Wildlife photographer and advocate Peter Ong’s new book, “Primus – The Primates of Peninsular Malaysia”, promises an insightful study of the 12 primate species found in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, and Langkawi.

Featuring 94 of his photographs, “Primus”, supported by Yayasan Hasanah, covers species such as the white-thighed surili, long-tailed macaque, southern pig-tailed macaque, Selangor silvered langur, lar gibbon, Robinson’s banded langur, and the dusky langur.

Speaking with FMT Lifestyle, Ong said he hopes the book will inspire Malaysians to be more curious about our country’s diverse wildlife. “I want people to go, ‘Oh, I didn’t know all these things about our primates – what else don’t I know about our animals?’

“Perhaps then we can have more meaningful conversations and make discoveries,” he noted.

To that end, the book details the primates’ terrain, habitat and eating habits, and sheds light on the people who study these primates and live alongside them.

Noteworthy is the foreword, written by renowned conservationist Dr Jane Goodall – marking a first for an Asian publication.

“When the last Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia died in 2019, everyone was talking about it,” Ong said. “But where were they when the numbers were down to the last 10 or 20?

“I thought before we got to that stage with our primates, some of which are endangered, I should generate some material and put a name and face to these creatures.

“This can be the benchmark so that in 10 years’ time, we can look back at where we were and see if we have improved or declined,” explained Ong, who sits on the global council of the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation.

To put the book together, Ong took photographs – and had to retake some owing to a computer crash – as well as gathered knowledge from academic journals, researchers, and local communities.

“Primus” also features reprints of the earliest watercolour paintings of four species of primates in peninsular Malaysia, commissioned by Wiliam Farquhar, the British resident of Melaka, in 1803. The original watercolours are in the possession of the National Museum of Singapore.

The Penang-born Ong, a performing artiste who ventured into wildlife photography in 2018, shared that the genesis of “Primus” came about during Goodall’s second visit to Malaysia the previous year.

She had asked him about the state of Malaysian primates, to which he’d had no answer. Realising there was a dearth of data on many Malaysian primate species, he initiated Project Monyet in 2019 to photograph and document the country’s simian species, which became a stepping stone towards “Primus”.

Last September, Ong published “Wang Kelian: The Forgotten Valley”, a coffee table book that documents the biodiversity of this village in Perlis, located on the Malaysia-Thailand border. He also produced a short documentary of the same name.

As for “Primus”, 100 hardcover copies, signed by Ong, have been published and are available in support of The Datai Pledge, a conservation effort by The Datai Langkawi resort aimed at protecting biodiversity and supporting the community on the island.

Proceeds from sales of these limited editions will go towards the Pledge, while a soft-cover version is targeted for an early-2024 release in bookstores such as Kinokuniya and Gerakbudaya.

Asked about his friendship with Goodall, Ong quipped that it all started in 2007 when he and some friends “stalked” her in Taiwan, where she was giving a talk.

They subsequently set up the Malaysian chapter of Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, an initiative aimed at empowering young people to affect positive change in their communities, and invited her to speak here in 2015. Goodall visited Malaysia in 2019 as well.

When she learnt Ong was working on “Primus”, Goodal encouraged him and offered to write the foreword. These days, Ong and his friends have regular Zoom calls with her when her busy schedule permits.

“She’s turning 90 next year but she doesn’t intend to slow down,” Ong shared. “She said her time is running out and she needs to speed up and do whatever that she can. The time for slowing down has passed.

“In a sense, I also feel that. We know what the problems are. Is there something we can do as individuals and as a community? What are we waiting for?”

Limited-edition hardcover copies of ‘Primus’ are available with a donation of RM1,880 each to The Datai Pledge. Visit its website for further information.

Interest parties may also contact Yanti Jamil of The Datai Langkawi at 04-9500 500, or send an email to find out more.