A lesson of writing The Kingpin about wildlife trafficker Anson Wong is that no amount of outside pressure makes a difference when it comes to wildlife crime. If change is to come on wildlife exploitation it has to come from within each country. The Kingpin story brought attention to Anson Wong, but it was newspapers such as The Star, The Malay Mail, The New Straits-Times, television, and Malaysian citizens who led the charge for legislative and administrative reforms, and resulted in Anson Wong’s imprisonment. Malaysia recently announced establishment of a Green Court, a move which takes Malaysia from the bottom of the charts in terms of wildlife protection to one of the most advanced countries in the world.
And so it is particularly heartening to read this column in The Manila Standard Today about the meaning of Blood Ivory to one Filipino. It is called Secrets That We Keep by Jenny Ortuoste and it just may be the start of something important…