US human rights report shines spotlight on Penan tribe
19 April
A new US government human rights report has highlighted the Penan tribe’s battle to protect their rainforests in Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo, from logging.
The US State Department document cites claims by indigenous rights groups that Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s government has leased the Penan’s land ‘to logging companies and land developers in exchange for political favors and money’.
Taib Mahmud has been in power for 30 years, and won state elections last week. Thousands of Penan tribespeople were unable to vote because they have not been issued with identity cards.
The US report describes accounts that ‘logging companies harassed and sometimes threatened vocal Penan leaders’ and that ‘workers from two logging companies… regularly sexually abused Penan women and girls’. A government minister has confirmed the rapes, but no action has been taken against the perpetrators.
The hunter-gatherer Penan are fighting to keep their last remaining rainforest safe from the logging companies. One Penan woman told Survival, ‘Our land and our river have been destroyed by the logging company, by the oil palm plantation. It brings hardship and suffering to our land.’
Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The State Department report adds weight to growing worldwide condemnation of the Sarawak government’s treatment of the Penan. The Penan’s human rights are being ignored, their forests destroyed, and their survival threatened.’
http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/7228
Showing posts with label Taib. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taib. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Monday, October 18, 2010
Continuing the Raping in Iban Country
Photo source hereMonday, October 18, 2010
Taib's loggers: Sebuyau Ibans prepare to form a human shield
Taib's loggers: Sebuyau Ibans prepare to form a human shield
By Christina S Suntai
My brother Numpang anak Suntai and his wife, Helen Unchat, together with 11 tribal leaders and villagers from 11 longhouses are now camping in Ulu Sebangan as we speak. Today I want to refer to their make shift camp as “Langkau Ngintu Menoa.”
They are leading the villagers to form a blockade to stop bulldozers used by illegal loggers, Quality Concrete Holdings, whose Executive Chairman is Tiang Ming Sing, from further penetration into their native customary lands, which include rice fields, pepper vines, fruit trees, rubber plantations and communal forest at Ulu Sebangan.
The illegal loggers, Quality Concrete Holdings, whose Executive Director is Tiang Ching Kok and major shareholder is Rodiah Binti Mahmud, sister of CM Taib Mahmud remain relentless in their efforts to grab the valuable trees. They are bulldozing their way to get to the trees and destroy everything in their path! Every tree they killed for the timber, 28 other little trees will die with it. So far the loggers continue to steal the valuable trees when no one is around to stop them. Therefore the villagers decided to set camp in the jungle to guard the forest, to ensure that the valuable trees will not be stolen by Quality Concrete Holdings.
My brother Numpang anak Suntai and his wife, Helen Unchat, together with 11 tribal leaders and villagers from 11 longhouses are now camping in Ulu Sebangan as we speak. Today I want to refer to their make shift camp as “Langkau Ngintu Menoa.”
They are leading the villagers to form a blockade to stop bulldozers used by illegal loggers, Quality Concrete Holdings, whose Executive Chairman is Tiang Ming Sing, from further penetration into their native customary lands, which include rice fields, pepper vines, fruit trees, rubber plantations and communal forest at Ulu Sebangan.
The illegal loggers, Quality Concrete Holdings, whose Executive Director is Tiang Ching Kok and major shareholder is Rodiah Binti Mahmud, sister of CM Taib Mahmud remain relentless in their efforts to grab the valuable trees. They are bulldozing their way to get to the trees and destroy everything in their path! Every tree they killed for the timber, 28 other little trees will die with it. So far the loggers continue to steal the valuable trees when no one is around to stop them. Therefore the villagers decided to set camp in the jungle to guard the forest, to ensure that the valuable trees will not be stolen by Quality Concrete Holdings.
Read more here
More story here
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
A pittance for your rights, please
Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:50
Source here
PETALING JAYA: How would you like RM250 in exchange for the inheritance that has been the source of your livelihood? That is how much the Sarawak state government is offering Iban villagers in rural Sebangan so that timber companies can have free rein of the rainforest.
Sebangan is a small range of rainforest in which there are 16 Iban villages. The Ibans have lived there for generations and depend on the forest for their livelihood.
Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Abdul Mahmud now has his eye on the area, according to Sarawak Report, a website dedicated to exposing alleged corrupt practices by Taib and his family.
It quoted Nicholas Mujah, secretary-general of the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association, as saying that loggers can reap 700 tons of wood from every hectare of the Sebangan jungle.
Taib's sister, Raziah Mahmud, is said to be a shareholder and director in Quality Concrete Holdings Berhad (QCHB), the company that wants the timber there.
“Taib traditionally demands a rate of RM100 per ton of timber,” says Sarawak Report, quoting timber industry insiders. “However, in this latest case the sum is likely to be substantially larger, given the value of the hardwoods at the Sebangan reserve.”
With 3,305 hectares of forest at his disposal, Taib would stand to gain at least RM250 million, it said.
Because of the land's Native Customary Rights (NCR) status, QCHB has been given a conditional occupation certificate valid for only a year. One of the conditions is that the company needs the permission of the NCR landowners to start logging.
However, QCHB appears to have taken wood from the forest without asking.
”Nobody warned or consulted us about anything,” said Sadun Ason, Kampong Ensika's headman, adding that he found out about the poaching when a villager spoke of logging equipment being shipped upriver on July 11.
Ason then contacted the local penghulu, who not only admitted to having knowledge of the poaching but also told the headman and his people that any form of protest was futile.
"We were told the whole matter was perfectly legal, and we had no rights," Ason told Sarawak Report.
Villagers bribed and tricked
According to the article, Taib elects his own headmen and penghulus for villages in the interior.
In the case of Kampong Ensika, he appointed an outsider and a member of his Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, as the penghulu a few weeks before QHCB's logging licence was issued.
The article also said that Forestry Department and Land Survey officials were friendlier with QCHB's representatives than with the villagers.
Despite records from the Land Registry stating that the land in question was gazetted as NCR land in 1956, the government agents claimed there was no evidence that the area had such a status.
Sarawak Report said QCHB had offered to pay each villager RM250 and each headman RM800 if they would sign away their rights to the forest.
It also alleged that in one instance QHCB bribed and tricked 11 villagers and three headmen into giving up their rights.
It said the victims, who were illiterate, were taken to Sibu in QHCB's vehicles for a dinner and were then asked to sign documents waiving their rights to their land without any lawyer being present. They did not get copies of the documents, it added.
“We have been threatened that if we oppose this, we are going against the government and opposing development,” a villager told Sarawak Report.
“But why does the government act like a common thief in this case and how much development can we achieve for RM250?”
The article also said Sebangan's villagers were expecting gangsters allegedly employed by QCHB to intimidate the indigenous population.
Sarawak Report said it would forward the information it had to a legal team headed by activist lawyer Baru Bian.
Source here
PETALING JAYA: How would you like RM250 in exchange for the inheritance that has been the source of your livelihood? That is how much the Sarawak state government is offering Iban villagers in rural Sebangan so that timber companies can have free rein of the rainforest.
Sebangan is a small range of rainforest in which there are 16 Iban villages. The Ibans have lived there for generations and depend on the forest for their livelihood.
Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Abdul Mahmud now has his eye on the area, according to Sarawak Report, a website dedicated to exposing alleged corrupt practices by Taib and his family.
It quoted Nicholas Mujah, secretary-general of the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association, as saying that loggers can reap 700 tons of wood from every hectare of the Sebangan jungle.
Taib's sister, Raziah Mahmud, is said to be a shareholder and director in Quality Concrete Holdings Berhad (QCHB), the company that wants the timber there.
“Taib traditionally demands a rate of RM100 per ton of timber,” says Sarawak Report, quoting timber industry insiders. “However, in this latest case the sum is likely to be substantially larger, given the value of the hardwoods at the Sebangan reserve.”
With 3,305 hectares of forest at his disposal, Taib would stand to gain at least RM250 million, it said.
Because of the land's Native Customary Rights (NCR) status, QCHB has been given a conditional occupation certificate valid for only a year. One of the conditions is that the company needs the permission of the NCR landowners to start logging.
However, QCHB appears to have taken wood from the forest without asking.
”Nobody warned or consulted us about anything,” said Sadun Ason, Kampong Ensika's headman, adding that he found out about the poaching when a villager spoke of logging equipment being shipped upriver on July 11.
Ason then contacted the local penghulu, who not only admitted to having knowledge of the poaching but also told the headman and his people that any form of protest was futile.
"We were told the whole matter was perfectly legal, and we had no rights," Ason told Sarawak Report.
Villagers bribed and tricked
According to the article, Taib elects his own headmen and penghulus for villages in the interior.
In the case of Kampong Ensika, he appointed an outsider and a member of his Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, as the penghulu a few weeks before QHCB's logging licence was issued.
The article also said that Forestry Department and Land Survey officials were friendlier with QCHB's representatives than with the villagers.
Despite records from the Land Registry stating that the land in question was gazetted as NCR land in 1956, the government agents claimed there was no evidence that the area had such a status.
Sarawak Report said QCHB had offered to pay each villager RM250 and each headman RM800 if they would sign away their rights to the forest.
It also alleged that in one instance QHCB bribed and tricked 11 villagers and three headmen into giving up their rights.
It said the victims, who were illiterate, were taken to Sibu in QHCB's vehicles for a dinner and were then asked to sign documents waiving their rights to their land without any lawyer being present. They did not get copies of the documents, it added.
“We have been threatened that if we oppose this, we are going against the government and opposing development,” a villager told Sarawak Report.
“But why does the government act like a common thief in this case and how much development can we achieve for RM250?”
The article also said Sebangan's villagers were expecting gangsters allegedly employed by QCHB to intimidate the indigenous population.
Sarawak Report said it would forward the information it had to a legal team headed by activist lawyer Baru Bian.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
When the hunter becomes the hunted
Ka ka ka ka.....
Mariam Mokhtar from London
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
malaysianmirror.com
The Penan are subject to intimidation, violence and exploitation. They struggle to provide for themselves. Their womenfolk and young girls have been sexually abused and raped. They feel hunted, just like the game they seek in the forests of Borneo.
On Tuesday, Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister of Sarawak, had a dose of his own medicine when he had to escape the clutches of demonstrators in front of the Said Business School, at the University of Oxford. He was there to address the “Inaugural Oxford Global Islamic Branding and Marketing Forum”. The protesters held placards reading ‘Penan tribe say NO to logging’ and ‘Malaysia: Stop destroying the Penan tribe’.
At the opening session, Taib’s address was “The Role of Muslim Nations in Rebuilding Today’s Global Economy”. This was followed by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Nor Mohamed Yakcop's, address “The View from Muslim Southeast Asia.
Little did Taib guess that he would have people demonstrating about the Penans and the destruction of the rainforest. The grand welcome he is used to, fizzled into nothing. His luxury car, carried a decoy to fool a group of protestors at the side entrance. Taib was probably transported in an embassy van, with diplomatic number plates and spirited via the kitchen, into the building.
A man who claimed he was in charge of security and who refused to give his name and the company he worked for, said, “We don’t care what the principal wants, we bundle him in, even if he does not like it.” He was suggesting that Taib may have probably wanted to make a grand entrance, but was prevented from doing so by the security detail.
Inside the conference centre, protesters were barred from entering the foyer to present their list of questions to Taib. A scheduled press conference at 12.30 p.m. just before the special speakers’ lunch, was cancelled possibly because of the risk of having to answer awkward questions.
A demonstrator who entered the foyer tried to take a photo of Taib but was immediately surrounded and forcibly ejected from the premises. She successfully took photos of him through the glass but this enraged members of Taib’s delegation who then lowered the blinds or placed screens against the glass-fronted building, to prevent Taib from being photographed.
Taib seemed like a wounded animal as he walked with Nor Mohamed Yakcop, who looked visibly angry that the demonstrators had hijacked Taib’s big day in front of the delegates who had paid £1,000 (RM 5,100) each to attend this Forum.
Evidently, Taib is surrounded by ‘yes’ men who cocoon him from dissenting views of the real world. He must have found it galling that thousands of miles away from the safe confines of his tropical riverside mansion, the Penan problem and the destruction of the forests would be haunting him in this centre of learning.
Instead of being able to sell Sarawak to the British, Taib has to justify his actions to the chairman of the British parliament’s All Party Parliamentary Group for Tribal peoples, MP Martin Horwood. The British MP has written to him about the serious allegations of the Penan. Instead of a warm welcome, Taib received a cold reception from the demonstrators and a letter from the MP whilst his host, will receive letters of protest and condemnation.
Taib may wish to reflect how it is to feel rejected, just like the Penans are rejected by their own leaders who continually thwart their attempts at seeking justice. For several years the Penan and other indigenous people have tried to seek peaceful methods to maintain their way of life. They have been harassed because they stood in Taib’s way and his get-rich schemes.
The large delegation accompanying Taib seemed bemused by the demonstrators. What they are used to is a violent reaction from the Malaysian police who are intolerant of protests, even peaceful ones.
One lady who was part of Taib’s delegation said that a child who held up a banner at yesterday’s demonstration was being subjected to “child labour.” Is she aware that Penan girls are being raped and the police in Malaysia are slow to act?
This demonstration has rattled Taib. If this seminar had been arranged during term-time, Taib would have been assured of a larger, more vocal and highly organised group. He is lucky. The police said the demonstrators were ‘well-behaved’ but the behaviour of members of Taib’s delegation was aggressive, in comparison.
Nevertheless, several questions remain unanswered.
Why did Oxford University embrace Taib with open arms knowing that his reputation is tarnished at home and abroad?
Why are his crimes - corruption, plundered wealth, destruction of the forests and land, not highlighted abroad? None of the UK national newspapers (UK) covered this event. Only the local Oxford paper attended.
How is it that the Kagame government or even the Mugabe regime can get centre-stage in the foreign news section of the UK national newspapers? Is Malaysian news insignificant? Or have Sarawakians more serious lobbying to do?
A few of the demonstrators were contemplating making a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) report against Taib. This apparently was how the British arms dealer BAE systems was prosecuted in the Saudi arms bribery scandal.
Pressure from the international community can only be effected by Malaysians when they bring it to the attention of the rest of the world. Naturally, Taib does not want to be in the news for the wrong reasons, as he has a very cushy number.
* The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysian Mirror and/or its associates.
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
malaysianmirror.com
The Penan are subject to intimidation, violence and exploitation. They struggle to provide for themselves. Their womenfolk and young girls have been sexually abused and raped. They feel hunted, just like the game they seek in the forests of Borneo.
On Tuesday, Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister of Sarawak, had a dose of his own medicine when he had to escape the clutches of demonstrators in front of the Said Business School, at the University of Oxford. He was there to address the “Inaugural Oxford Global Islamic Branding and Marketing Forum”. The protesters held placards reading ‘Penan tribe say NO to logging’ and ‘Malaysia: Stop destroying the Penan tribe’.
At the opening session, Taib’s address was “The Role of Muslim Nations in Rebuilding Today’s Global Economy”. This was followed by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Nor Mohamed Yakcop's, address “The View from Muslim Southeast Asia.
Little did Taib guess that he would have people demonstrating about the Penans and the destruction of the rainforest. The grand welcome he is used to, fizzled into nothing. His luxury car, carried a decoy to fool a group of protestors at the side entrance. Taib was probably transported in an embassy van, with diplomatic number plates and spirited via the kitchen, into the building.
A man who claimed he was in charge of security and who refused to give his name and the company he worked for, said, “We don’t care what the principal wants, we bundle him in, even if he does not like it.” He was suggesting that Taib may have probably wanted to make a grand entrance, but was prevented from doing so by the security detail.
Inside the conference centre, protesters were barred from entering the foyer to present their list of questions to Taib. A scheduled press conference at 12.30 p.m. just before the special speakers’ lunch, was cancelled possibly because of the risk of having to answer awkward questions.
A demonstrator who entered the foyer tried to take a photo of Taib but was immediately surrounded and forcibly ejected from the premises. She successfully took photos of him through the glass but this enraged members of Taib’s delegation who then lowered the blinds or placed screens against the glass-fronted building, to prevent Taib from being photographed.
Taib seemed like a wounded animal as he walked with Nor Mohamed Yakcop, who looked visibly angry that the demonstrators had hijacked Taib’s big day in front of the delegates who had paid £1,000 (RM 5,100) each to attend this Forum.
Evidently, Taib is surrounded by ‘yes’ men who cocoon him from dissenting views of the real world. He must have found it galling that thousands of miles away from the safe confines of his tropical riverside mansion, the Penan problem and the destruction of the forests would be haunting him in this centre of learning.
Instead of being able to sell Sarawak to the British, Taib has to justify his actions to the chairman of the British parliament’s All Party Parliamentary Group for Tribal peoples, MP Martin Horwood. The British MP has written to him about the serious allegations of the Penan. Instead of a warm welcome, Taib received a cold reception from the demonstrators and a letter from the MP whilst his host, will receive letters of protest and condemnation.
Taib may wish to reflect how it is to feel rejected, just like the Penans are rejected by their own leaders who continually thwart their attempts at seeking justice. For several years the Penan and other indigenous people have tried to seek peaceful methods to maintain their way of life. They have been harassed because they stood in Taib’s way and his get-rich schemes.
The large delegation accompanying Taib seemed bemused by the demonstrators. What they are used to is a violent reaction from the Malaysian police who are intolerant of protests, even peaceful ones.
One lady who was part of Taib’s delegation said that a child who held up a banner at yesterday’s demonstration was being subjected to “child labour.” Is she aware that Penan girls are being raped and the police in Malaysia are slow to act?
This demonstration has rattled Taib. If this seminar had been arranged during term-time, Taib would have been assured of a larger, more vocal and highly organised group. He is lucky. The police said the demonstrators were ‘well-behaved’ but the behaviour of members of Taib’s delegation was aggressive, in comparison.
Nevertheless, several questions remain unanswered.
Why did Oxford University embrace Taib with open arms knowing that his reputation is tarnished at home and abroad?
Why are his crimes - corruption, plundered wealth, destruction of the forests and land, not highlighted abroad? None of the UK national newspapers (UK) covered this event. Only the local Oxford paper attended.
How is it that the Kagame government or even the Mugabe regime can get centre-stage in the foreign news section of the UK national newspapers? Is Malaysian news insignificant? Or have Sarawakians more serious lobbying to do?
A few of the demonstrators were contemplating making a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) report against Taib. This apparently was how the British arms dealer BAE systems was prosecuted in the Saudi arms bribery scandal.
Pressure from the international community can only be effected by Malaysians when they bring it to the attention of the rest of the world. Naturally, Taib does not want to be in the news for the wrong reasons, as he has a very cushy number.
* The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysian Mirror and/or its associates.
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