My brother-in-law once gave me a ‘dog and cat theology’ book to read. Many years ago, I also wrote about dog and cat models of leadership that I have experienced over my public service career.

In simple terms, dogs are loyal to their master/mistress and cats are reputed to be loyal only to their homes; not even to their owners. Both animals have different ways to communicate their preferences and moods. But I do not like pets in general, except one pet with her identity defined by the name.

In our home, as we had a ‘no TV channel policy’ for 23 years; we also had a ‘no dogs or cats for pets’ theology for a family policy. My wife had little say in this theology; I simply declared it as the preference of the father, and husband.

Nonetheless, my kids who loved animals found ways to grow up showing their love for and attention to pets, as and when they needed to. Or, they simply jumped over the fence and took care of my neighbour’s dogs; and we all remain good friends and almost family until today. For three or four Chinese New Years, they even cared for a Doberman in our home so that the owners could celebrate with family.

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Can these animals of the lower creation order behave like pests when not disciplined in modern life? And, do we need to take care of them, as if they are the same order of priority in human existence? Cat and dog lovers would say ‘yes’ without batting and eyelid.

I have my sincere doubts about all this. I even have problems about keeping pets within the house. Where dogs and cats are kept in houses, I find these to be not very clean – at least to visitors since the owners may not notice out of familiarity.

A few years ago, when a temporary maid was on her day off, my wife screamed for help. I rushed downstairs, and she was asking for help to get rid of a neighbour’s cat that refused to leave the external kitchen.

Apparently our part-time maid, an Indonesian, was feeding the ‘new pet’ with fish bones, etc, after cooking meals for us. The cat was belligerent and stood there staring at my wife even though she splashed water on it. I took a long-handled broom and whacked it, and it never came back. My composite material broom handle was bent, but did not break. I was grateful I did not kill the cat!

Twelve days ago after I returned from a long overseas trip, I went for my usual morning walk on a Saturday morning but at an unusual hour of 5am. When I was walking through Taman Aman as per my usual route for almost the last 15 years,

I was chased by two canines of the lower order without tags.  But, not having a stick or any other form of defence, I chose to use some of the ‘whisperer’ logic’ with lesser animals – freeze and stand still.  

I wanted to assure the animals that I meant them no harm. They continued to bark for some time and then walked away. The next day, at my usual hour, the same thing happened, but this time there were other mortals who seemed to ‘know’ the dogs and who chased them away for me.

Seeking order, not chaos

In the animal kingdom, the stronger or more vicious is usually the winner or victor in common space friction. Under our Local Government Act, which governs all council areas and arenas, of which we have at least 145 of them, the rule of law prevails on such public space issues and concerns. These are laws meant for humans.

I believe that both dogs and cats, and I suppose other so-called pets (can a python or king cobra be a pet?) have some guidelines and rules to observe and conduct their behaviour. It is animal behaviour that we seek to moderate, but the rules are written for the owners.

All animals can be pests. Can you imagine me raising a termite colony in my house, calling them my pets? I suppose, if my home grown termites work their way into my neighbour’s house and he can show that I have been negligent with care and maintenance, I can be charged under some by laws or offence.

Local government bylaws exist to moderate and temper the public and common space for all citizens and especially residents who pay local taxes. It is when these are violated that, citizens and residents, react and throw their state assembly representative out of office; often wrongly, as they do not have direct jurisdiction under our current laws.

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How then do we empower the local agents or people’s representatives to provide oversight and good governance within the local council boards? The current system is completely unsatisfactory to me.

I am not quite sure that merely holding elections is the right answer either. Even without elections, the key is to select or elect the right person , who can represent the interests of local citizens, especially residents, on the board or councils.

Because of my ‘dog incident’ – and it was not my first time calling MBPJ officials (including councillors) about “a gang of stray dogs in my community” – I am now focused on an agenda called Citizen Rangers .

Rangers are residents and netizens generating evaluation reports for the consideration of the local council. We have started both a Facebook page and a soon-to-be-launched website to recruit citizen volunteers, to help monitor and undertake surveillance especially in the public and common spaces of life and living.  Even the MACC has agreed to collaborate with us on this project.

The local council alone cannot monitor and survey for compliance of all rules and by laws any more. The areas and arenas are too big and large and we still have a tidak-apa attitude about compliance with the laws.

Let me close this column with one case of dog abuse to make my point. I met a former Malaysian ambassador at the park where I walked last Saturday. He reported an incident next to his house that shocked me. A person was reversing out of their house and their dog escaped and mauled the neighbour’s maid quite seriously. Who is now responsible for this incident? Can the owners claim excuse for their negligence?

I understand that there is a kindergarten nearby. What if, the next time, the dog attacks the children being dropped off by parents?

I rest my case. It is fine for dog-lovers to make their unqualified case for the dogs they love. That argument must also be fair and legitimate for local authorities to still pursue order and not chaos in the case of the public and common spaces of all citizens; especially tax-paying residents.

May God help us move towards good local governance!