Turtle Eggs served at Official Dinner

To my shocking, turtle eggs have been served on dinner table during an official function at Batu Kawa Kuching last Saturday Night. What an illegal delicacy!!

From the front page report in the Borneo Posts published on 2.3.2009, I counted the eggs placed on a single plate, a least 10 eggs were served. I do not know how many plates with turtle eggs were placed on each table. The photo also shows that some of the turtle eggs had been consumed. The incident happened prove that the relevant department government officers have no respect to the law at all. This is the attitude of many BN Government officers. In their eyes, the laws only apply to the ordinary people like you and me. To them, there is no law. They can do whatever they wish in this Malaysia Bolehland.

Eating turtle eggs during government official function has indeed tarnished our country image when Malaysia is a signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding on Asean Sea Turtle Conservation and Protection.To the best of my knowledge, all marine turtle species are categorised as Totally Protected Animals under the Wildlife Protection Ordinance, 1998.

It has been many days since the incident happened. However, the police has been extremely quiet and has still not taken any action against the people involved. I would say very strange! There is photos showing clearly who are the persons attending the function, yet no one is charged in Court for the matter. I am wondering whether some fishy things are going on respecting the case? In order not to let the police to make an excuse saying that no police report has been lodged against the incident, I together with other DAP supporters went to Simpang Tiga One Stop Police Station to lodge the report.

There is no use for the Director of Sarawak Forestry Corporation, Datuk Len Latiff to cite all the laws pertaining to the preservation of sea turtle without any enforcement action taken. The law must be enforced. The existence of the law is not of any use if the law is not enforced. I hope that the matter will not be swipped under the carpet! The police must investigate the matter impartially. There should not be double standard applies when it comes to investigate the police report lodged by the oppossition. The people involved must be charged to court as such irresponsible act must be condemned and stopped.

Below is the news extracted from http://www.sarawakupdate.com.my/.

Turtle egg : DAP lodge police report

State Assemblywoman for Pending, Violet Yong lodged a police report at the One Stop centre at Simpang Tiga police station over the disclosure of a formal government function where turtle eggs were served. The news was highlighted in a local newspaper with combo pictures shown on Monday.

Expressing shock over the incident, Yong said it posed as a bad image to Sarawak as all marine turtle species worldwide are protected internationally and in Sarawak, they are categorized under the Totally Protected Animals of the Wildlife Ordinance.

“This show the department had blatantly disregard the law and has no respect for the law of the country,” she said.

Yong said it was already a few days and the police had been keeping quiet and not taking any action against those involved.

She added that she lodged a police report as she did not want the police to make an excuse that there was no report lodged.

“No one is above the law, the government, the police or army. Whoever break a law must face it like any other of us civilian,” she said.

Asking the police to carry out a thorough investigation, Yong said the people involved must face the music and be charged like any other person who broke the law. The police, she said must also calculate how many turtle eggs were consumed that night during the dinner.

Calling to Director of Sarawak Forestry Corporation, Datuk Len Latiff to resign in which the turtle was under its jurisdiction, Yong said as a responsible head, he should ensure that such turtle eggs should not be stolen out in the first place.She said Len owed the public an apology in failing to protect a Protected species which was under his jurisdiction.

Accompanying Yong to lodge the police report was State Assemblywoman for Meradong, Ting Tze Fui and other DAP supporters.