The grand ol' dame was a pain in the butt, but she saved the Singapore Zoo!
Bernard Harrison, Today Online 29 Mar 08;
WHICHEVER animal eventually becomes the Singapore Zoo's next icon and ambassador will have it tough because Ah Meng is a real classy act to follow. For she always had class.
This made her somewhat of a diva — and like most divas, she was often a pain in the butt!
Ah Meng and I go back a long way. We first met in 1973 when I joined the Singapore Zoological Gardens as curator of zoology. Thus, I was Ah Meng's de facto boss. But really, that title was reserved for Sam (or Alagappasamy), who was section head of primates then. Ah Meng adored Sam and he adored her.
In the early days, Ah Meng visited a lot of schools and met visitors through photo-taking sessions at the Zoo. During those days, we would set up photo shoots of Ah Meng with singers such as John Denver, Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond, and others such as actress Isabella Rossellini, Britain's Prince Edward and tennis star Bjorn Borg.
Someone who was really fascinated with Ah Meng was sex symbol Bo Derek, who would make unannounced stops in Singapore, and go straight from the airport to the Zoo to see Ah Meng and then leave.
But Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor's meeting with Ah Meng was the most bizarre. I had received a call from Mr Ong Beng Seng — who brought Jackson's concert to Singapore in 1993 — asking me to close the whole Zoo so that Jackson could visit.
I explained that we could not do that and suggested that we take Ah Meng down to the Raffles Hotel, where Jackson was staying, for a private visit. I asked Sam to get her ready and told him I would come along. When I got into the zoo minibus, there were six orang-utans and four keepers. What's going on, I thought, as I had only asked for Ah Meng?
These guys wanted to see Jackson and knew the only way to do that was if they each took care of an orang utan.
He and Elizabeth Taylor met us at the swimming pool and spent about 45 minutes with Ah Meng. He said absolutely nothing, just observing with fascination as young orang-utans crawled all over him. Elizabeth Taylor was far more interesting than he was!
In the early days of the Zoo, in the mid-1970's, we had good local support but few tourist visitors. I used to visit tour operators and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), and asked why they did not send tourists to visit the Zoo. Instead, tourists were sent to the Jurong Bird Park.
The answer was always the same: Every city has a zoo, but there are only a few bird parks in the world.
On one occasion, I had a drink with STB director for Australia Dennis Pile and lamented about our frustrating position with the tourist market. He suggested combining a visit to the Zoo with a meal with an orang-utan. It was a unique selling proposition and the concept of dining with an orang-utan would make a great advertising visual.
I thought the idea was brilliant and we launched Breakfast at the Zoo in 1982 to the Australian market; I went to Sydney with posters of Ah Meng having breakfast with a beautiful woman and did Breakfast on live television shows.
Breakfast became so successful we decided to add a similar tour called High Tea at the Zoo (with a young orang-utan). During its heyday, Breakfast and High Tea attracted more than 66,000 guests per year. That's about 180 guests each day. We used to have two breakfasts running simultaneously, one conducted in English and the other in Japanese.
While it was immensely popular, the programmes had the odd hiccups.
One day, Ah Meng was outside eating and posing for photographs with guests, when there was a sudden downpour. Everyone moved to the adjacent shelter and Ah Meng saw an Australian tourist sitting in her favourite chair. So, she walked to where he was and pushed him. Thinking it was a game, the tourist pushed her back. Ah Meng then grabbed his leg and bit his calf.
We looked at the bite, which the tourist agreed was superficial and said: "No worries mate." But the next week, we received a letter and damages for a spoilt holiday. The Australian tourist was a lawyer. We settled out of court.
Breakfast at the Zoo was the turning point for the Zoo. It put the Singapore Zoological Gardens on the world map and on the top 10 list of the best zoos worldwide. And credit must go to the grand old dame!
Ah Meng was constantly in demand. The term Ah Meng and orang-utan became synonymous to Singaporeans. She was a superstar. During her time, she was the highest paid model here, commanding a modelling fee of $5,000 for half an hour.
In 1992, Ah Meng was awarded the STB's Special Tourism Ambassador Award at the annual tourism equivalent of the Oscars. By then, she had appeared in more than 30 travel films and had been interviewed by more than 300 journalists. It was a touching moment for everyone at the Zoo because it was such a special occasion. She went on stage and collected the award like a true prima donna.
Ah Meng had it pretty good her whole life. She was probably the most pampered orang-utan in the world.
Ah Meng was also an ambassador for her wild counterparts. She lived in captivity and met humans, showing them how lovely and adorable orang-utans are.
Orang-utans live in the forest of Borneo and Sumatra, which is being logged and burnt at an alarming rate. It is projected that rainforests in South-east Asia will be destroyed by 2020 and so will the populations of orang-utans, gibbons and the multitude of wildlife and flora.
As an ambassador, Ah Meng raised much-needed awareness for this issue.
The writer is principal partner of Creativity and Design, Bernard Harrison and Friends.
