Wildlife Act takes effect in peninsula and Labuan

By M. SHAMINEE
sham@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: The Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 has been fully enforced in the peninsula and Labuan as of yesterday.

The Act, which was passed by Parliament in August, has a wider scope and jurisdiction in the protection of more wildlife species and activities related to wildlife.

Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) said in a statement yesterday that with the Act fully enforced, it would have better control on all wildlife species, wildlife derivatives, hybrid species and invasive alien species.

Perhilitan, it said, would also have the jurisdiction to address issues on wild animal welfare and cruelty.

“The new law will be more deterrent and provides stringent penalties and punishment for poaching and other wildlife crimes,” it said.

The new penalties include fines of up to RM500,000 with jail term of not more than five years while the minimum penalty imposed for several offences is not less than RM5,000.

The new Act also provides mandatory jail sentence for a term not exceeding five years and a fine not less than RM100,000 and not more than RM500,000 for offences involving protected wildlife such as tigers, rhinoceros, serow (a type of goat), gaur (seladang), leopard, clouded leopard and false gharial (a type of freshwater crocodile).

It also provides for the director-general of Perhilitan to appoint any public officer to exercise the powers of enforcement.

The Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 (Act 716) can be viewed atwww.wildlife.gov.my.

Bed Business...

Now that MekTam has gone 'home', things are coming back to 'normal' for me and the brats. Room got reorganised, rocking chair gets tucked into the corner, only to be brought out when I actually want to read. This leaves just enough space for me to solat... Talk about compact rooms. My old room was a veritable apartment in comparison! Oh well. The next place should be better, I hope. 

Had finally moved my big bed from the other house because my brats take up too much bed space to share. Unfortunately, its mattress had been 'reclaimed' by original owner. Dammit! Now I have to fork out an extra RM500 or so to replace it. Sigh. Is there no end to these expensive expenses? 

Since it's quite a chunk of dough, I have decided to really window shop before actually buying a new mattress. Little did I realise how much a 'standard' spring mattress costs! RM500 can only buy me a standard local brand, which seems to be of pretty good quality and comes with a 10 yr guarantee. Other shops - can get imported, but no warranty! Want warranty, pay extra RM200. Aiyo... like that also can ah? 

Haven't quite made up my mind, so in the meantime, am using the single mattress that comes with the house. See la, so cacat. Single mattress on a queen bed. Just imagine the gaps are actually shelf space for my reading materials lar, what to do? 

Come bedtime, notice that Trina has appropriated my shawl, while Leo chose the blankie at the foot of my bed.  Trina also likes to massage and suckle the brown shawl.. Sigh... you miss your mommy, ya, baby? Poor me had to squeeze in wherever I can.. Sabar ajelah. 

 In the kitchen/ drying area, my cili padi have finally fruited and some were ripe. These were the first harvest I took today. Not a huge amount, but better than nothing. I have finally managed to produce cili api. Yeay!! My previous attempts were not successful due to various reasons. And the taste? SEDAPPP... So fresh, exactly like the ones we used to pick in Nyai's garden when I was small. Organic beb...

Ha ha... am so mengantuk now. Better go to sleep lah. The brats are outside tonight. Thank God. More space for me!

Sleep Deprivation...

Been fostering a cat for Ee Lynn the past week, and my babies are so not happy about it! The blackies, and even Trina takes turns slipping into my room and harassing the poor little tuxedo cat. And of course Leo just growls and merajuk in displeasure. MekTam just got spayed, and so she needs a lot of peace and quiet to recuperate. As it is, she spends much of the time hiding under the bed...

Now she's gotten used to me, she likes to manja2 every now and then, and there's no hassle to coax her to come out of hiding. She used to really hide under the bed, and I had to wriggle underneath to retrieve her. Now the single bed is outside, and the queen bed is too low to wriggle under, nasib la kalau tak nak keluar makan...

The problem is, she gets extra manja in the freaking middle of the night, and starts whining at 5 a.m. every day!! WHY, baby, WHY??? I need to SLEEP! Especially if I stayed up until 2-3 a.m. working or fooling with the new phone. Sigh. Been turning up late to work and feel crappy to boot. Grrrr....!

Sigh... it's Ee Lynn's birthday today, so I guess I could keep the kitten for a couple more days... Going off to partay with the girls tomorrow, though, so would probably be good to give her back. Also working on Saturday n Sunday, so yes, probably good to send her back by tomorrow.

Weekenders

Don't you sometimes wish your weekends came with their own weekends? Past 2 days I barely got through my list of crap to deal with! Managed to pay all my bills, then fixed the bike on Saturday. Can't remember what I did that night. Seriously. In between moderating between my brats and MekTam, I didn't get anything much done... Sunday - pretty much wasted the morning reading. Managed to cram washing into machine just before going off to pick up furniture from Sali's and the old house. Wasted more time after that. Malam had early dinner at Kanna's with K Ayu & Rabiatun, then SLOOOOWWWLLLYYY cleared my room of the junk mags, cleaned up bed and put it back together. It's smaller than I imagined, so single mattress covers 3/4 of the queen bed and I have a reasonable bit of space to solat in. Cat's cages took up much of the free space, but that should be OK once MekTam goes home to wherever she came from. Maybe i can put the rocking chair inside to read in. Can lepak on the single bed to read/watch TV. Don't have much choice - super limited space in the apt. Should get rid of extraneous mags soon and find my missing documents - esp the bike papers!! Now the bike is road worthy, should try to make it legal la. Quite pleased with the old thing now, almost everything fixed already, except for fuel/speed gauge cover and speedometer gear.

Other problem is money... Paid bills, Abang, lori, repairs, buy t-shirts, etc etc etc.... I don't know if I can make it through the month... Still got saman to worry about. JPBD document is ready for collection, nak collect tu yang masalahnya. Kalau email aje kan senang... But then, pretty pleased that I managed to get stuff that had been dragging for months settled. Just bite the bullet and tapau food for the rest of the month la... Hadeh... And naik motor to save on parking & car petrol money. Am tempted to charge mattress on CC, but that would probably screw up my credit ratings again. So better sit tight and suffer until I get more cash in hand. Would be nice to dress up the bed in my favourite covers though. Yeah, and then I'll surely itch to buy new bedsheets to celebrate the return of my beloved bed :P I'm sure Leo would be happy to have 'his' side of the bed again too. Am glad this is working out. Still need to clean up house, but Sali's cabinet is helping a lot in controlling the mess of my stuff.

Sheez... am glad I have money to get things moving, but a little bit more won't hurt either. Lalala... :D