This story ran yesterday in Malaysia’s The Star:

Perhilitian officers transferred every 3 years to prevent collusion with poachers

By YUEN MEIKENG

KUALA LUMPUR: Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) officers are transferred to another place every three years to prevent them from colluding with wildlife smugglers, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas on Monday.

This practice came about in the heels of the case of international wildlife trader Anson Wong, who allegedly worked together with Perhilitan officers in smuggling animals.

“The standard operating procedures for Perhilitan have been changed so that wildlife trafficking can be contained.

“We realise that there are Perhilitan officers who may have been involved in Wong’s operations. We have conducted investigations but it has not been easy,” Uggah told the Dewan Rakyat when winding up the Budget 2013 debate at the committee stage.

He said “familiarity becomes a problem” when an officer has been in the same place for too long.

“The ministry is very concerned if there are any abuse of power and will ensure that our officers have a strong sense of integrity,” he said.

He said this when answering a question raised by Lim Guan Eng (DAP – Bagan) who asked whether the ministry had conducted a probe into allegations that Perhilitan officers conspired with Wong and (more…)

A Court of Appeals in Malaysia today released wildlife trafficker Anson Wong.  Wong had served 17.5 months of a five year prison sentence for smuggling boa constrictors.  You can read more here.

Wong’s five year sentence was a significant one for a wildlife trafficker anywhere in the world, and unprecedented in Malaysia.   The Appeals Court today ruled that the 5 year sentence did not fit the crime of boa constrictor smuggling, a defensible conclusion in the limited circumstances of this case.  

Ironically, the failure of Malaysia’s Wildlife Department ever to arrest Wong worked to his advantage:  “It is trite law that Wong’s plea of guilt is a mitigating factor. It is trite law that the fact Wong was the first offender is another mitigating factor,” the judge said.

Agents and prosecutors in US Fish & Wildlife Service’s Operation Chameleon would argue that Wong was hardly a “first offender.”   Instead, as Wong confessed in a US Court room, he smuggled critically endangered wildlife for decades. 

What did occur for the first time was that Wong was brought to justice in his own country.   This is a major advance.  It is the result of  good work by Malaysian citizens, national media, NGOs, legislators, prosecutors, and judges.  Every element of Malaysian society except Malaysia’s Wildlife Department worked hard for justice in this case.   The future is yet to reveal itself…

As the following column outlines, Malaysia’s Wildlife Department (Perhilitan) has missed yet another chance to address trafficking.  Of course, the word “miss” suggests failure to investigate was an accident.  It wasn’t.  Perhilitan leadership has consistently chosen not to investigate any major wildlife trafficker, including Anson. 

A golden chance lost