Meeting Jane Goodall a turning point, says environmentalist

MALAYSIANSKINI | Peter Ong is known for both his environmental advocacy work as well as being a talented theatre artiste.

In 2019, he launched Project Monyet to photograph and document Malaysia’s 26 primate species. He also worked on two documentaries, ‘Finding Solo’ and ‘Wang Kelian – The Forgotten Valley’, which are available via the Astro On Demand platform.

On Merdeka Day, you can watch them on Astro’s Deminegaraku (Channel 100). ‘Finding Solo’ will be aired at 8pm and ‘Wang Kelian – The Forgotten Valley’ at 8.30pm.

In an interview with Malaysiakini, Ong, 47, said that he always loved photography and had been taking wildlife photos as well as photos in urban settings for years.

Two meetings with Goodall

Currently in Perlis to follow up on his project of documenting the state’s biodiversity, Ong said meeting legendary primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall in Kuala Lumpur in 2015 was a turning point in his life.

During her second visit in 2017, he recounted how Goodall spoke about the fate of primates in Malaysia and he realised he did not know anything about the local primate population.

“I was surprised there wasn’t even a list of primates and I could not even find the species count. So I was quite concerned and started digging around.

“Then I stumbled upon the Malaysian Primatological Society (MPS) and I found out there are 25 species of primates. It is now 26 species because a new species was just declared,” he said.

He revealed that not much was known about the primates in Malaysia other than long-tailed macaque, orangutan, and proboscis monkeys. The rest were severely understudied.

Ong wanted to help get the information but did not know how to as he did not have a science background.

“So they (MPS) suggested that I could take photos and that is how it all started,” he said. All the primate photos he takes go back to science as he donates them to MPS.

He recently attended the International Primatological Society-Malaysian Primatological Society symposium in Kuching and was happy to see that MPS used his photos to talk about the primates in Malaysia.

An uncommon route

Ong has a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Bristol (UK) and a Masters in International Business Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

He enjoyed a career in the advertising world and is also known for his work in musical theatre.

He is the head of education and outreach at Roots and Shoots Malaysia and a council member of The Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation.

He started taking photos for Project Monyet in 2018 and said that is still ongoing.

“What led me to develop this Wang Kelian project is the stump-tailed macaque that I was photographing.

“You can only find them in Perlis and this macaque population does not cross the border into Thailand and travel to other parts of Malaysia. They are pretty much domiciled in Perlis,” he explained.

Although it started with the stump-tailed macaque, Ong realised there was a great deal of biodiversity in the forests of Perlis that needed to be recorded and documented. That was how the whole Wang Kelian project started.

As for the documentaries he has worked on, ‘Finding Solo’ follows Sabahan filmmaker Myles Storey (currently based in the UK) as he returns home in search of Solo, a white-handed gibbon believed to be the last of his kind in Bukit Serdang, Selangor.

“I suggested he start looking at gibbons because not many Malaysians know about the gibbons here. They are also apes, like orangutans, but there is not much information on them,” said Ong, who wants more research on the gibbon population as the small ape subspecies is only found in South and Southeast Asia.

“They are special to us and yet most people don’t even know what a gibbon is.

“We need to look at the development of urban spaces and the biodiversity that is found in these urban spaces. It is about making cities and urban spaces liveable not only for humans but also for all wildlife. Where else are they supposed to go?”

He not only suggested the story idea but is featured in the documentary.

The other side of Wang Kelian

‘Wang Kelian – The Forgotten Valley’ captures the beautiful biodiversity of a place that was recently in the news for all the wrong reasons.

The discovery of mass graves of human trafficking victims cast a pall on this magnificent place.

Ong has also written an article for Going Places (Malaysia Airlines inflight magazine) showcasing this lush forest in Perlis.

He is optimistic that such a scenic place will be able to recover from its tragic history.

“It is unfair to the local community as well. What happened is very tragic. We must recognise that we do have a trafficking problem, not just human trafficking but also wildlife trafficking.

“What we should do instead of clutching the proverbial pearls around the neck, is look for ways to empower and economically enable the local community to provide them with better protection against such activities,” he suggested.

Ong believes with more boots on the ground, activities like human and wildlife trafficking will become harder because there are too many people around.

“The fact that things like this happen along the border is no surprise, but it is very unfair to penalise the local community in perpetuity for something which they did not even do.”

“It is also about the wildlife and the biodiversity there, which is tremendous and should be recognised and protected by all Malaysians. The Nakawan limestone range is over 500 million years old. So it’s an incredible piece of geology that's unique to Peninsular Malaysia.

“Much of Perlis is very unlike the rest of the Peninsular,“ he said.

He also pointed out that Perlis and Kedah account for about 40 percent of our rice needs.

“While the need for food security is there, if there is no alternative income source, how do you expect the young people to stay?

“Ecotourism is one such economic generator which could seriously be considered especially by the government agencies and supported not just by the local government agencies but also by Malaysians,” said Ong.

He strongly believes instead of waiting for the government or a government agency to do something, we as Malaysians can help support each other.

He cited the recent scrapping of plans to build a new airport on Tioman Island, which happened because Malaysians banded together to protest its construction as it would destroy the natural biodiversity of the area.

He is now working on a photo book on primates in Peninsular Malaysia, which is an extension of Project Monyet.

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