Malaysia is being peddled as a great nation. We proudly proclaim the awe-inspiring buildings, spanking airports, great food and what-have-you as the hallmarks of our achievements.

But Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.’

But when we take stock of how we treat animals around here, there is sound basis to question whether we are truly a great nation with moral progress.

Look at the stray cats that freely roam eateries. Beneath that seeming tolerance we display while we enjoy our meals, there is a deeper signal of apathy to animal welfare and care.

Our failure to provide proper care to these cats forces these poor creatures to live a life of strays. And so in all probability they may be carriers of diseases too which we remain ignorant of.

Our taman are not spared of the ever present stray dogs whose presence become very apparent especially when they are on heat. How many owners ensure that their dogs do not scavenge in bins and drains for food or sleep on roads outside their closed gates?

Take a look at how we transport chicken over hundreds of kilometres. Or the crammed cages at the wet markets where the chickens live for days with only standing room.

And then there is also a mushrooming of pet shops all over the country selling all kinds of animals and birds kept in tiny cages. Owing to space constraints, many are left on the verandas of these shop-lots under the blazing sun and heat from the parked cars fronting the shops.

And, in all likelihood, these stray cats and dogs as well as the helpless creatures at pet shops show great signs of neglect, stress and disease. But do we really care?

Even many a dog-owner and cat-lover are known to abuse their poor and helpless animals. They do not have the time to care for these creatures let alone spend time with them. Merely providing a meal a day to a dog chained to the fence, or throwing a fish to the homely cat seems to be just the right thing to do for many people.

Consider, too, the illegal poaching of wildlife. Ask the authorities and they will tell you of their inability to plug this lucrative trade.

Therein then lies our benchmark of how great a nation we truly are and at what station of moral progress we have been stagnating.

What is achieving Wawasan 2020 when we are so cruel to animals and birds? Unless of course if we are prepared to rubbish what the Great Mahatma so poignantly captured.