TEMERLOH, July 29 — The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah today called for wildlife conservation efforts to be strengthened to prevent threats to wildlife species that can lead to their extinction.
Al-Sultan Abdullah said there must be a concerted effort involving all parties to preserve wildlife including the Malayan Tiger.
“All parties including non-governmental organisations and individuals need to come together to preserve this national icon as well as other wildlife so that they will continue to exist …and this on-going effort must be made a priority.”
His Majesty said this at the proclamation of the Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve and Tengku Hassanal Wildlife Reserve at Lanchang Biodiversity Centre here today.
Also present was the Regent of Pahang Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah.
Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh and State Local Government, Housing, Environment and Green Technology Committee chairman Datuk Seri Johari Harun and Pahang police chief Datuk Yahaya Othman were also in attendance.
Al-Sultan Abdullah in his speech welcomed the move taken by the state government in gazetting 134,183 hectares of land in stages for the Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve and expressed appreciation for the efforts taken by his son Tengku Hassanal in fighting to protect the Malayan Tigers and their ecosystem.
“I will be launching a large reserve area in my name and my son’s. In the 45 years I was Pahang Regent there was no effort to reserve a large area in the name of the Sultan or the Regent, so this is a positive paradigm shift.
“I hope the gazetted areas will be maintained as best as possible, we will make this as an example to the world on how to protect the environment, the Malayan Tiger species and other wild animals,” said His Majesty.
In the meantime, he also expressed the hope that the state government will evaluate and take into account environmental aspects before approving any project in addition to taking a coherent approach to enhance sustainable development.
“The Pahang government is working hard to (protect) all the forests and green lungs and of course at the same time we are asking for some compensation as already mentioned by the Menteri Besar (Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail) to the federal government,” said His Majesty.
In addition, he also proposed that the Ministry led by Nik Nazmi make a long-term plan for raw water reservoirs.
“This is to enable us to identify the areas that can be gazetted to become water reservoirs for water supply to Pahang and the surrounding state. I hope that the plan will be carefully executed before it is too late,” said Al-Sultan Abdullah.
In his speech, Al-Sultan Abdullah also recalled the time when he had the opportunity to take care of two tiger cubs and a baby elephant that were presented to him decades ago.
“I had the experience to bathe them, take the tiger cubs for rides in the car… when they grew bigger I handed them over to the Wildlife and National Parks Department,” His Majesty said.
Meanwhile, Tengku Hassanal in his speech said the Tengku Hassanal Wildlife Reserve was established in 1923 with the primary purpose of protecting the natural flora and fauna.
“Spanning about 63,000 hectares, this reserve houses about 115 mammal species, including the sambar deer, clouded leopards, malayan tiger, barking deer, wild dogs, tapirs, primates and small mammals like civets and mouse deer, ” he said.
He said this reserve can be considered as a living biological laboratory that can be utilised for research or educational purposes and to promote ecotourism.
Tengku Hassanal added that he was not against development or progress, including ecotourism activities.
“However, it is essential that such endeavors align with the principles of environmental, social and governance (ESG) and take into consideration environmental sustainability, social well-being and good governance practices,” he said.
Tengku Hassanal also expressed his appreciation to the state government for their efforts in conserving and protecting the wildlife, flora and fauna habitats in Pahang.
