Malaysian assemblyman suggests selling stray dogs to S Korea’s meat market

JOHOR BARU — A Barisan Nasional assemblyman was slammed after suggesting that the Johor government catch stray dogs and sell them to South Korea, notorious for its local dog meat market.

Pakatan Harapan lawmaker Steven Choong labelled the Tanjung Surat assemblyman’s suggestion to tackle the problem of stray dogs during the state assembly sitting on Monday as “preposterous”.

“It is sad for the rakyat to have voted an assemblyman to have such a mindset that is fitting for people of lesser education,” Mr Choong, a Tebrau Member of Parliament, said in a statement on Thursday (Dec 5).

Mr Choong said a more effective way is to round up all strays to have them spayed and neutered, before releasing them back onto the streets.

“As strays don't live long in the streets and without new puppies added to the streets for three to four years, the number of strays will be significantly reduced,” he said.

Mr Choong also stressed that the public must be educated and at the same time refrain from buying pet dogs, but to adopt instead.

“I urge the PH government to adopt the above mentioned recommendations, to eliminate strays as well as rabies in the near future,” said Mr Choong, adding that the state government should engage with animal groups to work on his recommendations.

Mr Syed Sis had said during the sitting that many people in his constituency complained about the stray dog problem and claimed that since South Korea slaughters about two million dogs per year, it was a good market for the stray dogs from Malaysia.

“I made this suggestion which not only solves the problem of stray dogs, but can also increase the state government’s revenue,” he was reported as saying by Chinese newspaper, Oriental Daily.

However, Syed Sis’ comments drew flak from the public as it was deemed cruel and the state assemblyman was unaware that South Korea had closed down its main dog slaughterhouse and the market for dog meat was already dwindling. MALAY MAIL