Stupidity and the planet of the apes

[superadmin]

It’s about time Malaysia imposes a mandatory IQ test on ministers and politicians. Yup, we are the laughing stock of the world again. With our ministers as jokers, who needs comedians like Harith Iskander.

In defence of the Malaysian palm oil industry, plantation industries and commodities minister Zuraida Kamaruddin assaulted the animal kingdom by making the unbelievable claim that planters were not harming orangutans, but that the primates were more likely to kill humans.

An excerpt of her speech began circulating on social media this week and is currently trending on Twitter.

However, Zuraida said on Thursday that her “orangutan will kill you” remark was taken out of context. She said the video clip had been edited in a way to cast aspersions on her.

In the video, Zuraida said: “Even lions and tigers also, when they see, they don’t kill them. They have to have some kind of procedure to faint [sic] them and take them to the zoo. We have all these procedures. We don’t simply kill orangutans.”

However, the February 2018 issue of Global Citizen reported data from 36,555 orangutan habitats which reported a drastic decline of the orangutan population in Borneo between 1999 and 2015, leaving the primate population at less than 148,000.

The report said the palm oil industry was the main culprit for mass orangutan die-offs, as the relentless and often unregulated pursuit of palm fruit led to deforestation and wildfires throughout Borneo.

- More -