AN isolated beach northeast of Redang Island, Chagar Hutang, is a nesting beach for two out of the four sea turtle species found in Malaysia — green and hawksbill turtles. A few hundred of them come ashore to nest annually. Sea turtles often travel thousands of kilometres from their feeding grounds back to the beach […]
conservation
Threatening the turtles
WHEN a friend said he wanted a photo of himself riding on a sea turtle’s back, it made me flinch. And yet, I doubt I would have winced had I not heard stories about how divers and snorkelers have disturbed and distressed turtles in the sea. If not for my marine-biologist friends, I probably would […]
Remembering when race didn’t matter
SECOND to the panda logo, Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma is probably the next most synonymous face associated with WWF-Malaysia. His career with the environmental conservation group has spanned two decades, beginning in 1990 when he started out as a leatherback turtle project officer in Terengganu. Dr Dino, as many call him, became WWF-Malaysia’s executive director […]
Demolishing Pudu Jail: Erasing our history
BADAN Warisan Malaysia has for the past several years been advocating against the demolition of Pudu Jail. We have been led to understand that a small concession has been made to preserve a small section of the wall flanking the main gate, although we do not have any details about this particular plan. This token […]
Where’s Penang’s heritage money?
“The Government will provide an allocation of RM50 million for conservation works of heritage sites in Malacca and Penang, to support activities undertaken by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and [the] private sector.” Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi during his 2009 budget speech in Parliament. The former prime minister, who was also finance minister, referred to Malacca and […]
