Why is elephant transfer deal to Tennoji Zoo in Osaka classified, asks Dr Wee

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong has questioned why the Taiping-Osaka elephant deal is being kept confidential.

The Housing and Local Government Ministry says the agreement was classified under existing rules, and a parliamentary select committee will decide whether to make it public.

Wee (BN-Ayer Hitam) pointed out that the select committee already has a copy of the document.

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He also asked whether the 25-year agreement between the Taiping Municipal Council (MPT) and Tennoji Zoo in Osaka, Japan, including a calf ownership clause and termination conditions, would be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.

"On the issue of the document's classification and its tabling in this House, the agreement document has been classified as Sulit (confidential or classified) in accordance with the proceedings and regulations in force," the ministry said in a parliamentary written reply on Thursday (Oct 8).

"As the matter is under the official scrutiny of the Environment, Science and Plantations Select Committee, any decision on disclosing the terms, including the calf ownership clause and termination conditions, or on tabling it is entirely subject to the committee's consideration and recommendation under the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders."

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The ministry said it had no information on the agreement and no direct involvement in the matter, its dealings or terms.

It said the committee was scrutinising the transfer agreement, dated May 19, 2022 and Oct 6, 2022, which MPT submitted on May 22 this year.

Dr Wee, who is MCA president, said in August that he would raise the issue of the elephants Dara, Amoi and Kelat at the current Dewan Rakyat meeting, which began on Monday (Oct 5).

He also said the government should immediately consider the demands in a memorandum handed to him at Parliament on June 22, which included disclosure of the 25-year transfer agreement.

The elephants were sent to Tennoji Zoo on March 10 for breeding and research under the Malaysian Elephant Conservation Programme.

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In May, Perak housing and local government committee chairman Sandrea Ng Shy Ching said the agreement settled ownership of the elephants' first-generation calves, with Tennoji Zoo getting the first, third and fifth and Zoo Taiping & Night Safari getting the second, fourth and sixth.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) confirmed on June 22 that it had opened an investigation into the transfer, after a wildlife rights group alleged that payments tied to the deal, estimated at RM53mil, had not been channelled to the government.

On Sept 29, a group of activists filed a pre-action discovery application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court for the agreement and related documents, after the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry and the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) rejected their requests by citing the Official Secrets Act 1972.