In the name of Orang utan

1. Last month the Orang Utan Island Foundation (OUIF) was accused by a writer of a letter to the editor of the Sundaydaily as playing God. To be honest God does not like any play mates. She quoted the noble aims of the OUIF correctly - to carry out the orang utan research, education, development, conservation and rehabilitation programmes and drawing up protection policies. In 2008 the OUIF organised a two-day symposium on ex situ conservation. Researchers on orang utan from USA, Japan, Indonesia, Sabah, Sarawak and some locals spoke on various topics on orang utan's biology and conservation.

2. The symposium augurs very well for the education awareness and R & D of orang utan not only at Bukit Merah but elsewhere in Borneo and Sumatera, especially the rehabilitation centres at Sepilok, Semenggoh, Lanjak-Entimau, Tanjung Puting and Bohorok. In the past many researchers from overseas came to these rehabilitation centres to study and helped out in in situ conservation. Numerous papers were published and millions of USD were spent to help this species from disorientation due to habitat loss and land-use changes both in the Heart of Borneo and Sumatera.

3. As a Trustee of OUIF I personally took exception to the accusation by the writer(s) and also by the newspapers, namely Malay Mail and Kosmos. If ever the Editors wanted to report some sensational news items it would be wise to check with the accused i.e. OUIF for some kind of statements or even some denials! It looked bad on both of these newspapers, let alone printing the ugly political propaganda to suit ones masters.

4. As a biologist or botanist and Prof. Mashhor Mansor of Universiti Sains Malaysia, an ecologist are Trustees of OUIF felt greatly insulted by the accusation that the OUIF intended to release the orang utan into the Royal Belum State park in Perak. All stake-holders especially the Perak State government, the Perak State Park Corporation, the Department of Forestry Perak etc surely felt the same for implicating them.

5. In honesty this issue had never been discussed in the OUIF Board meeting, for all we know what we have wanted to do was to send them back where they belong, Sarawak. I believed either the reporter(s) misunderstood the statements from OUIF Chairman in his press releases or the reporter(s) purposely wanted to create an issue on this - to create a hoo-haa among the conservationists in the country. They were successful because I received many emails either asking for comments or asking me to read the cries from them.