WHEN asked what animal you would most associate with Malaysia, you would likely say the Malayan tiger or orangutan.

Such animals play an especially important role in Malaysian culture. For instance, the Malayan tiger is emblazoned on the country’s official coat of arms, displayed on some of the nation’s most recognised logos, and inspired the nickname of the national football team, Harimau Malaya.

The tropical rainforests scattered throughout the country have provided an extremely rare natural refuge for species such as the Malayan tiger and 26 other endangered endemic species for thousands of years. These rainforests are also examples of some of the most complex and extraordinary ecosystems in the world.

To put this uniqueness into perspective, an estimated 170,000 different species of animal and plants can be found throughout the nation’s 717 protected areas. This puts Malaysia in a special category as one of twelve countries globally considered as “megadiverse”. Unfortunately, a dark reality exists for the tigers and many other species within these statistics.  

Malaysia is a key global hub for wildlife trafficking. The industry is the fourth largest organised crime activity after the trafficking of humans, drugs, and counterfeiting globally. It generates an estimated RM 84.6 billion in profits annually while simultaneously reducing biodiversity, destroying unique ecosystems, threatening wildlife extinction, encouraging corruption, and undermining the law.

As a result, Malaysia is fighting a twofold battle. Firstly, large numbers of animals are being illegally poached and transported to lucrative overseas markets. Secondly, Malaysia is being used by wildlife traffickers as a temporary transit point for the flow of wildlife and wildlife products between Africa and the rest of Asia.

Within this nexus of illegal wildlife trade, Malaysia has earned the unenviable badge of being a paramount ivory transit country. Each year, our ports facilitate the flow of tonnes of illicit ivory, with 1/5 of total global ivory seizures occurring in Malaysian ports between 2003 and 2014.

It is a deplorable state of affairs, especially as Malaysian rainforests remain one of the last natural strongholds for many of the species affected. Malaysia’s image of an “environmental haven” stands in stark contrast to the grim reality that it is also one of the world’s largest hubs for illegal wildlife trafficking.

To the government’s credit, there have been efforts taken to combat wildlife trafficking. For example, the introduction of environmental courts has improved efficiency when convicting poachers and traffickers, harnessing greater expertise in the field and ensuring uniformity in decision-making in environmental cases. Legislation authorising the destruction of elephant ivory has also helped by deterring smugglers who previously used Malaysia as a transshipment point.

However, a number of prominent issues remain and must be solved in order to make Malaysia’s wildlife trafficking policy more effective and powerful in this uphill battle.

A major controversy in Malaysia and the rest of Southeast Asia is that wildlife traffickers are not treated as serious criminals. In Malaysia, the most severe punishment a wildlife trafficker can receive is a five-year prison sentence and a RM50,000 fine for the trafficking of rhino ivory. Yet a drug trafficker can receive the death penalty for performing a similar crime despite estimates suggesting a certain weight of rhino ivory to be worth more than the equivalent weight of cocaine on the black market. The punishments enforced by Malaysian law seem negligible, especially as traffickers only need to sell 188g of Rhino ivory to pay off such a fine.

For comparison, a number of African nations impose 20-year prison sentences and fines up to RM3 million for wildlife trafficking and poaching. The introduction of longer sentences and larger fines would help intimidate traffickers and poachers to discourage them from continuing such practices, as well as removing more culprits from the industry for longer periods of time.

Apart from weak punitive measures, another challenge lies in wildlife policies, which are outdated and stagnant. For example, both Sarawak’s Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998 and Sabah’s Wildlife Regulations 1998 are enforced, despite both not being updated for 20 years.  In particular, Sarawak’s Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998 should be updated so that all the species in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) Appendix I and II are classified as totally protected animals/plants instead of just the 139 protected species currently listed.

As Malaysia’s problem is heavily intertwined with transnational wildlife trafficking, wildlife authorities such as Perhilitan, the Sabah Wildlife Department, and the Forests Department of Sarawak, should encourage greater cooperation and communication between Malaysia and the international community. This could be achieved through promoting more regular gatherings and greater solidarity within the Senior Officials Meetings on Transnational Crime or ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network, greater coordination with African nations to investigate and prosecute transnational wildlife crime cases using the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and seeking greater international information sharing with foreign law enforcement agencies through the use of Interpol channels and various international aid and technical organisation such as UNODC, Usaid, and Cites.

With as few as 250 wild Malayan tigers living free in the rainforests, time is running out to save this rare species and many others from extinction. Let this be a stark reminder to the nation to amend and enforce more stringent policies to help protect the iconic animal which has embodied the nation for decades. – August 13, 2018.

* Andrew Wells is an intern at the Penang Institute in Kuala Lumpur. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences from University College London and his interests peak in topics regarding the current environmental and climate crisis facing Malaysia and the rest of the world.

* Andrew Wells is an Intern at the Penang Institute in Kuala Lumpur. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences from University College London and his interests peak in topics regarding the current environmental and climate crisis facing Malaysia and the rest of the world.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.