Gorilla article from Malaysiakini

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Ten cheers for Sahabat Alam Malaysia!

 

17 April 2004 Malaysiakini.com

 

SAM beats chest in anger over gorilla monkey business

 

6:38:45 PM Apr 16, 2004

 

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) today took Malaysian authorities to task for

purportedly keeping a tight lid on the shipment of four illegally-sourced

Cameroonian gorillas to South Africa.

 

The environmental group said the decision to keep the controversial

shipment secret was 'inexcusable' and 'pathetic'.

 

" It appears that things are being swept under the carpet and will not be

allowed to see the light of day, " said its president SM Mohamed Idris in a

statement.

 

The gorillas, first brought into the country in January 2002 by the Taiping

Zoo, were discovered by the International Primate Protection League (IPPL)

three months later to have been imported with falsified documents.

 

In response, then Science, Technology and Environment Minister Law Hieng

Ding (photo) claimed that his ministry was duped into signing the falsified

permits governing the transhipment of the endangered species.

 

The four lowland gorillas - as confirmed later by an official Nigerian

presidential investigation - were believed to have been smuggled into

Nigeria and where false documents were issued stating they were of Nigerian

origin and born at the University of Ibadan Zoo.

 

Controversial decision

 

Following this, the ministry then announced that it would ship the animals

to South Africa under a bilateral deal between Malaysia's wildlife

department and the National Zoological Gardens of Pretoria.

 

This decision sparked off another round of criticism - this time from the

Cameroonian government itself, which wanted the gorillas returned

 

The IPPL also protested the move and claimed that the South African Zoo's

track record was less than desirable.

 

Quoting sources, The Star in a report today said the gorillas were sent to

South Africa on Tuesday accompanied by Taiping municipal council president

Jamalludin Al Amini Ahmad and zookeeper K Mani.

 

It added that the media was kept in the dark about the transfer on

instruction from " a higher authority " .

 

Money wasted

 

Mohamed in his statement said it was a " sheer wastage of public funds " to

firstly bring in the four gorillas to the tune of RM300,000, and to later

incur further costs in exporting them to South Africa.

 

He also questioned why the ministry chose to cover up the affair by

refusing to initiate investigations into the matter, in light of the

environment minister's own admission that he was duped into signing the

falsified export permits.

 

" Several Malaysians were involved in the transaction, yet the (zoo)

director, dealers and brokers got off scot-free. Something is obviously

wrong with a system that continuously allows loopholes to exist and has no

accountability, " he said.

 

The activist also questioned why the government stuck with Pretoria as its

choice, ignoring the protests by wildlife and environmental groups.

 

" The public has every right to know why this is a hush-up affair, " he said.

 

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