DR WONG SIEW TE
Founder and chief executive officer, Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC)
REFLECTIONS
We must learn from the failures to safeguard our wildlife, and to make sure that bad historic events will not repeat. In 2019, Malaysian and the entire world mourned the loss of our last male and female Sumatra rhino, Tam and Iman respectively. We have to take this country extinction of Sumatra rhino seriously, and do everything possible to stop the extinction of other endangered species like Malayan tigers, tapirs, gaurs, bantings, Asian elephants, sun bears and many others.
Over the past few decades, we have failed to safeguard many of our lowland rainforests, the most crucial elements for the survival of all forest dependent species. This threat was and is immediately followed by many forms of encroachments including poaching. With the gap between the rich and the poor becoming bigger and bigger, the small portion of rich people are willing to pay very high prices on wildlife products including exotic pets, to a point where poor poachers and wildlife traders like Amsyar Imani Bin Ahmad Zaifuddin, a.k.a. Kejora Amsyar, will risk everything to exploit our precious wildlife.
We must declare war on poachers, wildlife traders, traffickers, and buyers. Imagine that this relatively small group of people have caused a huge negative impact to the survival of our precious wildlife. Thankfully in 2019 we have started to see many changes in our country to protect our remaining wildlife. Department of Wildlife and National Park Peninsular Malaysia or Perhilitan, Sabah Wildlife Department, and Sarawak Forestry Department have launched a series of operations to patrol and look out for illegal activities in our forests. More wildlife offenders are being prosecuted in courts and sentenced accordingly.
HOPES
I wish for a time machine so we could travel back ten or twenty years ago to put enough wildlife patrolling and antipoaching teams in our forests. While this isn’t possible, my second wish is for more patrolling and anti-poaching teams now and harsher punishments for the offenders who are targeting the remaining wildlife in our country, in the coming new year!