When Dreams Become Deeds: A Temple’s Journey from Vision to Conservation

Our connection with the elephant began with a dream.

Some years ago, our temple’s founder had a profound dream of a baby elephant bravely battling against evil, protecting the people and bringing blessings. Following this divine sign, a statue of Lord Ganesha was consecrated at our temple. If you have seen it, its form closely resembles a young baby elephant — symbolising purity, wisdom, protection, and the gentle removal of obstacles. Since then, the elephant has held a meaningful spiritual presence in our temple’s journey.

Recently, YB Ling Tian Soon, the Johor State Executive Councillor for Health and Environment and Assemblyman for Yong Peng (for formal reference), reached out to our Malaysian representative regarding the “Adopt an Elephant” programme — an initiative to support rescued baby elephants with milk and food for a year.

When we heard this, the resonance was immediate. We felt that the blessing in the founder’s dream had now taken living form.

We said yes without hesitation.

Today, we visited the Johor Elephant Sanctuary for the sponsorship ceremony. Together with us, Hock Kee Kopitiam and our Malaysia Representative Office have also adopted the two baby elephants under this programme.

YB Ling shared with us that both baby elephants are less than one year old. They were tragically left behind by their herd, orphaned and unable to survive on their own in the wild. A public naming contest was held — one is now called Suri, and the other Becko.

The Johor Elephant Sanctuary was established in 2020 and began operations in 2022. The development is currently in Phase 2, with further construction ongoing. The sanctuary is targeted to be opened to the public by end 2026. Meanwhile, a specialised team of trained elephant experts is actively being built to manage and relocate elephants that enter residential or farmland areas.

This is crucial work in reducing human-elephant conflict as habitats shrink.

We are humbled to play a small role in this effort — not just as sponsors, but as caretakers of a blessing that once came in a dream.

This is more than conservation.

This is compassion in action.

A reminder that harmony between humans, nature, and the divine begins with the choices we make.

And yes — we joked that we now have a baby elephant as a “pet”.

But truly, Suri and Becko are family.