Activists seek court order for documents on elephant transfer

 Group plans to challenge the transfer of Dara, Amoi and Kelat to a Japanese zoo but says it first needs documents held by the authorities.

Dara, Amoi and Kelat were relocated to Tennoji Zoo in Osaka, Japan, as part of a conservation and research programme. (MPT pic)

PETALING JAYA:

A group of activists has gone to court to compel four government bodies to disclose documents relating to the transfer of three elephants from Taiping Zoo to a zoo in Japan.

Lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan said a pre-action discovery application was filed in the Kuala Lumpur High Court against the wildlife and national parks department (Perhilitan), the Taiping municipal council, Taiping Zoo and the natural resources and environmental sustainability ministry.

A pre-action discovery application allows a person to seek documents from another party that may help determine whether there are grounds to file a lawsuit.

Rajesh said the application was filed after the ministry and Perhilitan refused to release documents concerning the transfer of Dara, Amoi and Kelat, saying they were classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA).

Rajesh said the group had written to the authorities on Sept 8 seeking all documents relating to the transfer, but received replies on Sept 14 and 15 rejecting the request.

He said the current application was not the main suit challenging the transfer, adding that the group wanted to obtain the documents first before deciding on its next legal action.

“Our endgame is to get the documentation and use it to file a suit saying that the transfer of the elephants to Tennoji Zoo in Osaka was illegal and beyond the law,” he told FMT.

Rajesh also questioned the decision to classify the documents under the OSA, describing it as an abuse of the law. He also stressed that the public was entitled to know how the elephants were transferred.

The five applicants are Sheeren Begum Abdul Yunos, 58, Norhanim Zain, 63, S Shashi Kumar, 52, Seow Yin Lee, 58, and animal rights group Hak Asasi Hidupan Liar Malaysia Global.

The transfer has been the subject of controversy since the elephants were sent to Japan earlier this year.

The Taiping municipal council has maintained that the arrangement was a non-commercial zoo-to-zoo programme, and that the elephants remain the property of Taiping Zoo.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission previously said Tennoji Zoo paid US$1.48 million, or about RM6.39 million, to a Malaysian company to manage the transfer, and that the cost was not borne by the Malaysian government. - FMT