildlife conflict. Hardly a week goes by without another news report of
elephant or tapir deaths due to traffic accidents or poisoning, or tiger deaths
due to poaching or as revenge for eating livestock. For years, concerned
members of the public and conservation NGOs have been alerting the police and Perhilitan
to the presence of pet stores, traditional medicine shops, restaurants, and
online traders selling wildlife and wildlife parts, only to experience frustration
and dismay when these reports did not result in arrests or consequences. Conservationists
have long urged for swift and decisive action to be taken against wildlife
offenders and for harsher penalties to be meted out, but progress has been slow
and inconsistent. It is an open secret that VIPs and people in positions of
power and influence are often involved in wildlife crimes and often get away
unpunished. The ‘soft approach’ to tackling wildlife crimes has not worked. Too
much resources and manpower have already been poured into education and
awareness programmes, yet at the end of the day when all the posters have been
painted and the prizes given out and the mascots have done song-and-dance
routines in schools and shopping malls, the wildlife trade has not only continued
unabated but flourished, because the financial rewards are significant, and the
penalties lenient and derisory. The time for diplomacy and coercion is over,
and the time for concrete action is long overdue. For too long, wildlife and
environmental crimes have been perceived as being victimless, or less serious
than crimes against fellow humans or property, which explains why the penalties
are frequently inadequate. Today, we know this is not true. The wildlife trade
is a lucrative one, and it finances and is linked to human trafficking, the
drug trade, organised crime, governmental corruption, and terrorist activity.
The punishment for wildlife offences must therefore be commensurate with their gravity
and the damage and harm they cause to the environment, biodiversity, and human
society.
There are amendments being proposed to the
Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 to increase the minimum penalty for wildlife
poaching to a minimum fine of RM1 million and 15 years’ imprisonment. I believe
I speak for all right-thinking and responsible Malaysians when I urge all Members
of Parliament to vote in favour of these harsher penalties. Any MP who votes
against these proposed harsher penalties should be investigated for any
possible links with the wildlife trade industry, as it is inconceivable that there
could be any good reason to oppose such a proposal. A vote for a harsher sentence
is therefore a vote against corruption, cruelty, and the sheer idiocy of unscientific
practices such as the consumption of wild animals for their ostensible medicinal
value. A vote for a harsher sentence is not only a vote for the continued
survival of wild and endangered species, but a vote for a safer, better, and
healthier country and planet.
WONG EE LYNN
PETALING JAYA
