Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria has announced a proposal to set-up special courts to handle environmental matters.

He said he had attended an Asean level chief justices environmental conference last year and had thought of the need to have special courts for environmental concerns in this country.

"The purpose of the conference was to develop a common vision on the approach by judiciary in shaping the rule of law to respond to the environmental challenges that Asian countries face particularly in relation to environmental crimes and illegal environmental activities.

 “Specialised courts and tribunals have been set up in our neighbouring countries.

"This approach is in tandem with the Johannesburg principles on the rule of law and sustainable development’ adopted by 120 judges from around 60 countries during the Global judges Symposium held in Johannesburg in 2002,” he said.

Justice Arifin said in Malaysia more than half of the land are forested or about 60 percent of 19.52 milllion ha.

“Thus I believe we have an important role to play. Environmental crime is a threat to our very existence. We must be serious in protecting our mother earth.

"For that, we should not let any lack of sensitivity in the past to continue into the future,” he said.

He then highlighted two different 2005 cases to illustrate his point.

Citing a case, Justice Arifin said a man was only fined RM7,000 and walked away a free man by the magistrate’s court in Tumpat, Kelantan, his home state for illegal possession of  a live tiger.

He then contrasted the case to another concerning the theft of 11 cans of Tiger beer, where a five- year jail term was meted out.

“Clearly our values are misplaced. Surely our tigers are worth more than the cans of Tiger beer,” he said.

At present there are designated special Sessions Courts to hear corruption cases, but none for environmental cases.