LETTERS: It's the turn of the tiger to usher in the Lunar New Year. The tiger symbolises courage, strength and power.
However, it is sad to read about tigers encroaching into the open, and being hunted down. It doesn't bode well at all to know that many tiger species have become extinct.
Just as monkeys have been invading schools, shophouses and housing estates in search of food, tigers too have been observed to be within the vicinity of human abode.
It is no fault of these animals for encroaching into the habitat of the human species. Come to think of it, the term encroachment should be thrown back to the humankind.
A lesson that could be learnt from this pandemic lockdown, is to appreciate the value of freedom.
Freedom is taken for granted by all, but we don't realise that the freedom of the animal species has constantly been violated.
We humans have intruded into their domain and deprived them of their rightful and peaceful way of life.
Even the marauding rhinoceros and majestic elephants have not been spared. They have been brutally severed of their tusks and horns, and left to die without pity and dignity.
The plight of the Malayan tiger is similar in comparison with the national football team. The Harimau Malaya national football team performed dismally in the recently concluded AFF Suzuki Cup tournament.
It would be great if the fate of the Malayan tiger would be similar to that of the mascot for Maybank, which is walking tall in the corporate world, performing magnificently even during challenging times.
In badminton, the umpire says love all before play commences. In real time, it is love all and play the solidarity game, to brace for man and tigers to coexist on a level playing field.
It certainly will be a match made in heaven if this becomes reality in the year of the Tiger.
Thiagarajan Mathiaparanam
Klang, Selangor
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times