Dr Mahathir took the opportunity to highlight that in the past, the British had burnt millions of acres of Malaysians forests to plant rubber, causing millions of animals to die.



He added that “practically all the profits” from the sales of rubber was taken back to England, and what they did was “indeed disgraceful”.



He continued by writing, “If you don’t want to cut down our forests, tell your father to tell the rich countries like Britain to pay more for the timber they buy from us (Malaysia). Then we can cut less timber and create other jobs for our people.”



The then 62-year-old Dr Mahathir also suggested to Darrell to visit the National Parks in Malaysia if he was “really interested in tropical animals” because nobody is allowed to fell trees or kill animals there. He added that not all trees were cut down for logging and that there were ongoing reforestation efforts.