BANNED AMULETS WITH
ANIMAL PARTS ON SALE ONLINE
Oct 19, 2016
ZAIHAN MOHAMED YUSOF
The New Paper
SELLERS ON LOCAL ONLINE
MARKETPLACES OFFER ILLEGAL AMULETS MADE FROM ANIMAL
PARTS
These small
trinkets carry big hopes for those who seek them.
They promise
wealth, protection, business success and even sexual attraction to
those who acquire these Thai amulets or similar items with
"magical" properties.
You will not
see such amulets displayed in shops here because it is illegal to
sell or buy them.
But go online
and you will find these exotic charms, made from the parts of
protected animals such as the tiger, leopard cat, crocodile and
python, readily offered by sellers, The New Paper
discovered.
Mr Ricardo Choo, a
businessman who has been trading in amulets for over a decade, told
TNP that the illegal trade went underground after a crackdown by
the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) several
years ago.
Said Mr Choo:
"Of course, you can still buy them, because these shops know their
regulars and will show them what's not on display."
AGAINST THE LAW
When TNP
checked with 10 amulet shops in the Golden Mile and Chinatown
areas, all of them said they did not deal in contraband
amulets.
They said it
was against the law to trade in such amulets, which are also known
as animal Takruts.
On the flip
side, online amulet peddlers brazenly display photographs of their
wares and their contact details
TNP saw close
to 50 online posts for items containing protected animal parts on
Facebook and online marketplaces Carousell and Gumtree.
This is despite Carousell
having a policy against the promotion of items involving protected
wildlife.
Nine sellers in
Carousell were ready to meet a reporter who posed as an interested
buyer.
The banned
amulets are also sold, auctioned or rented out in members-only
online groups.
Mr Choo, who
published a book titled The Spirit & Voodoo World of Thailand
in 2011, said: "During my travels to Thailand, I was told that
people buying these non-mainstream (amulets) are basically from
Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore.
"When something
is banned, there's always a market for it."
The amulets or
items that are said to contain magical powers can cost between $60
and $4,500.
While most of
them originate from Thailand, others also come from Indonesia or
Cambodia.
They are often
referred to as "barang", Malay slang for "spiritual
thing".
Typically, the
amulets, which the sellers claim have been blessed by famous Thai
monks, feature sacred scriptures wrapped in tiger or snake skin and
are encased in plastic tubes smaller than an adult's
palm.
Parts from cats
and tigers are used in the amulets as they are believed to give the
owners a sixth sense or make them feared.
Others sell
animal parts strictly for business. Among the prohibited parts sold
are tiger claws, teeth and skin, and elephant molars, tusks and
tail hairs.
One online
seller, who gave his name as John, insisted that the tiger claw and
skin he advertised on Carousell were genuine.
He offered to
sell a piece of tiger skin the size of a small book for
$150.
The chief abbot
of a Thai Buddhist temple in Singapore told TNP that people should
not confuse culture with religion.
Phrakhru Udom
of Wat Uttamayanmuni in Choa Chu Kang said: "Buddhism has nothing
to do with these things (amulets and charms). They are all cultural
beliefs."
He said amulets
were traditionally made in the past to remind people of their
Buddhist masters' teachings.
Hence, they
were designed in the image of the Buddha, temples or religious
figures.
The abbot said,
tongue-in-cheek: "If these things work as claimed, then you don't
need security, you don't need to work. With an amulet, you can
become rich."
An AVA spokesman told The
New Paper in an e-mail reply that it had received applications for
Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora) permits to import elephant-hair bracelets and
crocodile teeth as lucky charms and amulets.
In 1986,
Singapore became a signatory to Cites, an international agreement
ensuring trade does not threaten wildlife species with
extinction.
The spokesman
added: "We have zero tolerance on the use of Singapore as a conduit
to trade in endangered species and their parts.
"Any illegally
acquired or imported products that contain or purport to contain
endangered species detected will be seized.".
Unfortunately,
the trade in tiger parts continues, said Dr Chris R. Shepherd,
regional director for South-east Asia at Traffic, a
non-governmental organisation that monitors wildlife
trade.
Dr Shepherd
told TNP in an e-mail that wild tiger populations have been badly
affected by poaching and illegal trade.
He said:
"Online trade exacerbates illegal trade and provides a serious
challenge to enforcement agencies. Also worrying is the fact that
in these online forums, many of the underlying beliefs that drive
the trade are left unchallenged."
But offenders
have been caught in Singapore.
Since 2010, AVA
has handled about 56 cases of illegally imported wildlife used in
amulets originating from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and
Africa
FINED
That year, 358
pieces of amulets allegedly made of tiger teeth, claws and skin
were seized in 39 cases, with the offenders fined between $300 and
$3,000.
Last year,
there were six cases in which 37 pieces of amulets consisting of
monkey bones, leopard and tiger claws, and seal skin were seized.
The offenders were fined between $500 and $5,000.
Under the
Endangered Species Act, trading of Cites-listed specimens without a
permit is an offence which carries a fine of up to $50,000 per
specimen, or a jail term of up to two years, or both.
The same
penalties apply if anyone is caught advertising or selling illegal
wildlife or their parts on the Internet.
