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Showing posts with label poor Sarawak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poor Sarawak. Show all posts

Swiss NGO warns Taib’s London lawyers

KUCHING: An international NGO has challenged Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s British lawyers to explain their statement that the Sarawak government “issues licenses for land under very controlled circumstances”.

The London-based lawyers had, in response to an article published earlier this week in British daily The Independent, linking Taib to the massive deforestation in Sarawak, said: “The government of Sarawak issues licences for land in very controlled circumstances… This is an administrative exercise, not political patronage.

“Our client never demands or accepts bribes for the grant of licences and leases.”

Ini Kali Lah, if toothless MACC acts -- Taib Memang Kena!

Taib survived the 1987 elections and at least seven million hectares of timber concessions allegedly came to be controlled subsequently by Taib's family, henchmen and cronies (of which no less than five million hectares came under the domination of the top five robber baron timber lords who had reimbursed the state government money used for the elections). 
Joe Fernandez
The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) has been uncharacteristically quick to say that they will look into video reports apparently implicating long-serving Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud in allegedly shady land deals which, from all accounts, have resulted in considerable lost revenues to the state and Federal coffers while virtually robbing the affected kampung folks of their Native land. http://bit.ly/16ESEVU

‘Najib must act against Taib’

Is he too scared to take action against Taib?
KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has called on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to act against the Sarawak chief minister.
He said action must be taken against Taib Mahmud based on the recent video expose made by an international NGO, Global Witness.
The video showed Taib’s family and his cronies abusing logging licences to enrich themselves, at the expense of ordinary Sarawakians.
An undercover investigator, posing as an investor, went to Sarawak in the pretext of buying land to set up palm oil plantations and was directed to buy licences from those linked to Taib.

Sarawak cop, gangsters assault youth

Sarawak DAP wants the IGP to act on 21-year-old
Andrewson Ngalai’s report against a police inspector.
By Joseph Tawie
KUCHING: A police inspector attached to the General Operations Force (GOF) not only aided and abetted a group of gangsters in assaulting a 21-year-old coffeeshop worker, but also took part by slapping the youth in the early hours of March 14.
The inspector’s act was caught on a CCTV camera in a coffeeshop at MJC Batu Kawah where Andrewson Ngalai anak Tandang works.
After Andrewson lodged a report at the MJC Batu Kawah police station on the same day, the man seen in the CCTV was identified as the police inspector attached to the GOF at Batu Kawah by other officers.

Farmer slashed by Taib-linked men

Surik Muntai and 300 other landowners from 17 longhouses
from Melikin in Serian district are suing a company linked
to two PBB leaders for encroaching into their NCR land.
KUCHING: A director of an oil palm plantation company, linked to two leaders in Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu has been detained for allegedly assaulting a 67-year-old farmer over a native customary rights land issue.
Serian police confirmed that Andrew Wong, a director in United Teamtrade Sdn Bhd was arrested three days ago and is currently in remand.
Wong together with three other security personal, one allegedly armed with a  parang, had attacked farmer Surik Muntai last Friday while he was waiting to pick up his son from the Sungai Menyan primary school.
He was severely wounded and suffered a broken right arm and legs in the attack. He is now recuperating in the Sarawak General Hospital, Kuching.

Waking up from slumber in Sabah, Sarawak

By Joe Fernandez
In the Bible, Matthew 13:10-17, it's stated that Jesus said: “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

In 1963, Malaya had a lot. Yet, more was given to them when Sabah and Sarawak were taken away from the people, the Orang Asal in particular.

Even the little that the people of Sabah and Sarawak had was taken away from them, “because while seeing they do not see and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”Matthew 13:10-17

Social activist Azlan injured in brutal attack

LATEST ATTACK: A wounded Azlan lies
on the ground surrounded by members of
 the public and police. Part of the broken
bat can be seen next to him.
KUCHING: Self-proclaimed social activist Azlan Abdullah sustained suspected multiple fractures when he was attacked by men armed with baseball bats yesterday.

The attack occurred around noon in front of a serviced apartment at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, where the 53-year-old resides, and the incident comes nearly a year after he was badly wounded in a similar incident.

This time around, witnesses reported that three men -each carrying a bat– rushed out of a black Toyota Hilux parked by the roadside and attacked Azlan as he was standing by the front steps of the apartment.

“It looked as if it was planned as the men rushed out the moment they saw him,” said a male witness who asked not to be named.

Christians forced to become Muslims by NRD?

FMT LETTER: From P Ramakrishnan, via e-mail

Who determines one’s faith – the individual or the The National Registration Department (NRD? It is obvious that it has to be the individual concerned. The NRD has no business to disagree when a person lays claim to a certain faith.

The NRD’s function is to issue MyKad and it cannot act beyond this function. It is very clear. But why then is the NRD making the lives of Bumiputra Christians in Sabah and Sarawak miserable (as reported in the Malaysian Chronicle)?

Where’s the billions in forest royalties?

Despite the billions derived from logging,
oil and gas royalties, Sarawakian natives
have remained poor with minimal infrastructure.
KUCHING: Where has the RM14.4 billion in forest royalties derived from logging Sarawak’s rainforest since 1980 gone?
Posing this question in the current sitting of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly, assemblyman See Chee How said the revenue seemed not to have filtered down to the masses, as the state was still grappling with poverty.
“What has happened to all the forest royalties that the state received from all the trees chopped down since 1980?
“The state government likes to claim that logging [and now oil palm] has brought development to the rural people. But, if so, why is there still so much poverty and deprivation in Sarawak?

Star: Petronas misses point – its ownership and responsibility

“Petronas is irresponsible and misses the point when it acted as if it is the sole custodian of Malaysia’s oil and gas resources.” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, in response to Petronas’ statement that Petronas cannot afford to increase the cash payment to 20% to the oil-producing States as offered by Pakatan Rakyat.

The federal government is also irresponsible in using Petronas as its mouth-piece to reject the claims of the oil-producing states for increases in the cash payment from the current 5%.

The federal government and Petronashas totally ignored the fact that the oil and gas resources belonged to the states, Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak, in the first place.  It did not belong to the federal government and definitely not Petronas.

Secret Malaysian resettlement plan for dam-affected natives exposed

The affected communities have only received information about the conditions of their resettlement through the report leaked to ­the whistle-blower website Sarawak Report. The withholding of the Resettlement Report goes against all international standards on transparency. 
Bruno Manser Funds
Leaked Resettlement Action Plan for natives to be displaced by Murum dam reveals the Sarawak government’s neglect of basic rights and fair compensation
(MURUM, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA) A report by the Malaysian state government of Sarawak about the resettlement of over 1,500 natives has been leaked just a few months before the planned resettlement due to a mega-dam. The impoundment of the 944 MW Murum dam is meant to start in early 2013 and will flood almost 250km2 of forest and cause the displacement of six Penan and one Kenyah native communities.

No major budget cheer for Sabah, Sarawak

Waiting for vital direct-benefit goodies,Sabahans
and Sarawakians were again left behind in Prime
Minister Najib Tun Razak's budget 2013.
KOTA KINABALU: Instead of lifting the crippling 1980 cabotage policy, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak today announced a price uniformity scheme to neutralise costs differences between consumer products in West and East Malaysia.
The catch however is that the scheme is only applicable in Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M) stores in Sabah, Sarawak  and Labuan.
Najib said 57 more stores will be set up throughout Sabah and Sarawak.
Sabah is the second largest state covering 73,997 sq km while Sarawak is sprawling comprising  124,450 km2.

Angry natives to sue over ‘access fee’ order

A plantation company owned by an Sarawak
ex-assemblyman has ordered natives to pay
an 'access fee' to enter their own farms.
KUCHING: Native landowners of Kampung Danau, Melikin, Serian are preparing to sue an oil palm company which is allegedly using gangsters to threaten them and prevent them from entering their gardens and farms.
The natives have instructed lawyer Baru Bian to file a legal suit against United Teamtrade Sdn Bhd for asking them to pay for access into their own lands.
“We will file the suit very soon, maybe next week against the oil palm company,” said Bian.
According to Bian, the natives received a letter signed by one Ha Haw Kong, who is a director of United Teamtrade Sdn Bhd, claiming that the lands now belonged to the company as they had been awarded provisional leases and that villagers wanting to enter the land must now pay an accessibility fee.

Skandal Penyelewengan Wang HSBC – Masa Untuk Menjalankan Siasatan Ke Atas Salahlaku Musa Aman!

Salah seorang pegawai tertinggi bank HSBC telah meletak jawatan secara sukarela semalam, sambil mengumumkan bahawa bank itu telah membisu seribu bahasa terhadap kegiatan memindahkan wang sebanyak $38 trillion, yang melibatkan Ketua Menteri Sabah, Musa Aman. Laporan dari pihak Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) mengenai wang sogokan pembalakan (suatu kes yang, menurut Najib Razak, boleh disabitkan dengan Musa Aman) mengandungi banyak maklumat mengenai penglibatan HSBC memproses berjuta-juta ringgit yang akhirnya menjurus ke dalam akaun-akaun bank milik Musa Aman.

Begitu juga, Sarawak Report telah mendedahkan maklumat terperinci mengenai siri-siri akaun HSBC yang dikaitkan dengan Musa Aman, yang akhirnya terpaksa ditutup dalam tahun 2006 dahulu.

Bludgeoned natives to sue police

By Joseph Tawie of FMT
A father and son who were attacked by gangsters are planning to sue the police for not acting on their report and for detaining them instead.
KUCHING: A native landowner and his son who were bludgeoned by gangsters on Feb 14 last year while defending their property and who were later imprisoned by police for lodging a report on the incident, are now planning to sue the authorities.
Minggat Nyakin and his son Juan were badly beaten by the gangsters when they tried to block the thugs from extracting timber from their NCR land at Sungai Rotan and Sungai Penyaru Kuba, Sarikei.
According to Minggat, the gangsters had the intention to kill both of them, but since his son had managed to escape to seek help, they had to hurriedly left him unconscious and sprawled on the ground.

Guns, threats won’t scare us, say natives

If the government continues to remain aloof from clashes
between natives and oil palm companies, then it should
be prepared for a bloodbath.
KUCHING: Despite two attempts on his life by workers allegedly from Palm Raya Pelita, Semawi Anak Renang will not be intimidated in defending his native customary rights (NCR) land and that of 25 other families.

Instead the threats against him and the other landowners of Rumah Randi, Selangau, have made them more determined than ever to defend their 3,000 hectares of land.

The landowners claimed that the Palm Raya Pelita oil palm plantation is owned by Tiong King Sing, the MP for Bintulu. Tiong is also the deputy president of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and one Peter Hii.

Pushed To ‘War’ – Ibans Threaten Traditional Combat Against The Curse Of Sarawak’s Cruel Evictions

Save our longhouse! The people of Ulu Niah demonstrating against today's eviction deadline from WTK who had given the 2 weeks notice.
To tell people they must give up their ancestral homes: to bulldoze whole longhouse communities and insist these families move elsewhere without fair cause or compensation, seems an inconceivable thing to allow.

Yet in Sarawak it is happening everywhere and often, just in the same way that native lands are being taken and sold from under the feet of the rightful owners.


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