WHEN Zuraida Kamaruddin recently cast aspersions on orangutans, it would be understandable if the supposedly endangered species of the ape family felt more than slighted.

The plantation industries and commodities minister – in a viral video – is seen saying that if an orangutan sees a human, it will be the first to kill the human before the latter can do so.

She said this at a seminar organised by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, as a response to claims that the palm oil industry threatens the existence of orangutans.

Such an assertion stirred a protest, particularly from animal lovers and environmentalists.

Probably in hindsight and after receiving public backlash against an unsavoury characterisation of the ape family, ministry officials said Zuraida meant it as a joke.

Perhaps the general public was too quick to underestimate her talent to be a joker. Credit should be given where it is due.

That notwithstanding, the orangutans themselves are already stressed out by the fact that they – as well as other wildlife – have been driven out of their natural habitat over the years, owing to activities in which their fellow primates in stylish suits are indulged – development.

If orangutans could ape us humans, they would seek a court order to restrain the advocates of “development” from encroaching on their terrain if they had the wherewithal to do so.

This is because encroachment – in search of timber and minerals, and animal poaching – can result in unleashing floods to nearby villagers and places where they get their food, despite Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man’s studied assurance that our country will not be affected by climate change – never mind deforestation.

Given such a dire prospect, the orangutans may be inclined to do what humans are bound to do – have law enforcers impose a lockdown in strategic locations to catch targeted Homo sapiens – even if it will mean the former may end up in a wild goose chase.

To be sure, someone’s goose will be cooked if the operation fails.

This is, of course, short of fumigating the entire forest with chemicals that will send humans running helter-skelter out of the woods – but pollute only the flora and fauna that certain state governments, whose main revenue derives from logging, will keenly consider to protect.

Perhaps Zuraida should not be harsh on or unduly suspicious of orangutans as the latter are not too dissimilar to humans.

Orangutans have a survival instinct, so they will swing from one tree branch to another or perch on high places when they sense a danger to their life and survival – much like how humans will do anything and everything, such as habitually jumping from one party to another to cling to precious power.

In fact, orangutans, like humans, will be inclined to fight tooth and nail with members within the ape family if raw power is at stake – all done in the name of protecting the dignity and interest of the collective.

Like orangutans, some of us will wholeheartedly embrace the notion of the law of the jungle, where not only will the fittest survive, but certain leaders of the surviving pack will be able to enjoy blind loyalty of followers, no matter how serious their transgressions are in the past.

In other words, herd mentality thrives in such a context.

There is an animal in some humans, whose characteristics may be enviable even to a devouring lion that is curiously not made available in this part of the world. – January 23, 2022.