Longer tenure for timber licence

Geryl Ogilvy Ruekeith

CM says this will ensure logging operators obtain Sustainable Forest Management certification

Tenure for the timber licence can be extended up to 60 years from the date of issuance as the state encourages timber players to practise sustainable forest management.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem said the long term timber concession will become an incentive for logging operators to obtain Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) certification.

He said one of the conditions that would be imposed is that licence operators should incorporate the requirement for certification within three years from the date of approval. Failure to comply with the condition shall cause the licence to be terminated.

Timber companies will soon have to toe the line

Neesha Sangara

WWF-Malaysia CEO Dionysus Sharma says that this step ensures a win-win solution for both environmental and industrial needs in the move towards sustainability

Timber companies in the state must obtain internationally recognised forest management certification by 2017.

World Wide Fund for Nature-Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia) in a statement said that it is 100 per cent in support of Sarawak Chief Minister, Adenan Satem’s proposal that timber companies must get international certification.

WWF-Malaysia CEO Dionysus Sharma said that this step ensures a win-win solution for both environmental and industrial needs in the move towards sustainability.

Two Sarawak timber companies blacklisted for environmental violations

EILEEN NG

The Norwegian government has blacklisted two of Sarawak’s giant timber companies for severe environmental damage caused by their logging operations in the state.

The US$760 billion Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) – the world’s largest sovereign fund – had divested its stakes in WTK Holdings Bhd and Ta Ann Holdings Bhd, based on the recommendations from the fund’s Council of Ethics.

Both WTK and Ta Ann, have extensive logging operations and timber plantations in the Borneo state.

Sarawak timber well managed, says AG Report

Alyaa Azhar

According to the Auditor-General report, Sarawak timber industry development corporation Harwood has been consistently registering a post-tax profit until 2012.

Sarawak timber has been well managed and proved to be lucrative with the Sarawak timber industry development corporation Harwood Timber Sdn Bhd (Harwood) reporting a profit after tax of RM3.94 million in 2009, RM4.27 million in 2010 and RM4.60 million in 2011.

The recently released Auditor-General (AG) report had announced that an audit conducted from October 2012 to February 2013 revealed that Harwood’s overall financial performance was good.

“Same same”, yet Sarawak and Kalimantan are miles apart

Apang

It was some two decades ago when I first visited Pontianak in Kalimantan Barat, or Kalbar as Indonesians call it. Kalimantan is administratively, and perhaps politically, carved into five regions: Kalimantan Barat, Tengah Utara, Selatan and Timor.

Sarawak and Kalimantan share the island of Borneo, partitioned by the British and Dutch colonial occupiers. The division is not only physical in nature, but has socio-cultural and political consequences, felt until today.

One must refer to these historical facts and the subsequent divergent ideological and political leanings of both countries over our shared history, to attempt to answer the question “I wonder why the Indonesian and Malaysian states continue to have flare-ups now and then over supposed border disputes, and over the mistreatment of migrant workers in Malaysia.”

Fingers point to Riau governor on illegal logging permits leading to haze

TMI

Corruption and companies taking advantage of lax enforcement and murky regulations to clear forests are the major causes of the haze that is smothering Malaysia and Singapore, an Indonesian-based eco-business writer has charged.

And here is the really bad news for Malaysians and Singaporeans: the hunger for kickbacks increases when elections are around the corner. As elections are due next year, this may be one reason why the burning of forests is worse this time around.

The writer noted that as soon as it became clear the bulk of the burning was taking place in the Riau province, fingers were pointed at the leading suspect in the issuing of illegal logging permit: Rusli Zainal, the governor of Riau.

MNS Calls on all politicians to make a GREEN stand

Prof Dr. Maketab Mohamed

POLITICIANS! MAKE A GREEN STAND!

THE MALAYSIAN NATURE SOCIETY (MNS) CALLS FOR NATURE CONSERVATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION TO BE KEY ISSUES OF THE GENERAL ELECTIONS

The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) notes with serious concern the recent cases of environmental mismanagement that have been highlighted by the media, and calls on all political parties to pledge real action to halt unsustainable development.

‘Arrest of NCR activists illegal’

Joseph Tawie

An native customary rights lawyer in Sarawak has accused the Selangau police and a Sarawak Administrative Officer of abusing their power in remanding two siblings.

Two native customary rights (NCR) land activists, were not only arrested for lodging a report against a company for illegally logging on their NCR land but also denied proper court procedures.

Matek anak Geram, aged 40, and his brother Tambi, 60, who are members of Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia) were arrested last Sunday, and on Monday they were produced before a Sarawak Administrative Officer (SAO) who sat in as a magistrate.

Malaysia Deforestation Is Three Times Faster Than Rest Of Asia Combined

New satellite imagery shows Malaysia is destroying forests more than three times faster than all of Asia combined, and its carbon-rich peat soils of the Sarawak coast are being stripped even faster, according to a study released Tuesday.

The report commissioned by the Netherlands-based Wetlands International says Malaysia is uprooting an average 2 percent of the rain forest a year on Sarawak, its largest state on the island of Borneo, or nearly 10 percent over the last five years. Most of it is being converted to palm oil plantations, it said.

The deforestation rate for all of Asia during the same period was 2.8 percent, it said.

‘Political corruption a major factor in deforestation’

S Pathmawathy

Decades of political corruption are seen as the main contributor to the depleting natural forest cover, says Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M), with the felling of timber being the foremost revenue for political funding.

“Unfortunately, corruption has become a root cause of deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, including Malaysia,” TI-M’s secretary-general Josie M Fernandez said.In her keynote address at a TI-M forum under the Forest Governance Integrity Programme (FGI), Josie  said countries rich in forests are well-known to “suffer” from a high level of corruption.

Taib family’s illicit billions disclosed!

“Billions of illicit assets”: Abdul Taib Mahmud, the Godfather of Sarawak

Research by the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) has uncovered the vast dimensions of the Malaysian Taib family’s illicit assets. According to the Swiss organization, the inner family circle of Malaysian potentate Abul Taib Mahmud has a stake in over 400 companies around the globe and holds illicit assets worth several billion US dollars.

Abdul Taib Mahmud (“Taib”) has been Chief Minister, Finance Minister and Planning and Resources Management Minister of Malaysia’s largest state, Sarawak, since 1981. He has been long criticized for corrupt practices and abuse of office but Malaysian authorities have failed to take action against him, despite an ongoing investigation by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC). Taib is a key supporter of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

Taib and gang cannot dismiss EU logging rules

Joseph Tawie

Sarawak can no longer ignore EU regulations governing import of timber because it will eventually affect ‘finished products’ originating from Sarawak.

Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s administration cannot continue to dismiss European Union Timber and Trade regulations because it would inevitably affect ‘finished products whose origins are traced back to Sarawak.”

Opposition assemblymen concerned over the State Government’s stubborn refusal to comply with the regulations are expected to raise the logging issues during the State Legislative Assembly sitting next month.

Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How said the recent decision by the Netherlands’ Independent Appeals Board  was not merely linked to raw logs but also ‘finished products such as furniture which could be traced  to Sarawak.”

Police dismantle Penan logging road blockade

Aliran

Last Saturday, 22 October, at 10.00am, eight Malaysian police officers, two forest department officials and three Interhill staff jointly dismantled the Penan blockade in Sarawak’s middle Baram region, reports the BMF Team.

13 October 2011: A four-wheel drive stopped by the Penan at Ba Bunau, Middle Baram (Photograph: BMF)

After the dismantlement, Interhill logging company passed the blockade site with heavy machines.

Despite the dismantlement of the blockade, the Penan are maintaining their demands to the Sarawak government and to Interhill logging. Penan spokesperson Lakei Jaau said the Penan have the following five demands:

Holland Condemns Malaysia’s Timber Certification!

Sarawak Report

Tasmanian Independent MP Paul Harriss hob-nobs while ‘on holiday’ in Sarawak with corrupt dictator Taib Mahmud’s two top cronies Awang Tenggah and Len Talif Saleh.

Taib’s foreign business partners are working hard to present a picture that all is well in Sarawak and to imply that there are no issues with the wood logged from the state or its plantation programmes.

Indeed, last week Ta Ann Tasmania’s Chief Executive David Ridleylaunched a barage of justifications defending his company against a report that has revealed that Ta Ann products are falsely promoted as ‘eco-wood’, thereby deceiving consumers.

Still no answer to the charges of false eco-labelling!

Baram Penan set up blockade against loggers

Malaysiakini

The Penan communities have mounted a blockade in an attempt to stop further logging of rainforests in the middle Baram region.

According to the NGO Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), about 70 people from the communities of Ba Abang and Long Kawi set up the blockade on the logging road near Ba Bunau river to stop Miri-based company Interhill.

“According to community information, the blockade was erected last Thursday, Oct 12, and was attended by more than 70 Penan tribespeople,” it said.

BMF, in a press statement yesterday, said that the blockade is located within the land claimed as native customary land of the Ba Abang community.

Penan block logging road in Baram, Sarawak

Bruno-Manser-Fonds

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends,

We have just received the news that the Penan communities of Ba Abang and Long Kawi in Sarawak’s Middle Baram region have started blockading a logging road to prevent the further felling of their rainforests.

According to community information received by the Bruno Manser Fund, the blockade has been erected last Thursday, 13th October 2011, and has been attended by more than 70 Penan tribespeople. The blockade is located near the Ba Bunau river within the claimed Native Customary Rights land of the Ba Abang community. It is mainly directed against Interhill, a Malaysian logging company based in Miri, Sarawak. Interhill is also known to be the owner of the Pullman 5-star hotel in Sarawak’s capital, Kuching. The Pullman Kuching hotel is being operated by the French Accor group.

EU timber regulations: Stubborn Sarawak won’t budge

FMT Staff

Sarawak is not prepared to kow-tow to timber import regulations set out by the European Union.

Sarawak is stubbornly refusing to comply with the international timber certification and trade regulations simply because the state “already has its own set of timber industry policies”.

State Second Resource Planning and Environment Minister Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said: “The international sanctions focus on the question of legality of the timber certification, native customary rights (NCR) and human rights activities.

“These issues are irrelevant as they are well taken care of all this while by the government,” he said in reference to the US and European Union’s (EU) timber certification and trade regulations.

Sarawak tycoon’s firm hired PNG cops to bash up locals, ABC reports

Debra Chong

Papua New Guinea (PNG) police admitted they were paid by a company owned by Sarawak tycoon Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King to crack down on locals protesting against a controversial oil palm project there, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported today.

The state-owned media channel’s “The World Today” programme reported that villagers in PNG’s East New Britain province were arrested and beaten last week by a squad of police officers under orders from Rimbunan Hijau (RH).

RH is Tiong’s multi-industry company with the biggest logging and oil palm plantation shares in the South Pacific country. The 76-year-old is said to be worth US$1.1 billion (RM3.5 billion) and is ranked by Forbes to be the world’s 840th richest man.

Press Statement from residents of Kampung Wawasan

Borneo Independent News Service

We, the residents of Kampung Wawasan, Suai, Niah, Miri Division, Sarawak wish to appeal to the Sarawak State Government to urgently take the necessary action to exclude all the land which we have occupied and cultivated from the provisional lease issued to the company, Mega Jutamas Sdn. Bhd., over the area known as Lot 95 Sawai Land District for the establishment of an oil palm plantation thereon.

The said company, Mega Jutamas Sdn. Bhd. is owned by a few shareholders who are already “multi-millionaires” and who also owned other companies which have already been given thousands of hectares of State land by the Sarawak Government for loggings and oil palm plantations in various places in Sarawak including in Niah and Suai areas. For these few individual “multi-millionaires” they only need the land in Lot 95 to make additional business and profits.

But for us, this land is our only land on which we and our family members have built our houses and which we have cultivated productively with food and cash crops. Therefore, this land is our only shelter, source of food and income.

‘TRUTH IN ADVERTISING’ – TA ANN EXPOSED!

. Sarawak Report

“Eco-friendly and sustainable” – Japanese retailers advertising Ta Ann wood products highlight it Tasmanian origin

Last week Ta Ann accused The Green Party in Tasmania of false advertising over logging in Sarawak.

But now advertisements promoting Ta Ann’s products as ’Eco-wood’ have been challenged by a devastating expose of the company’s own role in Tasmania!

The report, published today by the Huon Valley Environment Centre of Tasmania, spells out Ta Ann’s hypocrisy and it is uncompromisingly titled “Behind the Veneer: Forest destruction and Ta Ann Tasmania’s lies”. [click for report]

Over 50 pages, the troubling expose details how the Sarawak timber giant’s decision to invest in Tasmania was specifically aimed at targeting the growing market for environmentally friendly, sustainable wood products, but has ended up deceiving consumers.

Constitutional question: Judges let down public

Hafiz Yatim

A law professor said Chief Justice Zaki Azmi and Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum, could have abdicated their oath of office by their refusal to interpret the question of law posed to them.

The question posed before the court was “whether section 5(3) and (4) of the Sarawak Land Code relating to the extinguishment of native customary rights are ultra vires Article 5 (Right to life) and Article 13 (right to property) of the Federal Constitution.”

Islamic International University professor Abdul Aziz Bari said by refusing to deal with the constitutionality issue, the Federal court has abdicated its duty.

“Under the Federal Constitution, the Federal Court which is the highest court of the land is essentially the constitutional court of the country; the main tribunal whose major duty is to take care of the constitution,” he said.

‘Why the double standards?’

FMT Staff

Both Sarawak and Sabah timber industry players are demanding that the government simply ban export of timber.

Sarawak furniture manufacturers are demanding to know why the government is enforcing double standards on the industry.

Calling for the ban on the export of timber, which is already in place in Peninsular Malaysia, to include Sarawak, they said the exports have crippled their downstream furniture industry.

Sarawak Furniture Manufacturers’ Association Wong Yiew Chai said shortage of certain timber varieties such as the red meranti wood had acutely affected their production.

TA ANN MILL SHUT DOWN

Code Green Tasmania

Environment groups raise concerns as logging companies jeopardise forest solution

This morning, grassroots forest groups the Huon Valley Environment Centre, Still Wild Still Threatened and Code Green have taken action at the Ta Ann veneer mill in Smithton. 12 conservationists entered the site at 6am and two activists are locked on to machinery, halting operations. The protestors are displaying a banner reading “Ta Ann terminating Tasmanian forests.

This action takes place in response to Ta Ann’s role in blocking a solution for Tasmania’s forests. Grassroots environment groups are raising concerns over yesterday’s Intergovernmental Agreement on forest.

Save the Sebangan Rainforest – Battle starts for natives suing Taib’s sister

ITTO criticized over failure to reach its goals

BRUNO MANSER FUND, SWITZERLAND

SOCIETY FOR THREATENED PEOPLES, SWITZERLAND

07 June 2011 – for immediate release

ITTO criticized over failure to reach its goals – a new approach is needed

International Tropical Timber Organization report admits that less than 10% of tropical forests are being managed sustainably

(BERN, SWITZERLAND) The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) has been criticized for not making sufficient progress in the promotion of sustainable forest management, the core goal of the multilateral organization. According to the ITTO’s report “Status of Tropical Forest Management 2011”, which has been released today in the Swiss capital of Berne, less than 10% of tropical forests are being managed sustainably.

TROUBLE FOR TAIB IN TEBEDU

Sarawak Report

Don’t bulldoze our forest.

Sarawak Report has received an exclusive dossier of photographs showing the full extent of the violence and anger that has broken out in the normally quiet, law-abiding communities of Tebedu, Serian.

The trouble broke out a fortnight ago, as Taib’s logging raid on this valuable area of remaingin virgin jungle got under way.

Village headmen were threatened and there was an unprecedented attack on the machinery and transportation trucks belonging to the logging company.  The loggers, mostly foreign workers of course, had fled in advance.

5 native villagers arrested and remanded for defending ancestral land, contemplating legal actions

HU Editor

5 native villagers Papai Ak Atin, Barak Ak Kolol, Mani ak Marin, Karia Ak Daruh and Peter Ak Laiong of Kampung Mawang from Tebedu, Sarawak, are ordered by the Magistrate to be remanded at 4 different police stations in Kuching for 4 days and shall be produced in court on 18 May (next Wednesday) at 10.00am.

According to the investigating officer, Insp Azlan, the 5 Bidayuh villagers are allegedly involved in the torching of workers quarters, bulldozers, tractors and other machinery at a timber camp on May 9.

Bidayuh villagers burn timber camp

Keruah Usit

Natives from 10 villages in Tebedu, Sarawak, are said to have torched dormitories, bulldozers, tractors and other machinery at a timber camp on May 9.

The Bidayuh villagers had been blockading the timber access road of logging contractor Alliance Bahagia to defend their Native Customary Rights (NCR) land.

According to witnesses, nobody was injured in the arson attack. Police arrived at the scene in Tebedu, about 90 minutes’ drive from Kuching, in time to see the equipment and buildings aflame.

Fewer Sarawak logs going to S Korea

FMT Staff

South Korea which is the second largest purchaser of logs from Sarawak has reduced its intake following complaints by the Korean Wood Panel Association.

Sarawak’s log exports to South Korea dipped by a painful 42% to 91,529 cubic metres following the Korean Trade Commission’s (KTC) decision to impose anti-dumping duties on imports of Malaysian plywood last year.

Taib, the World is watching

. Sarawak Report

The wave of protests and disgust against the destructive regime of Taib Mahmud in Sarawak is continuing and it has gained further attention in the international media.  There have been demonstrations outside properties owned by the Taibs in the UK, Canada and the US and now it has been announced that further protests are planned in Australia, Austria and Switzerland.

Today’s Sunday Times Newspaper, Britain’s premier weekly, has also reported on these developments and summarised the reasons why so many people the world over are rallying to support the plight of the people of Sarawak in the face of the greedy plunder of their jungles and natural resources.  The message is clear – you have not been forgotten and there are many in the world who will move to help you once you are rid of Taib Mahmud.

Taib committing the biggest environmental crime of our times, did he?

Gordon Brown in The Independent, UK

I have a declaration of interest to make at the outset. Clare Rewcastle is my sister-in-law. She is also a journalist who has had a lifelong fascination with the environment. She was busy raising a family – and was not hunting for the next big exposé. But, as she researched into the community where she had been brought up, she stumbled upon what is probably the biggest environmental crime of our times.

Villagers cheer freeing of land rights campaigner

Keruah Usit

Numpang Suntai, an Iban from Sebangan, Sarawak, doughty defender of his community’s Native Customary Rights (NCR) to land, walked out of the Simunjan Magistrate’s Court yesterday a free man.

He had been arrested for ‘criminal intimidation’ against the camp manager of Loyal Billion, a logging company that has been removing trees from forests claimed by the villagers.

The decision brought tears of relief to many of the 200 supporters gathered at the courthouse. The peaceful gathering was delighted when Numpang’s lawyer See Chee How, of Baru Bian and Associates, announced Numpang had been acquitted.

Timber ‘thief’ STIDC colluding with Taib

FMT Staff

Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation is not all that it appears to be, discovers University of Berne researcher Daniel Faeh.

Set up in 1973 on the recommendation of the United Nations following its inventory study of the rainforest, Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) is today an alleged “thief” colluding with Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and spawning a tight circle of callous and corrupt timber conglomerates.

“Together, we safeguard our NCR land from land grab”

HU Editor

( Photo Inside ) More than 200 Iban villagers from all corners of Sebangan-Simunjan turned up and crowded the Simunjan Magistrate Court to show their support for Numpang Anak Suntai, charged for criminal intimidating the camp supervisor of Loyal Billion and Quality Concrete Holdings Berhad, a logging company substantially owned by the Chief Minister’s sister, Raziah Mahmud.

Minister recycling same answers, says PKR

FMT

Sarawak PKR has lambasted State Planing and Resource Minister Awang Tengah Ali Hassan for his comments in a local daily.

KUCHING: A Sarawak minister who accused the opposition of harping on the “old issue of NCR land” is himself recycling the same answers for the past decade and treating the people as if they were ignorant of their rights, said Sarawak PKR information chief See Chee How.

Concern over rising rate of leasing out NCR lands

Stephen Tiong

Sarawak PKR information chief See Chee How said the opposition parties and human rights groups were concerned at the accelerated rate of leasing out NCR lands to plantation companies since last year.

“We want to find out the reasons for the acceleration of leasing out NCR lands to companies. Has it got to do with somebody who is about to leave politics?” he said when asked to comment on Sarawak Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management Awang Tengah Ali Hasan’s attack on the opposition and rights groups on the NCR land issues.

Attack victims to lodge MACC report

Joseph Tawie

A father and son, who were bashed by thugs, are wondering why police have not initiated an investigation.

KUCHING: Nine days after Minggat anak Nyakin and his son Juan were attacked at a timber log pond at Sungai Rusa in Sarikei Division, their families and relatives are wondering why the authorities have not taken any action against their attackers.

According to Sarawak Native Landowners Network (Tahabas) spokesman Bernard Nyumbang Anank Barau, there has also been no police investigation into the alleged illegal logging activities.

Did you sign away NCR land, Masing?

Joseph Tawie

A new issue allegedly involving Land Minister James Masing is brewing over the NCR land dispute between natives and BLD Resources.

Land Development Minister James Masing has come under fire for his alleged involvement in converting a native customary rights (NCR) property into state land, which has resulted in a legal dispute between the natives of Rumah Ranggong in Ulu Niah and BLD Resources Sdn Bhd.

BN must clear Malaysia’s name, it must sue Wetlands International

J. D. Lovrenciear

The published report about Malaysia depleting its natural resource is indeed most alarming.

The report by Wetlands International – the Netherlands based satellite observatory on deforestation and damage to the world’s ecological system alleges that Malaysia is truly raping the earth – beating the whole of Asia.

Students benefit from Bakun Trust Fund ?

Peter Sibon, Borneo Post

Some 2,100 students from Belaga district have benefited from the Bakun Trust Fund in the last 12 years, disclosed Minister of Land Development Dato Sri Dr James Masing.

Of those recipients, 1,200 have completed their diplomas and degrees.

“We have only spent about RM3 million in the last 12 years for the education of students from Belaga district,” Masing told The Borneo Post after receiving an additional RM5 million allocation from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at a meet-the-people-session at Rumah Belor, Sg Asap, here on Saturday.

Bloodbath at Rumah Bali and Rumah Busang

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By Sim Kwang Yang

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Of all the conflicts over land in Sarawak, the bloodbath that broke out in Rumah Bali and Rumah Busang in Ulu Niah, midway between Miri and Bintulu, was the most violent.

It all started the same way all other land disputes in Sarawak. Palm oil plantation projects in fertile areas of Sarawak are commonly implemented without consultation with the indigenous landowners.

There are very few channels for negotiations between the native landowners

Update : Lawas blockade

The arrests pictures expose police collusion with SS Gas Pipeline contractor

November 13, 2010 by democracy4now

The pictures from the arrests scene are finally in-which expose the collusion between the Lawas police and the SS Gas Pipeline contractor. Even done in the quiet away from the public and media view-technology is empowering the people to record such astrocious action of the police-who keep quiet when the land owners complained about the land encroachment for a long time, but spring into action after 1 week of the blockade! 4 persons were arrested on the 1st day-and they had all been, under public pressure, released by now.

Update : 50 Sabah Sarawak gas pipeline workers stopped at blockade at 15km out of Lawas town

by democracy4now

Blockaders took shelter under a hut when it rained heavily at noon 

On the 2nd day a Temenggong of Lun Bawang met with James-the Chairman of the Action Committee on Lun Bawang’s land rights, and proposed that they accept some ex-gratia money from Petronas and file a suit against the State Government for declaring their ancestral land as state land. The offer was rejected out right as the residents had discussed it extensively and found that the law suit will span over 10-years, by which time even a favorable judgment can’t set time back!

James said that they had flown to KL to meet Petronas CEO-but didn’t meet him

Hard Evidence – Sanyan Scandal Exposes Taib!

By Sarawak report

Evidence in a bitter court battle, currently being played out in Sibu, has laid out in devastating detail a mass of shocking information about the corruption at the heart of Sarawak’s State Government.

There has been little reporting of the case so far, because the Taib family have been doing their best to suppress it, however Sarawak Report has now obtained extensive documents relating to the hearing, all of which have been laid before the open court.

The case, which has been brought by the respected local businessman Dato’ Ting

Logging paper-trail leads to Taib’s family

By Keruah Usit

The company records for Quality Concrete, the timber licence holder at the centre of a land dispute that has led to mass protests, shows how ‘the politics of development’ work in Sarawak.

Quality Concrete Sdn Bhd, a company with interests in logging, construction, pipes, cement and plastic bags, has RM57.96 million in paid-up shares, according to information made public by the Companies Commission of Malaysia. A third of the shares are assigned to nominee companies, likely to be proxies.

15 Iban villages sue company of Taib’s sister

By Keruah Usit

Some 100 Ibans from 15 longhouses in upper Sebangan in Simunjan, Sarawak, appeared en masse at the Kuching High Court this morning, to sue two logging companies, two of their own government-appointed village leaders and the Sarawak government.

The Iban, accused by logging company Royal Billion of setting fire to a local logging camp on Oct 15, announced they are taking the fight for their Native Customary Rights (NCR) lands to court.

The 15 villages are proprietors, occupiers, holders and claimants of NCR lands surrounding Kampung Entanggor, Ensika, Lumut, Arus Dayak, Tongkah Dayak,

Sarawak land issues: Sticking out like a sore thumb

By Chris Reubens

Land issues which had caused a lot of unhappiness in Kuching and Simujan last month had now shifted to Sarawak’s central region where 13 Tuai Rumah have formed a committee to fight against a Sibu tycoon who was alleged to have bought over 6,000 hectares of their Native Customary Right (NCR) land in Daro.

Nine Tuai Rumah from Daro, a two-hour boat ride from Sibu had lodged police reports during the weekend while four went to the Sibu Central Police station Monday to lodge their reports against the company which was said to have encroached into their NCR lands at Block 12 Engkilo/Seradang Land District along Sg. Lengan Labaan,  Pulau Lebaan, Daro.

Bakun Damned: Where have all the waters gone?

 By HU Editor

(Video link inside)We have just received a call from Daniel, a Kenyah teacher, in Belaga: “Nanga Merit, Nanga Metah, Punan Bah, SK Long Terawan, SK Nanga Merit, SK Punan Bah, Kampung Terawan … All the schools and villages below Belaga Town are cut off because the river has dried up due to the impoundment of Bakun Dam.”

“Even the engineers of Sarawak Hydro are telling us that the state government has no plan to overcome the problem because they are unlikely to stop the impoundment.”

Petrified Baram natives want ‘dam plan’ scrapped

By Joseph Tawie

Some 20,000 indigenous natives of Kayan, Kenyah, Saben and Penan communities living in the Baram division are horrified to hear about the voluminous fast-flowing Rajang River drying up, a phenomenon blamed in part to the impoundment of the controversial Bakun dam which began on Oct 13.

The unexpected dry spell and the continuous impoundment has caused untold misery and hardship for those living along the Kapit, Belaga, Nanga Merit and Pelagus areas.

Iban logging protestors defy Taib’s family

By Keruah Usit

Six Iban longhouses in Sebuyau, Sarawak, have lodged 30 new police reports condemning logging on land they say is their temuda (individual orchards and gardens).

The Ulu Sebangan longhouses have reiterated their opposition to logging, despite the arrest of seven of their leaders in response to allegations of arson at the loggers’ camp.

“Looking at the map showing the licensed area, it is clear that they were logging outside their timber concession area.