Just taking wing but it’s an honest trade

Tuesday February 10, 2009
OH KEAN SHEN,Penang.

I REFFR to the letter “Swiftlet rearing in town a health threat” by Dr T.K. Ho (The Star, Feb 6) and I would like to share my views on this.

Firstly, I like to thank the writer for his concern as a medical expert. I only ask him to study the matter more throroughly before making such remarks. Dengue fever has been around for a while and during that time, the swiftlet industry was not at this magnitude. So why blame it on the swiftlet industry?

Bird’s nest business has existed for centuries. Initially, the nests came from caves but the Indonesians have developed the technology to farm them in houses. In the past, this technology has been secretly guarded by a small number of people.

The business is now growing and contributing to 0.5% of Indonesia’s economy. The technology has spread to more people today.

According to Jabatan Haiwan and Jabatan Perhilitan, the chances of swiftlets (edible nest type or EBN) of contracting and spreading bird flu is minimal because EBN swiftlets are non-migratory and they do not share flying or roosting space with other birds. Swiftlets do not have the same food and water sources as other birds.

The writer is correct in saying that one of the ways of controlling the correct temperature and humidity in the farm is to have stagnant ponds. But this has been replaced by humidifiers which do not allow the breeding of aedes mosquitoes.

We should not kill an industry or business just because of a stagnant pond. We must be innovative and find new methods to solve the problem and not destroy a whole business.
We are keen to work closely with anyone who is able to contribute towards the future of the swiftlet business. We even take Dr Ho’s comment with a positive note.

The business is not a time bomb for a serious epidemic outbreak. It is a business conducted by people who have put in a lot of their hard-earned monies to try and build up an honest business.
The business is new and there is much work to be done to make it professional but it is an honest one. We agree that there should be rules and regulations to guide and manage the business and such regulations must be drawn up with the help of people who are in the know and also those who are in this business.