1. In the colonial days the British established a few Botanical Gardens in Malaya, the Botanical Gardens in Singapore, Penang, Taiping and Kuala Lumpur. The one in Singapore remains vibrant as a Botanical Garden, giving prestige and scientific integrity to the island republic. The one in Pulau Pinang is best called, "Botanical-Monkey" Gardens, that in Taiping has become a Tai Chi Gardens and the one in Kuala Lumpur has become a mixed bag garden of a sort. Thanks to the independent Malaya!
2. In the last decade the Botanical Garden in Putrajaya is established but it has not acquired the status of a Botanical Gardens in the scientific sense. In Melaka there is Ayer Keroh Botanical Gardens, again it is mixed bag garden. These gardens are developed by engineers and landscape architects without much botanical and scientific inputs. In the case of the former there was a futile attempt to incoprporate some of the botanical brains of the country, the like of Prof. E. Soepadmo, Dr. Francis S. P Ng, Dr. Saw Leng Guan and Prof. K. M. Wong but it not materialise.
3. At the other state level there are no Botanical Gardens, though there was a rumour last year that Terengganu might want to establish one. Johor has one Botanical Garden in Batu Pahat which is yet to qualify as a botanical garden. Sabah and Sarawak have no botanical garden.
4. The Department of Forestry Peninsular Malaysia wishes to establish a National Arboretum in Bidor, Perak. This augurs very well with the national aspiration in light of the country becoming a some-what developed nation by 2020.
5. Currently, there is one Arboretum at FRIM in Kepong. The Non-Dipterocarp Arboretum and the Dipterocarp Arboretum are well maintained for education and research.
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2 comments:
most of our politicians are econonomist...not many are scientists...hoping that many scientist will moe in to politics for more balance oppinion at the parlimen.....
Dear Khairil
Honestly, I don't expect scientists to become politicians though there is such thing as political scientists. Scientists are trained differently they based their conclusion on observation and thorough analyses not on emotion and financial considerations. I would say scientists are more pragmatic in their approach to futuristic phenomenon such as climate change, global warming and biodiversity loss
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