‘1Dayak’ – defending the land?

By Apang and John Riwang

We wish to make another important point: when any group of people decides to build a united front, it can only mean a “united front against whom/what?” In this case, who or what does ‘1Dayak’ represent, and against whom/what? We believe by identifying this, it could illuminate the crux of such a formation. As reported in the same article in The Borneo Post as pointed out yesterday, such a principle did not seem to exist.

Interestingly, the issue of land was mentioned and somehow, it was implied that this could be an issue that 1Dayak should take on. But it stopped short of saying “against whom/what?” should we take on this land issue? Jeffrey Kitingan told The Borneo Post that “There should be a body to centralize our issues especially when it comes to land.”

Samling threatens Penan with retaliations over rape allegations

BRUNO MANSER FUND, BASEL / SWITZERLAND

30 August 2010

Logging giant threatens to suspend all transport services for locals unless Penan retract sexual abuse allegations

LONG AJENG,Malaysian logging giant Samling has threatened the indigenous Penan communities of Sarawak’s Upper Baram region with the suspension of all transport services provided for locals unless they retract sexual abuse and rape allegations against the timber companies active in the region.

The new dispute between Samling and the Penan arose after the release of a report by an international fact-finding mission in July 2010. The report had uncovered seven new cases of sexual exploitation of Penan girls and women in the Upper Baram region by timber workers and had asked the Malaysian government to address the grievances of the Penan communities.

Who is interested in the Taib Sandiwara?

By HU Editor

“Wong is not in a good mood this morning,” Ah Nen, who serves wonderful laksa warned me: “He is cursing at all the newspapers.”

It is customary for out-of-town (outskirts of Kuching) coffeeshops to subscribe a copy each of all the local newspapers and leave them on the tables for customers to read as they enjoy their breakfast, lunch or tea.

Pensioners like Wong habitually travels a few kilometers to have their coffee in one of these shops. He spends an hour or two reading all the newspapers and starts the coffeeshop debates with his buddies for another two hours before they all make their way home, contented with the knowledge earned and shared that day.

Merdeka reflection

By Sim Kwang Yang

The hysterically joyful ambience is reaching a feverish crescendo in the media, as if the entire country of Malaysia has erupted into an explosive national celebration that marks our 53rd independence anniversary.

For weeks and days on end, the government TV channels and the politically owned dailies have been saturated with images and symbols of fervent nationalism, replete with the usual accolade paid to past leaders, patriotic songs, and an unabashed orgy of self-congratulation on how well we have done as a nation in the last half century, and how citizens ought to be grateful for all this good fortune. 

‘1Dayak’ – Politics of the elite

By Apang and John Riwang

We write this as a challenge to the Dayak elites. This is our way of separating the elites from the masses. In doing so, we want to unmask the elites and highlight the dangers of falling for a political ideology that is still fundamentally elitist. This must not be confused with the elites’ attempts to unite the masses under their umbrella.

We are challenging their constructed notion that Dayakism or Dayak ethnicity is the only way for the masses to unite against oppression – i.e. the Barisan Nasional (BN). In this sense, we and the Dayak elites do not differ – our intent is to liberate the oppressed masses. We differ in our approach, and beyond this difference is the danger we identify in what the Dayak elites are trying to re-create.

Could Taib’s cousin Norah be the next Sarawak’s Chief Minister?

By Wong Choon Mei

If the rumours turn out to be true, the next Sarawak Chief Minister could be a woman.

There is intense speculation that Abdul Taib Mahmud has made up his mind to pick as his successor Tanjong Manis MP Norah Abdul Rahman, his cousin and the daughter of Taib’s predecessor Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub. If so, Norah would be both Sarawak’s and Malaysia’s first woman Chief Minister.

Earlier this month, Taib said he was ready to call it a day if the people no longer wanted him. His statement sparked a chain of speculation as to who would succeed him. Among names that were touted were Abang Johari Abang Openg, Abang Openg Abang Sapiee, Adenan Satem, Alfred Jabu Numpang and Awang Tengah Awang Ali.

Among the five, the front-liner is seen to be Abang Johari, the son of Sarawak’s first governor Abang Openg Abang Sapiee. He is also deputy president II of Taib’s Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu or PBB.

“Always something new out of Borneo.”

Ex Africa semper aliquid novi.

By Bunga Pakma

Sarawak news once got very scant coverage in Semenanjung papers, and while circumstances have forced Peninsular-based main-stream media to pay more attention to Sabah and Sarawak, there really is little reporting from East Malaysia still, and—needless to say—what is reported is carefully vetted and censored.

This morning’s issue of the Desperate Straits Times reports a jolly teleconference between PM Najib and CM Taib, held (in its eastern terminus) at the residence of Mr Taib himself. The occasion was 1Malaysia Women’s Day. I quote:

KUCHING: The teleconference between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud on Wednesday evening became interesting after Najib gave encouragement for Taib to find a spouse. He also offered his help if Taib agreed

Sarawak polls a pointer to BN’s future

By Malaysian Insider

A failure to retain a two-thirds majority in Sarawak could lead the Barisan Nasional (BN) losing more federal seats in the 13th general election but will not be enough to dislodge it from power, claims political analyst Dr Ong Kian Ming.

The UCSI University academician stressed that Sarawak will be the catalyst for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to capture Putrajaya although the fledgling coalition must work hard to retain voter confidence after a spate of defections and squabbles.

“When BN fails to retain its two-thirds majority in Sarawak, that will be the starting point that will reveal the cracks and weaknesses in BN and Umno, especially when the state is no longer a safe deposit.

“This will pressure Sarawak to change and cause instability within BN. Najib will lose the two-thirds majority in the next general election and Pakatan Rakyat will get a net gain of 18 seats,” he told The Malaysian Insider after presenting his findings at a forum this week.

Small town justice leaves boy in a fix

By Keruah Usit

Football, the ‘beautiful game’, can turn ugly at times. An altercation over an ostensibly friendly game of football has led to disturbing allegations of police brutality in the small rural town of Lawas in northeastern Sarawak.

Salutan Buayeh, a village committee member in the Lun Bawang community of Long Pengalih, has reported that his nephew, a schoolboy, had been arrested, beaten and threatened by policemen in Lawas, following a seemingly innocuous argument over football.

Salutan (right) told the Sarawak Indigenous News website on Aug 10 that his nephew had been kept in a police cell for two nights, but had not been investigated nor charged with any crime.

“We villagers are not satisfied because the schoolboy did not commit any wrongdoing,” he remonstrated.

New blockades in Sarawak against pipeline threat

By Joseph Sipalan

Indigenous tribes are putting up more blockades in Sarawak’s northern region, but this time it is to stop a new threat to their precarious existence.

While the Penans and other tribes continue their fight against oil palm plantations and timber giants, they face another hostile front in the form of the 500km-long Sarawak-Sabah Gas Pipeline (SSGP) linking an upcoming oil and gas terminal in neighbouring Kimanis, Sabah to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex in Bintulu.

Indigenous Network of Malaysia (JOAS) president Adrian Lasimbang said numerous blockades have been set up by locals along the pipeline route, including in Lawas and Long Nyakit in Baram.

The local media also carried reports earlier this month on several blockades, including one in Ba Kelalan which held up construction work.

NCR land surveys: S’wak minister gets ticking off

By Aidila Razak

PKR Sarawak chief Baru Bian yesterday slammed state Assistant Minister of Planning and Resource Management Mohd Naroden Majais, for saying that natives can get their land surveyed only if they go through BN elected representatives.

“That is politicking. It is nonsense and very irresponsible for him to say that. If (the government) is really sincere about helping the natives this would not be an issue,” he said when contacted.

Mohd Naroden had on Tuesday said that the government cannot act if requests for land surveys, for the purpose of native customary rights (NCR) claims, are made via opposition elected representatives

‘Sarawakians in peninsula want Taib to go’

By FMT

Sarawakians living in Peninsular Malaysia have joined forces with their fellow citizens in Sarawak in urging Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud to step down sooner than later. Movement For Change, Sarawak (MoCS) leader Francis Paul Siah said today that many Sarawakians living in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johore Bahru want the chief minister to call it a day as soon as possible.

“I have met about 300 Sarawakians in these three cities over the past month and they all shared similar sentiments – Taib has overstayed his welcome as CM and he must go,” said Siah in a statement today.

“The Sarawakians I met comprise professionals, blue-collar workers and students. All of them are aware of political developments in their homestate and are concerned about issues which have negatively affected Sarawak,” he said.

Taib’s $1 Dollar Mansion?

By  Sarawak  Report ( more photo inside )

Sarawak Report would like to enquire of Abdul Taib Mahmud how much he paid for the mansion that Samling passed on to his family in Seattle, USA ?

The residence forms an enormous property, standing in its own grounds in one of the most prestigious area of Seattle on Boylston Avenue.  It was passed from a Samling-owned company to a company now owned by Abdul Taib Mahmud and his family, for just one US dollar in 1991.

Chinese should no longer puzzle Taib

By Joe Fernandez

It’s the height of irony for Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud to claim that he has done everything he can to win the support of the Chinese community for his ruling coalition, and yet failed. This will not serve as any excuse for him with the ruling elite in Putrajaya, who bank on him being a good proxy for their interests.

The Chinese, in Taib’s own words, puzzle him no end. One would think that Taib, during his years in power since 1981, had done everything possible to drive the Chinese away from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).

Finally, the Chinese community decided that enough was enough and since 2006 began ditching the Barisan Nasional. In that year, several seats fell to the opposition, which won by default. It was not a vote for them, but a vote against the BN.

Cut-price sale of Kuching land to Taib’s children

By Aidila Razak

A company owned by Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s children has obtained land in Kuching at a very low price, causing the state to lose at least RM300 million in potential revenue.

Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen said the state government had alienated 269 acres of land within the city to Monarda Sdn Bhd at a “grossly and obscenely under-priced” rate of RM291,000 per acre on average.

“The market rate is between RM1.5 million and RM2 million per acre. Had the government gone for public tender, the state could have (earned) RM400 million to RM500 million,” he told Malaysiakini today.

Angry Bidayuhs won’t budge from Bengoh Dam area

By Joseph Tawie

The RM315 million Bengoh Dam is coming up, but standing in its way are the Bidayuhs who will not shift out to make way.

They are not against development. They simply want justice – fair compensation. But it appears they will not be getting it and they are very angry.

Former Dayak Bidayuh National Association president, Peter Minos, said the Bengoh agencies are inconsiderate for ignoring the plight of the Bidayuhs from four villages which are affected by the construction of the dam.

Some 1,000 Bidayuhs from 394 families are to be relocated elsewhere.

“If the relevant dam agencies give the four villages the right compensation for the abandoned land – houses, basic facilities and utilities and job opportunities – then the affected Bidayuhs will not pose a problem at all.

Stop bringing up the ugliness of May 13, please

By Paul Sir

“REMEMBER May the 13th, the Chinese-Malay riot. It is sad to see the fabric of Malaysia’s society moving in opposite direction, and if they need to look for a guilty party, then both of them only need to look into the mirror. I hope Malaysians know that racial harmony and tolerance are more than just words. All have to work hard to preserve that fabric in our society.”

That statement by a blogger is a timely reminder of what may occur if politicians start hurling racial tirades at each other. And this is exactly what is happening in Kuala Lumpur this past week. Unfortunately, it is the top leaders in the country who are not behaving as they should have. Why? I think it’s all because of their desire to score political points among their respective communities. This does not augur well for politics in the country.

Sarawak: Wake Up

By Zaid Ibrahim

Zaid Ibrahim addresses 300 PKR leaders in Kuching, Sarawak:

It has been 53 years since Malaya became independent; and 47 years since Sabah and Sarawak and Malaya combined to form the Federation of Malaysia. The imperative word here is “formed”. Sabah and Sarawak did not join Malaysia.

But for too long, people in Sabah and Sarawak have been made to feel like they are the children of a lesser God. And for too long, even in Semenanjung, many of us have been made to feel like the children of a lesser God – just because we do not agree with the Barisan Nasional’s policies.

Serious flooding in Sarawak

We are not amused! Didn’t BN said (during Sibu by-election) that 7 of 11 mitigation projects in Sibu have been completed? Where has all the money gone to?

+++ Norwegian government declares Samling an unethical company+++

BRUNO MANSER FUND, BASEL / SWITZERLAND

23 August 2010

+++ BREAKING NEWS +++

Norwegian government declares Malaysian timber giant an unethical company

Ministry of Finance excludes Samling Global from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund

OSLO, NORWAY. One of the world’s largest institutional investors, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, has sold all its 16 million shares of Malaysian timber giant Samling Global, worth 1.2 million US $, as a consequence of a groundbreaking decision announced today by the Norwegian Ministry of Finance.

A Sarawakian devotee in a Klang Valley church

By Pak Bui

Elizabeth Costello, a Sarawakian friend from a small town, told me of her recent experience going to a church in the peninsula.

“It’s very different from Sarawak,” she said. “The preachers in Sarawak are generally well versed in scripture, but they don’t, as a rule, make much mention of politics or society. The church I visited in west Malaysia was quite vocal…very much in favour of social justice.”

“Don’t churches at home speak up for the poor? After all, there’s far more poverty here than in Semenanjung,” I ventured.

“Well yes,” she replied, “there is the occasional priest, calling on us to reach out and do more than worship, challenging us to save our –”

“Souls?” I laughed.

Lawless Lawas highlights rural voters’ anger

By Keruah Usit

Rural Sarawakians are becoming increasingly vocal about their dissatisfaction with their lack of basic public services, and with their shabby treatment at the hands of corporate and bureaucratic outsiders.

A new flashpoint is the construction of the Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline Project through customary land belonging to Lun Bawang natives around Lawas, a small town near the border between the two east Malaysian states. Lun Bawang villagers have blockaded the access road for the project.

Local villagers have reported heightened tensions between local villagers and two corporate giants, gas producer Petronas and logging company Samling, according to the Sarawak Indigenous Community News website.

Jungle campaign nightmare for S’wak opposition

By - AFP

Harrison Ngau’s description of dirty politics in the rainforest state of Sarawak on Borneo island reads like a chapter in a spy novel, complete with subterfuge, threats, and contraband.

The amiable one-time lawmaker says the challenges he had to overcome to score an unlikely election victory will again face Malaysia’s opposition when it contests statewide polls expected within months.

A political earthquake in 2008 national elections, which shook the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition’s half-century grip on power, has rendered timber-rich Sarawak and neighbouring Sabah state extremely strategic.

Changing faces of Malaysian Education … For Whom?

Never let your schooling interfere with your education.  —Mark Twain

By Bunga Pakma

My last effort left me feeling as though I had been rooting through a particularly fetid dumpster. Two weeks’ worth of showers has rendered me tolerably clean and fresh again, and most unwilling to return to the cess-pool.  Others have been brave enough to dive in their turn. And so, today something different.

Not long ago here in Greater KL the festive time in the academic year rolled around once again.  Every kolej, school and university in the Klang Valley and beyond was holding its Konvokesyen. The traffic grew much worse. Recently minted graduates thronged university gates after the pomp of the Vice-Chancellor’s speech and the awarding of degrees, garbed in scholarly robes and mortar-boards, clutching diplomas, bouquets of flowers and teddy bears given them by their parents and friends.

UMNO and MACC strangling each other

By Pak Bui

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) head prosecutor Abdul Razak Musa made a humiliating spectacle of himself in front of the coroner’s court during the hearing into the death of Teoh Beng Hock.

His self-abasement is a terrible setback for UMNO’s efforts to regain votes in the next general election. The MACC has plumbed the depths of public mistrust, and in so doing has reflected badly on its masters in UMNO.

Public anger towards the MACC will also be directed against UMNO, since Malaysians of all races understand that the MACC behaves as a political weapon, wielded by UMNO and its allies against their opponents.

The MACC’s move to attack celebrated Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand appears to have backfired. Abdul Razak Musa was ill-prepared, and cracked under the intense pressure on him to cast doubt on the Thai doctor’s findings that Teoh’s death was no suicide.

A noble profession is disgraced

By Mariam Mokhtar

Apart from our parents, it is our teachers who help lay the first foundations in life so as to guide and improve ourselves, for whatever it is we aspire to be.

On 12 August, Hajah Siti Inshah Mansor, the principal of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra in Kulai, allegedly described her students as penumpang (passengers), told her Chinese students to return to China and compared her Indian students with dogs.

Her remarks are unacceptable and a disgrace to her profession – the  teaching profession.

She should have done the right thing and tendered her resignation. But only after making a public apology and after writing a letter of apology to each of the students in the school.

Ibans from Rumah Ranggong start trial at Kuching High Court

By BMF

A press release by BRIMAS, the Borneo Resources Institute in Miri (Sarawak), on a legal conflict  between naive Iban communities and BLD Resources Sdn Bhd., a subsidiary of Kuala Lumpur stock exchange-listed BLD plantations (www.bld.com.my), over new oil palm plantations on native lands in Sarawak. For enquiries, please contact BRIMAS executive direcor Marc Bujang under +60 19 884 36 31 or under markbujang@gmail.com.

PRESS RELEASE

20 August 2010

KUCHING – The much anticipated trial of the residents of Rumah Ranggong longhouse against BLD Resources Sdn. Bhd., the Sarawak Land and Survey Department and the Sarawak Government got off to a lively start yesterday morning at the Kuching High Court, with the representatives of the longhouse holding a peaceful demonstration in front of the court complex.

Around 80 representatives of the longhouse came in two buses at 9am and congregated in front of the court complex and held a short demonstration before proceeding into the court house where the trial started at 10am.

Three witnesses from three neighbouring longhouses were called to testify and acknowledge the existence of the native customary rights claims of the residents of Rumah Ranggong and their communal boundary between them.

Masing slams errant logging companies

By FMT

Land Development Minister James Masing is furious at opportunist companies who are flouting government guidelines with their indiscriminate logging and oil plam plantation activities in the water catchment areas at Murum, Ulu Belaga.

“There are guidelines issued by the relevant authorities in order for them to carry out their activities systematically, but some of the timber and oil palm companies don’t seem to care.

“They think they can do whatever they like since they are in the interior,” he said.

Last week, Masing received complaints from the locals on the indiscriminate activities of logging and oil palm companies at the dam catchment area.

The Penans have also complained that the Shin Yang timber company was clearing the site earmarked for their resettlement for the purpose of planting oil palm.

SCANDAL OF SARAWAK’S BUDGET BLACK HOLE

By Sarawak report

Taib Mahmud, the Chief Minister of Sarawak, has failed to account for a staggering RM 4.8 billion of government expenditure over the past 3 years alone, according to explosive figures released by the opposition DAP party.  This represents more than half the Development Budget, which in turn represents nearly three quarters of the total expenditure for the State!

Put another way, in 2009 RM 1.825 billion of the State’s total expenditure was allocated to persons unknown, compared to the government’s estimated revenue for that year of RM 3.726 billion.  That is about half of all your cash!

The secret projects soaking up Sarawak’s cash

Norway divests shares in logging giant Samling

By Malaysiakini

Norway’s Ministry of Finance has excluded Malaysian timber multinational Samling Global and two Israeli companies from the portfolio of its Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG).

As of Dec 31, 2009, GPFG held a total of 16,060,000 shares
in Samling Global, which is listed in Hong Kong.

In a statement released yesterday, the ministry said based upon the recommendation of the government’s Council on Ethics, it has decided to exclude Samling and Israeli companies – Africa Israel Investments Ltd and Danya Cebus Ltd – from GPFG’s investment portfolio.

Clean up the judiciary first

By Teoh El Sen

The Malaysian judiciary needs to improve to restore the people’s confidence in the courts, said lawyer-activist Edmund Bon. Bon said that until today, the perception that the judiciary is “executive-compliant” still remains.

“When people have no faith in the courts, then confidence in seeking a fair remedy will be at an all-time low,” said the

Bar Council member and chairman of the constitutional law committee.

Bon admitted there are some “very, very good judges” but said he felt depressed that some do not get recognised or promoted because of their independence.

Asked what should be done, Bon said the judiciary first needed an internal clean-up following the findings and recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the VK Lingam judge fixing fiasco.

Two donations – a tale of disparities

By Mariam Mokhtar

Over a week ago, 500 Penans lost everything when fire swept through two longhouses. Personal documents like birth certificates and MyKads which were recently issued, could not be salvaged.

Both longhouses were located in the deep interior of Kapit Division: Long Kajang was in a logging concession zone, near the Sarawak- Kalimantan border, half a day’s drive along timber tracks from Bintulu. Long Luar, close to the Murum Dam site, housed 300 Penan.

In a gesture of kindness, the two timber giants operating in the area donated a princely sum of RM900 in total. This was equivalent to RM1.80 per Penan.

These companies which stripped the jungles bare of trees did not see fit to provide the Penan with timber to rebuild their homes, or offer other essential assistance.

Long Kevok Blockade Stands … Lawas Blockade Erected

By HU Editor

Anak Ulu Baram in his/her comment yesterday wrote: “News from Ulu Baram saying that Petronas is financing the PPF/PGA and local drivers sending their people (armed PPF/army) to clear the blockades by Penan in Long Kevok … Long Seridan area,” He/She enquired if we can verify the “news” he/she received.

Last night, our contact in Ulu Baram verified with us that the blockade still stands. At 9.15am this morning, U, our Penan friend in Long Kevok, made a short trip to the blockade site and called to confirm that it remains where it stands.

The local indigenous communities are not objecting to the laying of Petronas gas pipeline, however it is understood that Petronas contractors have caused unnecessarily extensive damages and destruction to forests, their land and crops, disregarding the voices of grievance and distress by the affected Penan, Kenyah and Lun Bawang settlements.

A claim form was distributed to some of the affected communities, but it was not explained as to the damages and losses that the indigenous communities may be compensated.

WE CAN’T EAT THE ROAD

Episode three of Sarawak Gone’s, The Dam, the Bidayuh travel to the Bakun Dam resettlement scheme and hear from the resettled Kenyah at Sungai Asap about their experiences and see first hand the results of resettlement. They also meet with Iban at Rumah Agi who fought to retain customary right to their own land in the face of palm oil exploitation.

Bakun dam ready, but pledges to natives unfulfilled

By Aidila Razak

The construction of the Bakun Hydroelectric Dam may soon be over, with impoundment said to take place soon.

But the woes of the indigenous community forced to leave their ancestral home to make way for the multi-billion ringgit dam more than a decade ago have yet to be resolved.

Instead of the ‘development’ promised in 1998, said Kenyah lawyer Abun Sui Anyit, the 10,000-odd people have only experienced “reverse development” with living conditions continuing to slide.

“Nothing much has changed. When we lived in our original longhouses we had access to clinics and schools too. The difference is now we have gone ‘negative’ with so many bills to pay,” he said.