Foreign Workers In Malaysia Eating Puppies
THE STAR NEWSPAPER June 25, 2008
Foreign workers eating dog meat
By WANI MUTHIAH
KLANG: Stray puppies are ending up as meals for foreign construction workers keen on reducing their food bills.
Indonesian construction worker Wagang Saring said the high prices of food and the need to send as much money to families back home had forced him and his friends to eat pooches.
“Puppies are the best as their meat is tender,” said the 37-year-old Saring. “The meat gives us energy to work at construction sites. Three puppies will do for five men.”
Saring was approached by The Star at a petrol kiosk in Bukit Tinggi after he was seen hitting a puppy with a piece of wood.
He knocked out the puppy with two blows and carried it back to his kongsi where his friends had already built a fire.
Fellow Indonesian worker Marcel Jeheta, 30, said the large number of stray dogs in Klang provided ample supply of meat.
Jeheta, who comes from Flores Island, said dog meat was a popular source of protein back home.
“Dog meat is widely eaten in Flores Island and we continue the practice in Malaysia,” he said.
A check around the construction site found many dogs, mostly females, that appeared to have littered recently . But there were no puppies in sight.
Cleaner Suriyati Norsalim, 40, from central Jawa, was quick to point out that only some Indonesians ate dog meat.
“Only those from Flores Island, who are not Muslims, and some non-Muslim Bataks (from Sumatra) eat dog meat,” she added.
Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Thu, 25, who works at a factory in Klang, said she noticed her countrymen eating more dog meat recently.
She said dog meat was a popular delicacy in Vietnam.
Animal welfare activist Sabrina Yeap said dog eating was gaining momentum among foreign workers because there was no law against it. “It is not illegal and so no action can be taken against those who do so,” she added.
Yeap, who manages the canine sanctuary Furry Friends Farm, said it was time the Government banned dog eating as it involved inhumane killing methods.
Foreign workers eating dog meat
By WANI MUTHIAH
KLANG: Stray puppies are ending up as meals for foreign construction workers keen on reducing their food bills.
Indonesian construction worker Wagang Saring said the high prices of food and the need to send as much money to families back home had forced him and his friends to eat pooches.
“Puppies are the best as their meat is tender,” said the 37-year-old Saring. “The meat gives us energy to work at construction sites. Three puppies will do for five men.”
Saring was approached by The Star at a petrol kiosk in Bukit Tinggi after he was seen hitting a puppy with a piece of wood.
He knocked out the puppy with two blows and carried it back to his kongsi where his friends had already built a fire.
Fellow Indonesian worker Marcel Jeheta, 30, said the large number of stray dogs in Klang provided ample supply of meat.
Jeheta, who comes from Flores Island, said dog meat was a popular source of protein back home.
“Dog meat is widely eaten in Flores Island and we continue the practice in Malaysia,” he said.
A check around the construction site found many dogs, mostly females, that appeared to have littered recently . But there were no puppies in sight.
Cleaner Suriyati Norsalim, 40, from central Jawa, was quick to point out that only some Indonesians ate dog meat.
“Only those from Flores Island, who are not Muslims, and some non-Muslim Bataks (from Sumatra) eat dog meat,” she added.
Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Thu, 25, who works at a factory in Klang, said she noticed her countrymen eating more dog meat recently.
She said dog meat was a popular delicacy in Vietnam.
Animal welfare activist Sabrina Yeap said dog eating was gaining momentum among foreign workers because there was no law against it. “It is not illegal and so no action can be taken against those who do so,” she added.
Yeap, who manages the canine sanctuary Furry Friends Farm, said it was time the Government banned dog eating as it involved inhumane killing methods.
posted by Shoba @ 5:12 PM
7 Comments:
At 6:58 AM,
Më| §zë said…
OMG!!!!
but then, you can't blame them for trying to survive, can you? and the government is not helping also...
At 2:11 PM,
mark tan said…
Unfortunate by product of the millions of foreigners the country has come to depend on due to corrupt practices. Where those waiting for exam results use to man various fastfood outlets we now hardly see a Malaysian face. Many areas of our cities are now foreign lands. Petaling street even should no longer be called China town as there are hardly any chinese selling stuff there.
So now this issue will be come a heated debate between those who are in favour of the survival of our vast force of foreign labour (Mind you they do not contribute to the nations economy in the long run) and those who love dogs. The former will sing a different tune if the object of their affection ended up in some foreign pot!
The dependence of our f&b outlets on foreign labour is very disturbing. How often are these outlets checked? In my experience I've never seen health inspectors visiting restaurants. Apart from the doubts of the waiters health, I wonder if anyone has any doubts about the meat being served too. Since most of the marketing is probably done by these guys as well whose to say that they do not pocket the cash and some poor mutt becomes substitute for mutton masala? I for one have reduced visits to f&B outlets that have a majority foreign staff but I totally avoid places that hire dog eaters. Those who feel strongly about this should do the same.
At 9:32 PM,
Më| §zë said…
i think it all depends on the mentality of the whole country lo...
i'm againsts dog eating, and yet these people have to survive, because their employers do not provide for them...
those people take the easy way out and just eat whatever they can, instead of trying to fight for themselves, most likely they can't, because they are foreigners here...
that's the problem...
if the government has tighter laws, or more stringent rules, maybe this problem won't even exists!
At 12:44 AM,
buttercup said…
revolting. if it's a matter of survival, they should just go back to where they belonged.
At 3:26 PM,
Më| §zë said…
that is the problem, they can't survive in their own country, that's why they come over here.
i'm all for the dogs, of course, but i still feel pity for them...
At 4:28 PM,
Unknown said…
So disgusting. Who is to blame? Our Government, of course. They could not care less. I am sure DBKL will feel so grateful to this aliens for doing getting their job done on behalf. After all, it saves their time having to drag the poor dogs, starve and kill them.
Continue with your good deed (dear aliens) and you will face more earthquakes in your country !
At 3:19 PM,
Shoba said…
Yes, I agree with all Mark said. Now in the light of the ACA clampdown on top Immigration Officials, we can only hope and pray that our country has not already been run over by these foreign workers.
They are to be blamed for many things like high crime, deterioration in quality of food outlets and now stealing and eating pets and strays.
After Indons beat up Joy a stray dog so badly that his lower jaw had to be removed by vets, the Furry Friends Farm requested the Ministry of Housing and the developer on whose premises the attack took place to allow us to give a special talk on companion animals. RSC even got a lecturer from the Islamic university to come and give the talk to muslim majority Indon workers. But neither the Ministry nor the developer would co-operate or help.
By the way, Mei Sze, we are not in such a state in Malaysia where people are starving and the foreign workers need to resort to eating dogs. So the question of "no choice cos they are trying to survive" does not arise.
Most of these workers are well fed and food is not an issue for them in Malaysia.
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