A VIDEO has gone viral on social media showing a group of villagers holding a communal feast where they were seen eating expensive arowana fish.
Comments on the video indicated that the incident happened in Kampung Tengah, Renggam, near Kluang.
Is it true that the villagers in Kampung Tengah ate several escaped arowana?
VERDICT:
TRUE
Villagers from Kampung Tengah, Renggam, near here, who are currently in possession of arowana fish they retrieved from an oil palm plantation after the ponds the fish were reared in broke have indicated that they are willing to return them to their owner.
Renggam A Rukun Tetangga chairman A. Sani Palal told Bernama that the villagers were unable to return the fish in their care as they did not know who the real owner was.
He also expressed hope that they would be "forgiven" for eating some of the fish, which can be worth up to thousands of ringgit each, during a communal feast that had gone viral on social media.
"We residents hope that the owner of the fish will meet with us, and discuss the process of returning the fish,” he said when contacted by Bernama.
Sani also indicated the villagers' hope that there would be some compensation for returning the surviving fish.
"It is a form of appreciation to the villagers who rescued the precious fishes, that can cost thousands of ringgit, from dying, as we previously only knew about the ponds but didn’t know who owned it,” he said.
He added that many of the escaped fish were almost dead when rescued, and there were some that they were unable to save.
Sani said a special meeting will be planned involving the village elder, the village chief and a representative of the fish owner to discuss the matter soon.
Meanwhile, fish breeder Ng Ah Phau has claimed that the fish belonged to him and were reared in 13 ponds in Kampung Tengah.
"The losses amount to the millions of ringgit when 15,000 arowana reared for 30 years escaped after the ponds broke,” he said.
Johor Islamic Religious Affairs Committee chairman Mohd Fared Mohd Khalid, meanwhile, advised those who have taken the fish to return them to their rightful owner.
"Clearly, they belong to someone else and now they know who the owner is, they should return the fish to them, that’s what’s best,” he said.
