malaysian naturalist, june 2015
Malaysia’s vanishing tigers would mean much more than just a physical loss; it could also herald the loss of our identity, writes the MNS Conservation Division
“Tyger, tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Those are the opening lines of William Blake’s poem from 1794, deconstructed as a tribute to the fearsome characteristics of a beast that is easily identified by its black-and-orange striped markings.
Panthera tigris really needs no introduction. A solitary creature sociable only during the mating season and as a mother with cubs, the tiger is the “king of the jungle”, often cited as a symbol of strength and courage.
There’s no clearer picture of this than here in Malaysia, which has as its national animal the Malayan tiger, or Panthera tigris jacksoni honouring famed tiger conservationist Peter Jackson, which is found only in the peninsula and southern Thailand.
It is part of the country’s Coat of Arms, first introduced for the Federated Malay States in 1895 and in its current version since 1952. In that time, alterations were made in the number and visual representation of states as well as the number of points in the star above the crescent moon, but what remains unchanged are the two tigers, rampant.
We see the tiger in our everyday lives, too. It’s on the logo of homegrown major players Maybank and Proton; keepers of the law Malaysia Royal Police and Royal Customs Department; Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in the education sector; Johor and its Southern Tigers; the Football Association of Malaysia and its Harimau Malaya and Harimau Muda squads, and in the official colours for our national team in the sporting arena.
Its kingly characteristics also place the tiger in the realm of kings, historically hunted by the thousands by India’s rulers as a sign of prestige. Locally, the second Sultan of Johor (1873-1959) was renowned as a tiger hunter in his time, even immortalised in a television series, while the recently deceased ruler of the state was known to have kept tigers on palace grounds. The late Sultan of Perak, meanwhile, was the Royal Patron of WWF-Malaysia as well as the Malaysian Nature Society, with the former conservation organisation actively pursuing the protection of tigers and the latter indirectly involved through the MyCAT alliance.
Legends also have it that rulers in the Malay Archipelago, particularly from Sumatera, channelled the tiger in more mystical ways, ranging from exhibiting the animal’s fierce and indomitable characteristics when fighting enemies to taking on its full form, as the werecat or weretiger, through supernatural means. There is also the belief that community leaders of yore had the power to call on the tiger to protect their farms and property.
Back on terra firma, it is the psyche of the striped one that resonates with the Malaysian public. In the arena of local martial arts, there is Silat Gayong Harimau, Silat Cekak Harimau and Silat Harimau Minangkabau, among others, while other forms may feature moves (what is called “bunga”) as a conduit to the elegance and spirit of this beast. And, though in everyday life it may be frowned upon to become a “beast” when riled, it is the tiger’s courage and strength that are invoked time and again in sports through the fierce orange and black stripes worn proudly by our national teams and individual players. When it comes to facing our enemies on this battlefield, it’s more than encouraged to show our fangs and claws.
“Tyger, tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Those are the opening lines of William Blake’s poem from 1794, deconstructed as a tribute to the fearsome characteristics of a beast that is easily identified by its black-and-orange striped markings.
Panthera tigris really needs no introduction. A solitary creature sociable only during the mating season and as a mother with cubs, the tiger is the “king of the jungle”, often cited as a symbol of strength and courage.
There’s no clearer picture of this than here in Malaysia, which has as its national animal the Malayan tiger, or Panthera tigris jacksoni honouring famed tiger conservationist Peter Jackson, which is found only in the peninsula and southern Thailand.
It is part of the country’s Coat of Arms, first introduced for the Federated Malay States in 1895 and in its current version since 1952. In that time, alterations were made in the number and visual representation of states as well as the number of points in the star above the crescent moon, but what remains unchanged are the two tigers, rampant.
We see the tiger in our everyday lives, too. It’s on the logo of homegrown major players Maybank and Proton; keepers of the law Malaysia Royal Police and Royal Customs Department; Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in the education sector; Johor and its Southern Tigers; the Football Association of Malaysia and its Harimau Malaya and Harimau Muda squads, and in the official colours for our national team in the sporting arena.
Its kingly characteristics also place the tiger in the realm of kings, historically hunted by the thousands by India’s rulers as a sign of prestige. Locally, the second Sultan of Johor (1873-1959) was renowned as a tiger hunter in his time, even immortalised in a television series, while the recently deceased ruler of the state was known to have kept tigers on palace grounds. The late Sultan of Perak, meanwhile, was the Royal Patron of WWF-Malaysia as well as the Malaysian Nature Society, with the former conservation organisation actively pursuing the protection of tigers and the latter indirectly involved through the MyCAT alliance.
Legends also have it that rulers in the Malay Archipelago, particularly from Sumatera, channelled the tiger in more mystical ways, ranging from exhibiting the animal’s fierce and indomitable characteristics when fighting enemies to taking on its full form, as the werecat or weretiger, through supernatural means. There is also the belief that community leaders of yore had the power to call on the tiger to protect their farms and property.
Back on terra firma, it is the psyche of the striped one that resonates with the Malaysian public. In the arena of local martial arts, there is Silat Gayong Harimau, Silat Cekak Harimau and Silat Harimau Minangkabau, among others, while other forms may feature moves (what is called “bunga”) as a conduit to the elegance and spirit of this beast. And, though in everyday life it may be frowned upon to become a “beast” when riled, it is the tiger’s courage and strength that are invoked time and again in sports through the fierce orange and black stripes worn proudly by our national teams and individual players. When it comes to facing our enemies on this battlefield, it’s more than encouraged to show our fangs and claws.
Unfortunately, our fascination with the tiger will be meaningless if, as Malaysians, we do nothing to arrest the tragic decline of this species. The tiger may be the top predator in its habitat, but its hunting grounds have shrunk drastically in the past century, thanks to human development. Where in 1900 tigers ranged in Turkey and all areas of Asia, including the whole of India, large swathes of Russia as well as Bali and Java, the 1990 census estimated their territory to have shrunk to small portions of India, Russia, China and Asia (source: www.tigers-world.com).
Furthermore, although Nature designed the garish orange and black stripes to blend seamlessly into the tiger’s chosen habitat, they prove no barrier to humankind’s greed, with poachers hunting the animal ruthlessly for proceeds from the sale of animal parts as status-enhancing tiger-skin rugs or for the supposed aphrodisiac properties of their organs, pushing all existing tiger sub-species into Endangered status.
The prognosis for the Malayan tiger is even more dismal, with the numbers falling sharply from some 3,000 individuals in the 1950s to a crushing 300 today. WWF-Malaysia states that threats to Panthera tigris jacksoni come in the form of logging operations, conversion of land for agricultural purposes that cause human-animal conflict, poaching and the illegal wildlife trade.
We can sit back and do nothing, and in our lifetime contribute to the decimation of this majestic animal. It won’t be long before we will only be able to view tigers through the bars of a cage in a zoo or, even worse, on the pages of natural history books.
Conversely, what we can do is support organisations such as WWF-Malaysia and MyCAT in their conservation efforts, which range from mitigating the human-animal conflict, research and community outreach to organising volunteer poacher hunters to roam our jungles. And in doing so, truly earn the stripes we carry so boldly as symbols of the tiger’s courage and strength.
Furthermore, although Nature designed the garish orange and black stripes to blend seamlessly into the tiger’s chosen habitat, they prove no barrier to humankind’s greed, with poachers hunting the animal ruthlessly for proceeds from the sale of animal parts as status-enhancing tiger-skin rugs or for the supposed aphrodisiac properties of their organs, pushing all existing tiger sub-species into Endangered status.
The prognosis for the Malayan tiger is even more dismal, with the numbers falling sharply from some 3,000 individuals in the 1950s to a crushing 300 today. WWF-Malaysia states that threats to Panthera tigris jacksoni come in the form of logging operations, conversion of land for agricultural purposes that cause human-animal conflict, poaching and the illegal wildlife trade.
We can sit back and do nothing, and in our lifetime contribute to the decimation of this majestic animal. It won’t be long before we will only be able to view tigers through the bars of a cage in a zoo or, even worse, on the pages of natural history books.
Conversely, what we can do is support organisations such as WWF-Malaysia and MyCAT in their conservation efforts, which range from mitigating the human-animal conflict, research and community outreach to organising volunteer poacher hunters to roam our jungles. And in doing so, truly earn the stripes we carry so boldly as symbols of the tiger’s courage and strength.