YOURSAY | Going ape in defence of palm oil

YOURSAY | ‘I think Zuraida has watched one too many ‘Planet of The Apes’ movies.’

Zuraida's 'orangutan will kill you first' comment goes viral

OldPerson: Does Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin not consult anyone before she gives speeches?

There is so much information on orangutans on the Internet. Do some research. Don't shoot yourself in the foot and display your utmost lack of knowledge.

"Orangutans are not particularly dangerous animals. There haven’t been any situations where a human was threatened by an aggressive orangutan, both in the wild and in enclosures. In fact, they are known to be quite gentle and timid.

“Orangutans that live in the wild spend most of their time in the trees, and they rarely interact with humans. They don’t often come down to the forest floor if they don’t need to, so humans don’t have many opportunities to interact with an orangutan.

“Also, they are reserved, don’t like to be bothered, and don’t bother anyone."

Sure, they are strong enough to kill but intelligent enough not to. Humans of the politician species are the ones who are always taking and taking - taking land, taking money, taking forest, and taking lives.

GoldenHorse6871: How many people have been killed by orangutans in the last 30 years? Any statistics?

Also, how many lions have been killed in Malaysia?

Justice To The Fore: My grandchildren can tell you offhand that lions never inhabited Southeast Asia. Go back to school, Madam Minister.

KK Semenyih: These ministers don't learn, do they? If they don't know, it is best that they keep their mouth shut than to make a fool of themselves, and leave such matters to the experts.

Politicians know nuts about these subjects. Is it the case of another minister having an online dialogue with representatives from 500 countries? God help this country and its "lions".

OrangeParrot2631: This is the quality of our ministers. Our learned PM has chosen all these very wise ministers to help him run the country.

But since this is a difficult country to administer, even a cabinet of 70 is not enough. He needs extra advisors.

Leyla: I think Zuraida has watched one too many ‘Planet of The Apes’ movies!

My2cen: Even in ‘Planet of the Apes’, the orangutan did not kill, it was the chimps.

Now, for the facts. When we destroy the natural habitats of animals, we are depriving them of their dwelling and food sources. We are killing the forests and animals in it when we clear the jungle for logs, mining, and developing housing.

Man has contributed to climate change every time he cuts down a tree, what more the whole forest. Planting oil palm trees does not replace the precious flora and fauna we have removed, not to mention the soil erosion.

Yes, we also need to develop the land to build houses but we need to find more sustainable ways to co-exist with nature. We only have one planet to live on. We have nowhere else to go.

GrayWhale2704: What are your credentials actually, Zuraida? Can't you think out-of-the-box?

The problem with palm oil plantations is deforestation. We are taking away the natural habitat of the animals. No matter what Perhilitan does, the animals are losing their home and freedom (when put in a zoo).

Stop this nonsense of starting yet another brainwashing campaign in schools. Solve the main problem and don't try to paint a rosy picture of reality.

JAM: The level of intelligence of our ministers is astounding. Our ministers cannot even articulate an argument intelligently.

Newday: How dare other countries teach their children the truth that palm oil plantations cause havoc for native animals, which have no habitat left after land clearing for palm oil? How dare they indeed.

If an orangutan and you were placed in the same room with one window and a locked door together, I wonder who would be first to jump through the window to escape the trauma of this encounter?

The orangutan, of course. If only it could find some nice safe habitat to recover from its trauma.

GreenBear3468: We should really shift our reliance on palm oil to something else. Palm oil is a commodity that is no longer a reliable source of income for Malaysia.

Its negative effects on the environment are also obvious. Why the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry is saying otherwise is just ridiculous.

Instead of spending good money on putting palm oil propaganda in children's textbooks, valuable capital needs to be put into starting other ventures.

The good old days of getting by with palm oil money are gone. Deal with it. We must adapt!

Weijian: I hope she knows that Arab nations which produce oil, and palm oil, which is being converted into biodiesel, are competitors.

So, there is no way they will be praising palm oil.

Mowgli-Jungle Book: Zuraida, we have hyenas too! Political hyenas.

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