KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is trying its best to safeguard its native flora and fauna, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He pointed out, however, that it is not an easy task due to many factors, including poaching activities in the country’s forests.
“All over the world, many creatures have disappeared despite efforts taken. It is not an easy thing to do.
“For example, we have poachers who come into Malaysia to steal our tigers and for elephants tusk, thus killing the rare elephants that we have,” he said during a Question and Answer session at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Praxis’ conference “Malaysia Beyond 2020” here, today.
The two-day conference is being held to review progress made by Malaysia since Vision 2020 – a plan to transform the country into a developed nation by 2020 – was formulated in 1991.
According to Dr Mahathir, it is a tall order for the authorities to patrol large land areas, especially Malaysia’s huge, thick rainforests.
“People need to have living space, we need to earn something from our land, and in the process, some of the flora and fauna might be endangered.
“But we are trying to keep them alive. In Malaysia today, we are even trying to safeguard animals that are not indigenous to Malaysia. That’s how much we care about flora and fauna in Malaysia,” he added. – Bernama