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.

Penan Attacked by Cronies of Pek Mor

Penan attacked as communities set up road blockade to protect their rainforests
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Source here and here

Instead of investigating a reported incident of violence against a Penan man by a timber company official, the police officers instructed the natives to dismantle their blockades. The police officers were using timber company vehicles, not police vehicles.

By Bruno Manser Fund

Lee Ling Group must stop violence in the Upper Limbang - Community rights must be respected

LONG SEBAYANG, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA. A Penan hunter has been attacked by a logging company official at a timber road blockade in Sarawak, East Malaysia. This has been reported this morning by Penan community sources.

According to our sources, a Penan named Aking Anung from Long Keneng was yesterday attacked by Ah New, a timber company official employed by a sub-contractor of the Malaysian Lee Ling timber group. Ah New had reportedly tried to attack the Penan hunter with a "parang" (bush knife). According to the Penan, Aking avoided being hurt by running away. He later lodged a police report in Limbang.

The incident took place at a newly erected timber road blockade near a timber camp at Long Sebayang in Sarawak's Upper Limbang region. The blockade had been set up jointly by Penan, Lun Bawang and Tabun natives in an attempt to prevent their land from being re-logged and converted into plantations by Lee Ling and its subcontractors.

"Our communities need support and we ask you to spread this news worldwide", a community spokesman said. The Bruno Manser Fund asks the Lee Ling Group to stop its violence immediately and to respect the native communities' customary rights in the Upper Limbang region.

Lee Ling Timber and the plantation company, Limba Jaya Timber, form part of the Lee Ling Group, which has its headquarters in Kuching, the state capital of Sarawak. The group is owned by the Tiang family and has been partly incorporated in Quality Concrete Sdn Bhd., which is listed on the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange. Quality Concrete is linked to the family of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud. One of Taib's sisters, Raziah Mahmud, is a member of the company's Board of Directors.



Update:

We have just got the latest blockade update regarding the situation in the Upper Limbang region of Sarawak:

According to Penan sources, the Lee Ling Timber subcontractor brought in three plainclothes police officers to the blockade site at Long Sebayang on 20 June 2010. One of the policemen was armed with a pistol. Instead of investigating a reported incident of violence against a Penan man by a timber company official, the police officers instructed the natives (Penan, Lun Bawang, Tabun) to dismantle their blockades (two blockades have been erected one of which appears to have been dismantled). The police visit at the blockade took place on 20 June betweeen 3 and 4 p.m. The police officers were using timber company vehicles, not police vehicles.

After the police left, at around 8 p.m. local time last night, the timber company manager, whose name has been reported to be Ah New (spelling might be different), hit one of the blockade supporters, Bita Pelisi, on the face and left him with his nose bleeding. Following that, the Lee Ling subcontractor announced he would bring in "more gangsters to the blockade site".

The Penan, Lun Bawang, and Tabun went to Limbang to lodge a further police report on the issue but hitherto the police have not undertaken any action. The Bruno Manser Fund urges Lee Ling Timber and contractors to immediately stop the violences against the natives and respect the communities' legitimate demands. The Royal Malaysian police is asked to investigate these incidents and to stop colluding with Lee Ling Timber.

What you can do:

Please help the Penan communities by protesting with the Royal Malaysian Police and with Quality Concrete, in which part of the Lee Ling Group is incorporated, to stop all violence and respect the community rights:

Royal Malaysian police: rmp@rmp.gov.my
Quality Concrete Sdn Bhd.: info@qchb.com.my

Stall timber talks, NGO tells EU

Tony Thien Sep 5, 08 1:53pm
Malaysiakini

The Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) is asking the European Union (EU) to stall its timber talks with Malaysia until the new allegation of Indonesian timber being smuggled via Sarawak is clarified.

“It is obvious that Malaysia is currently unable to fulfill the requirements of a voluntary partnership agreement with the EU because of widespread corruption at the government level, particularly in the timber-rich state of Sarawak,” the Basel/Switzerland-based NGO said in an emailed statement to Malaysiakini.

According to BMF, a top Sarawak leader is involved in a timber trade scam involving illegal imports of Indonesian logs and its re-export to third countries, including China, Taiwan and Japan.

The Swiss group - predominately involved in advocacy for peoples of the world’s rainforest -quoted a report in Tribun Pontianak, an Indonesian daily, that 30 shipments of illegal logs worth approximately US$220,000 were taken out from West Kalimantan by land or sea into Sarawak.

Also reported was the arrests of a forest controller and several other individuals - charged for complicity. Further, a top Sarawak leader as well as Hardwood Sdn Bhd - which belongs to a Sarawak state agency - have been implicated in the matter.

The Sarawak government so far has refrained from commenting.

EU ambassador to Malaysia Vincent Piket - while heading the EU delegation in Kuching - said that the timber trade agreement with Malaysia will be concluded by year-end, according to The Borneo Post.

“We are in the final phase of talks where we are looking at the mechanism whereby Malaysia certifies and authorises the export of timber,” he was quoted as saying.

He added: “ We are trying to see how Malaysia determines a log or piece of furniture to meet the legality condition and that is an important aspect, and once we have an agreement on that assessment mechanism, it means that we, as EU, can authorise without further legality tests or certification of timber coming from this country into the EU.”

NGOs dismayed

Meanwhile, BMF director Dr Lukas Straumann responding to Malaysiakini’s query said that he was worried about the news of the agreement concluding so quickly after the discovery in West Kalimantan.

“We are currently consulting with other NGOs to send a letter to the European Commission,” he said, adding that Malaysian-based NGOs are also unhappy with what is transpiring.

According to him, a Malaysian NGO walked out of the pro forma consultations in Kuala Lumpur a few months ago because none of their issues were given serious consideration.

Lukas said the main concern is that the Sarawak government will struggle to meet the legal parts of the timber agreement, due mainly to corruption.

“Any illegal activities related to timber trade from government actors can’t be tolerated if the EU is to conclude a voluntary partnership agreement with Malaysia,” the BMF director added.

What Rainforest Festival?

Sarawak Rainforest is a Myth

The Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival is a Sarawak government vehicle perpetuating a fairyland of a vast, ancient green cover with thriving biodiversity under the canopies.

And within the virgin forests, Sarawak natives are supposedly able to continue their traditional ways of live and play their rainforest-inspired music.

The TRUTH is, in the last quarter century, almost all the ancient forested land were not spared the chainsaw.

Commercial logging has impoverished the forest-dependent aborigines and caused UNRESOLVED land conflict with the loggers and authorities. Sadly, the natives invariably end up the losers.

Although timber resources are diminishing, greedy logging companies are not loosening their grip on the natives’ land. They are now converting the land into all sorts of plantation.

And guess what? These same perpetrators of forest crime are getting government loans to re-plant the degraded forests.

But the biggest headache is the aggressive advancement of oil palm plantation.

Millions of hectares are earmarked for oil palm expansion. Of the nearly 200 land dispute cases registered with the Sarawak High Court today, majority is related to oil palm development.

These constitute a systemic way of displacing and destroying indigenous culture celebrated by the RWMF.

RWMF is the epitomy of state hypocrisy!

Sodomy at Ulu Muda

First they built the dam (but actually logging could be the main reason).
More than a century then passed by, trees have rejuvenated, and just then under the Pakatan leadership, suddenly, logging could be on its way.....

But before the Kedah State Government did anything, according to locals, the Federal government through the Tourism Action Council started the sodomy-ing of Ulu Muda.

Now, they came from behind. Through the jungle to Sira Bungor and Kem Labua. They sodomized the jungle. They took the timber. Greed caused Ulu Muda to bleed..... destroying the ecosystem that sustain the Muda Dam and our water resources.

Check Google map here.

Let me share the effect of a sodomized Ulu Muda here:

The new road through the jungle to Sira Bungor and across the Muda River to Kem Labua.

Open land. Nothing left. The locals commented that the council "nak tanam jagong" (wanted to plant corn).

See how they damaged the jungle.

Oh, they didn't "tanam jagong" but infact they "tanam ubi kayu"(plant tapioca). Planting tapioca in the jungle? The cost of transport, workers etc just doesn't make sense! Of course they hire cheap foreign workers. Illegals?

Sira Bungor (Bungor Salt Lick) now dead. Formerly elephants frequented this salt lick but during my visit, no foot prints were seen. The "sodomy road" passed by this salt lick. How come the Forestry Department did nothing about this natural heritage? Tutup satu mata loh!

Across Muda River is Kem Labua, formerly a base camp for ecotourism. What greeted us were heavy machineries.

Destruction to the ground and fauna and flora. Mud, mud and mud everywhere.

Logging. That was the main objective. Development could be just an excuse.

More logs. Many trees were chopped.

Healthy trees were chainsawed

The local community can just look on as they bring city into the jungle. Their livelihood are now unknown as they have killed the goose that laid the golden eggs.

The locals will not benefit from this project. They knew nothing about this massive land clearing. They could only stand and watch as the politicians and the greedy businessman claim the jungle that feed their families.

Another rape and sodomy story of our Bolehland. Hell to ecotourism!

Groups ditch forestry consultation process

NGOs have been used by the Government to hookwink the international communities. Thank God, we still have people who still believe in the fight for the environment in Malaysia. Read this article:

Fauwaz Abdul Aziz Mar 19, 08 7:10pm
Source: Malaysiakini


A multi-stakeholder consultation on ways to prevent the import of illegal timber into Europe came to an abrupt end when two coalitions walked out of the process that had begun last June.

Yesterday, the coalitions - JOANGOHutan and Joas - comprising representatives of indigenous peoples and environmental groups alleged that their presence was aimed only at endorsing a flawed process rather than being allowed to improve it through input.

The plantation industries and commodities ministry has spearheaded consultations with interest-groups since June 22 last year.

The aim is to incorporate their views into the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on timber imports which the government hopes to conclude with the European Commission (EC).

The VPA comes under the EC’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan, a larger European Union (EU) initiative to stop imports of illegally-sourced timber.

It is said that more than 50 percent of all tropical timber and more than 20 percent of boreal timber coming into the EU is illegally-sourced.

However, one activist said the government agencies have not included all the proposals of the lobby groups in the Timber Legality Assurance System (TLAS), on which the issuance of licences will be based.

“They told us that our proposals would be taken into consideration,” said Sarawak Dayak Iban Association secretary-general Nicholas Mujah when met in Kuala Lumpur today.

“But all this while, most of our concerns and proposals have not been written into the documents at all.”

One of the most significant proposals concern the definition of ‘legal timber’.

The current VPA defines ‘legal timber’ as that ‘harvested by licensed person from approved areas and timber and timber products exported in accordance with the laws, regulations and procedures pertaining to forestry, timber industry and trade of Malaysia’.

Many groups have pointed out, however, that such a definition ignores the incidence of smuggled timber that has been certified as legal in Malaysia.

It also ignores the fact that logging licences have often been issued on land claimed by indigenous communities without their free, prior and informed consent.

JOANGOHutan and Joas had proposed that Malaysian legal timber be defined as that originating from within Malaysia and from lands free from aboriginal or native customary claims.

This definition was not incorporated into the draft TLAS, said Mujah.

‘Meet minimum demand’

Centre for Orang Asli Concerns coordinator Colin Nicholas said the government’s refusal to use the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 to further define legal timber similarly showed its lack of seriousness to incorporate their views and input.

According to the Act, no licence for the collection of forest produce shall be issued to anyone who is ‘not being aborigines normally resident in that aboriginal area’ without consulting the director-general of the Department of Orang Asli Affairs.

The Act also provides that ‘in granting any such licence it may be ordered that a specified proportion of aboriginal labour be employed’. The government rejected this, however, and contended that the National Forestry Act 1984 - which does not provide for such extensive protection of Orang Asli interests - is “sufficient”.

Commenting on this, Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli Association information chief Norya Abas said it was ridiculous to use the Forestry Act to protect human communities. “The Act is to protect the forest. It doesn’t protect the Orang Asli communities that live in them, as does the Orang Asli Act,” he said.

In a joint statement issued yesterday to the chairperson of the consultative process, the coalitions said the issue of defining what constitutes legal timber is only one of their ‘minimum’ demands.

“... A definition which merely requires parties to abide by the law as set out in statutory provisions is simplistic and fails to deal with the real issue,” they said.

The real issue pertains to “respect for the Orang Asal as a people, as an autonomous community with our own customs, laws and institutions and the need to ensure that governmental actions do not jeopardise the very survival of our community but provide for the socio economic upliftment of the same”.

“In view of this unacceptable censuring, we are left with no choice but to officially withdraw from this process until our minimum demand is met. We refuse to continue to participate in a process that is making decisions over our lives and yet expects our participation to be mere endorsement of a process that does not respect us.”

The coalitions had planned to meet ministry officials over the matter today, but the appointment was called off by the ministry. Its spokesperson declined to give reasons, when contacted.