Rare Rafflesia Rediscovery Revives Debate Over Colonial Names and Forest Protection

A Rare Bloom Brings a Historic Name Under Scrutiny

The rediscovery of Rafflesia hasseltii in the forests of West Sumatra has renewed a debate over whether one of Southeast Asia's most extraordinary plants should continue to bear the name of a British colonial administrator. The rare flower has given biologists a welcome opportunity to study and protect it, while drawing fresh attention to whose history is remembered in scientific names.

The genus Rafflesia honors Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, a figure widely credited with founding colonial Singapore. Supporters of a name change argue that his record of violence and coercion during British rule in parts of Southeast Asia makes that honor inappropriate. Scientists opposing the proposal say a scientific name is a shared reference used around the world, and changing it would create confusion across research, education and conservation.

The disagreement reached Malaysia's parliament in August 2025, when Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, the Member of Parliament for Machang, called for the flower to be renamed. By December 29, the rediscovery in Indonesia had brought renewed attention to the wider argument about colonial history, indigenous knowledge and scientific practice. No agreed replacement name or timetable for a change was given.

Rafflesia's survival also remains a pressing concern. The plant depends entirely on a host vine and the tropical forest around it. Its spectacular bloom, sometimes called a corpse flower because of its smell, can attract public attention, but habitat loss threatens the conditions it needs to live.

How Raffles and Arnold Became Part of the Flower's Name

In 1818, a local guide led British naturalist Joseph Arnold to the plant in Bencoolen, then a British colony on Sumatra's west coast. The area is now known as Bengkulu. That encounter brought the flower into Western scientific records, although local communities already knew it.

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles was the lieutenant governor in charge. The genus was named Rafflesia in his honor, while the species Rafflesia arnoldii was named after Arnold. A genus groups related species together; the species name identifies a particular member of that group. The two parts allow scientists to identify a plant more precisely than a common name alone.

Rafflesia hasseltii, the species rediscovered in West Sumatra, carries another European name. It honors Dutch botanist Arend Ludolf van Hasselt. The debate therefore extends beyond a single colonial administrator to the way European figures became attached to plants that local people had known for generations.

Raffles occupies a contested place in regional history. His association with the founding of colonial Singapore remains prominent, while modern scholars and campaigners criticize violence and coercion under British rule in parts of Southeast Asia. Those competing assessments have made the flower's name part of a wider movement to reconsider colonial legacies.

The Dates Behind the Dispute

The naming debate connects events separated by more than two centuries. The first Western record, the plant's formal classification and recent political calls for change each play a different part in the argument.

• 1818: A local guide led Joseph Arnold to the plant in Bencoolen, now Bengkulu, bringing it into Western scientific records.
• 1821: Botanist Robert Brown formally classified the flower, following standard scientific naming practices.
• 2024: The International Botanical Congress in Madrid voted to replace the derogatory term "caffra" with "affra" in the names of more than 200 species.
• August 2025: Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal proposed renaming the flower during a Malaysian parliamentary debate.
• By December 29, 2025: The rediscovery of Rafflesia hasseltii in West Sumatra had renewed discussion about the genus name and the protection of its habitat.

The Madrid decision has become a useful point of comparison because it shows that scientific naming rules can accommodate ethical changes. The Malaysian proposal concerns a different issue: whether a genus named after a colonial figure should retain that name.

What the Malaysian MP Proposed

Wan Ahmad Fayhsal argued that an iconic natural symbol should no longer carry a colonizer's name after Malaysia had been independent for 68 years. During the August parliamentary debate, the Machang MP described the association with Raffles as unacceptable.

"The name was taken from Stamford Raffles, our coloniser, a man without morals or ethics. Yet, we gave such a beautiful name to our flower," said Mr Wan Ahmad Fayhsal.

Wan Ahmad Fayhsal urged the government to use its powers to rename the flower. He even suggested naming it after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, joking that this would be acceptable "as long as it is better".

His proposal sought to move the discussion of history beyond a colonial framework. For supporters, changing the name would be a public choice about whom the region honors and how it describes its own natural heritage.

The proposal also brought a technical matter into a political setting. Governments can promote local names in public life, while the scientific name functions across countries and institutions. That international role is central to the objections raised by botanists.

Local Names Carry Knowledge of Their Own

Joko Witono, a botanist at Indonesia's National Research and Innovation Agency, known as BRIN, explained that the flower has different local names across the region. In Indonesia, these include padma, pakma and ambai-ambai.

Rafflesia hasseltii is known locally in West Sumatra as cendawan muka rimau. Environmental historian Luthfi Adam noted that local names often carry specific knowledge about a species, which scientific naming conventions can obscure. Recognizing those names means recognizing the communities that knew the plant before it entered European scientific records.

Lennard Gillman, a professor of ecology and biogeography at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, supports changing the name. He argues that Raffles committed atrocities against local people during the colonial era and that scientific names should not honor such figures.

Gillman's position centers on restoring indigenous names that reflect relationships between communities and their environment extending back centuries. For supporters of this approach, a name is more than a convenient label: it carries a history of knowledge, recognition and power.

Malaysia's own variety of names shows how rich that history is. The flower is called pokma in Kelantan, bunga malang among the Temiar, and bunga patma among the Kadazan-Dusun. These names also complicate the search for one replacement that everyone would accept.

Why Some Scientists Oppose Renaming

Ghazally Ismail, a former deputy vice-chancellor at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, strongly criticized the parliamentary proposal. He was instrumental in establishing a Rafflesia forest reserve in Sabah and described the proposal as an embarrassment born of ignorance about scientific classification.

Ghazally argued that a genus name has a different purpose from a commercial label or a public place name. Explaining his objection, he said:

"Rafflesia is not a brand. It is not a street name. It is the scientific name of a genus of parasitic flowering plants found right here in South-east Asia," said Professor Ghazally.

He maintained that changing the name would not decolonize anything and would instead display a lack of understanding of how scientists classify living things. In his view, the name provides a universal tool for organizing information and allowing researchers in different countries to communicate without ambiguity.

That practical role matters because scientific work accumulates over time. Researchers use names to connect observations, studies and records about the same organism. Opponents warn that replacing a genus name used internationally for more than two centuries would require changes to textbooks, research papers, databases and signs.

The disagreement is therefore about both historical recognition and the everyday work of science. Supporters want the name to reflect local heritage and ethical choices. Opponents place greater weight on maintaining a stable reference that researchers already share.

Scientific Stability and a Possible Compromise

Associate Professor Dr Zulhazman Hamzah, dean of the Faculty of Earth Sciences at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, explained that the flower's formal classification by Robert Brown in 1821 followed standard practice. Although its names honor Raffles and Arnold, he said the scientific classification itself has no link to colonialism.

Zulhazman noted that scientific names commonly refer to discoverers, locations or morphology, meaning a plant's physical form. The system of using a genus name followed by a species name is called binomial nomenclature. Its purpose is to give organisms consistent identities across languages and national borders.

Malaysia's multiethnic population presents another difficulty, he argued. Selecting one local name could leave other communities feeling excluded when they have their own established names for the same flower. Choosing between pokma, bunga malang, bunga patma and other names would involve cultural decisions as well as scientific ones.

Zulhazman proposed using both names together in official and educational settings, such as "Rafflesia (Bunga Pakma)". This approach would retain the scientific reference while giving local heritage a visible place beside it.

The compromise offers a way to make indigenous names more familiar without replacing the genus throughout the scientific record. It also allows the flower to be discussed in terms that communities recognize, while preserving the name used in international research.

When Scientific Names Do Change

The International Botanical Congress in Madrid demonstrated in 2024 that scientific names can be changed after formal debate. Delegates voted to remove the derogatory term "caffra" from the names of more than 200 species and replace it with "affra".

That decision shows that stability is not the only consideration in botanical naming. Ethical concerns and sensitivity can also lead the scientific community to approve revisions, although changing an established name involves a process beyond a political announcement.

Joko Witono offered a pragmatic view from BRIN. He noted that names can change when new taxonomic evidence emerges, because revising classifications is part of how science works. Taxonomy is the work of identifying organisms and arranging them into groups according to their relationships.

For Joko, accurate data matters more than the name itself. His position places the quality of knowledge about the plant at the center of the discussion, even while the choice of name remains culturally important.

A Plant That Depends Entirely on Its Forest

Rafflesia is a parasitic plant with no leaves, stems or roots. It depends entirely on a host vine belonging to the Tetrastigma group. The host provides what the plant needs to live, making the surrounding habitat essential to its survival.

The genus produces the largest single flower on Earth, with blooms reaching up to a meter in diameter. Its smell resembles rotting flesh. That odor attracts flies, which help pollinate the flowers by carrying pollen between them.

The unusual life cycle makes Rafflesia difficult to cultivate and study. Its dependence on another plant means that protecting the flower also requires protecting the vine and the forest conditions that support them.

Rafflesia occurs only in the tropical rainforests of Borneo, Indonesia, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. Deforestation and the resulting loss of habitat remain the main threat to its survival.

The rediscovery of Rafflesia hasseltii in West Sumatra was a rare success for conservationists. The species had disappeared from scientific records for years, and finding it again provides an opportunity to learn more about it and protect the place where it grows.

Zulhazman urged that research, education and conservation remain the priority whatever happens to the name. He argued that protecting the region's unique biodiversity could help Malaysia and Indonesia become global leaders in environmental stewardship.

The name debate and the conservation challenge now sit alongside each other. Local names can give communities greater recognition, and scientific names can keep research connected across borders. The flower still needs its host vine and forest habitat to survive under either name.

The Bottom Line

• The rediscovery of Rafflesia hasseltii in West Sumatra renewed debate over the genus name, which honors Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles.
• Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal proposed renaming the flower in August 2025, citing Malaysia's 68 years of independence.
• Supporters seek greater recognition for indigenous knowledge and object to honoring a colonial figure associated with violence and coercion.
• Opponents warn that changing a scientific name used for more than two centuries would disrupt research records, textbooks, databases and signs.
• Local names include padma, pakma, ambai-ambai, cendawan muka rimau, pokma, bunga malang and bunga patma.
• Zulhazman Hamzah proposed using scientific and local names together, such as "Rafflesia (Bunga Pakma)".
• The 2024 International Botanical Congress decision affecting more than 200 species shows that ethical revisions to scientific names are possible.
• Rafflesia depends entirely on Tetrastigma host vines, and protecting its tropical forest habitat remains the immediate conservation priority.