No need for pig farms in Selangor; wild boar infestation at Bukit Antarabangsa is sufficient

 

A RECENT viral video showing wild boars roaming through residential streets in Bukit Antarabangsa has once again triggered alarm among residents.

Many of them are already accustomed to the occasional unwelcome encounter with the monkeys, snakes and other wildlife.

But this is not just another quirky Malaysian wildlife story fit for social media circulation.

The sight of large boars wandering dangerously close to homes, vehicles and pedestrians is a reminder of a deeper and more politically loaded issue: Selangor’s uneasy relationship with pigs.

The issue of the centralised pig farm needs no reminder here. Regardless, a good number of netizens were quick to turn the seemingly benign story into a political one as seen in the comment section. 

Take it from @sailorearth82 who said the family members of DAPig communists are making their patrol.

Also, @murdockfen claimed the issue was due to overdevelopment approved by the Chief Minister Amirudin Shari.

Bukit Antarabangsa, with its hillsides, forest fringes and high-density residential enclaves, has always sat awkwardly between urban expansion and encroaching wilderness. 

As more land is cleared and habitats are squeezed, wild boars are increasingly pushed into neighbourhoods in search of food, as pointed out by netizen @UnlikeHuman77z.

“Who ask you people to cut the trees and remove the jungle,” said @hadiharhar.

But some netizens managed to find the lighter side of things. Take for example, @mussharif72 who said the Vietnamese people should be allowed to stay there and that they will eat all the pigs up.

If there are any Sarawakian Ibans and Dayaks, they would have barbecued the cute ones, pointed out @kabutneaubilem.

The best comment award probably went to netizen @Dzulazrin1970:

On another note, wild boars are not invading because they are rebellious political actors. They are doing what displaced wildlife does, adapting, scavenging and surviving. 

A wandering boar may not care about policy debates. But in Selangor, it has nonetheless stumbled directly into one. — Focus Malaysia