Court hands victory to longhouse folk

By Joseph Tawie - Free Malaysia Today,

KUCHING: The residents of seven longhouses in Tuba today heaved a sigh of relief when the Kuching High Court ordered the state to exclude their lands from the proposed Sebuyau National Park.
“It is a huge victory for us,” said Joshua Karim, a spokesman for the group.

“Credit should be given to the people for their brave efforts and their patience.”

Two years ago, the state government earmarked some 27,500 hectares of land in Ulu Sebuyau for the park, meant as a wildlife sanctuary, particularly for orang utan and proboscis monkeys.

Several longhouses, including the seven in Tuba, would have had to be moved out from the area.

But the Tuba folk brought their case to court with the help of native land rights activist Baru Bian and his legal firm. The decision today ensured that 5,000 acres of the NCR (native customary right) land are safe. Only 400 acres of NCR land are now part of the park.

“Now we can sleep peacefully and are no longer fearful of being moved out from the land which we have occupied since the time of Rajah Brooke,” Karim said.

Negotiations to start

Celebrating the victory with them today was PKR supreme councilor Zaid Ibrahim, who flew in from Kuala Lumpur to hear the court decision.

Zaid said the case should serve as a lesson to the state government that it could not simply ignore the rights of the people.

Baru Bian, briefing the press on the court decision, said his clients would begin negotiations with the government next week for some form of compensation for the money they had to spend on the case.

“I hope it can be settled out of court,” he said.

Sabah and the genesis of frog politicos

By Erna Mahyuni - Free Malaysia Today,

COMMENT Malaysians who associate democracy with decency and fair play are still bitter about the coup Umno pulled off in Perak last year. But 15 years before Perak, there was Sabah.
In 1994, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), then a Barisan Nasional rival, won the Sabah state election, but did not even have time to uncork the champagne bottle. Umno moved in and, almost in the twinkling of an eye, engineered a coup through defections. They say Anwar Ibrahim led the charge.

Sabahans were the first Malaysians to denounce their statesmen as “katak” (Malay for “frogs”). Among the high-profile politicians who hopped out of PBS were Joseph Kurup and Bernard Dompok. Kurup is now the MP for Pensiangan and Dompok is the Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister.

But PBS chief Joseph Pairin Kitingan had to face a more heartbreaking betrayal when his brother, Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan, left PBS to form his own party. Currently vice-president of PKR, Jeffrey hopped through three other political parties – PBRS, Akar and Upko—and even applied twice to join Umno, only to be rejected.

Kadazans divided

Though the Kadazandusuns, the majority community on Sabah, hold Pairin in high regard, his party no longer commands their support. The locals see no reason why they should support a party whose members’ loyalties are suspect.

It was rumoured that the frogs were offered up to RM3 million each to defect.

James Chin, writing about the 1994 election in Asian Survey, notes that despite strong regional sentiment and tribal nationalism in the state, these factors were not enough to withstand “the onslaught of the BN’s national political machine with its almost unlimited funds and resources”.

Those resources include local television and radio stations. The BN campaigns through them, and one of the campaign messages is the “Binalah Sabah Baru” TV commercial that shows people living in abject poverty. We are supposed to believe they are Sabahans, but they are actually illegal immigrants living in shanties.

It was telling that in the closely contested 1994 election, PBS won all 15 Kadazandusun majority constituencies while BN won the 18 Malay/Muslim constituencies. The remaining seven seats were predominantly Chinese. PBS won four of them and the rest went to BN’s SAPP.

PBS is now a shadow of its former self as other parties, including Upko and PBRS, jostle for Kadazandusun support. With Pairin’s inevitable retirement looming and Jeffrey’s image as a turncoat persisting, no candidate has yet emerged to unite the now-splintered Kadazandusun electorate.
Anwar was allegedly the prime mover behind Sabah Umno’s victory in the state. It is said that he was behind negotiations with the defectors, setting the wheels in motion for PBS’ dethroning.

We must forgive Sabahans if they are wary of PKR. After all, it is Anwar’s party and its head honcho in Sabah is Jeffrey.

What both Umno and PKR have failed to realise is that the racially charged politics that we associate with Peninsular Malaysia does not apply in Sabah. For one, the majority race is the predominantly Christian Kadazandusun and the brand of Islam practised in Sabah is far more moderate than that of West Malaysia.

Anwar made a huge political gaffe by his initial appointment of Azmin Ali as Sabah PKR chief, a move that alienated locals. His lack of understanding of the local political landscape and his inability to attract respected political leaders to PKR’s fold will make it nearly impossible for PKR to win Sabah in the next general election.

PAS will have an even more difficult time than PKR. Voters have soundly rejected the Islamic party’s overtures in the state. This leaves DAP as the only peninsular-based opposition party with any hope of winning seats.

Empty promises

However, Umno is not going to have it easy either. Despite its promises of development and aid, Sabah still struggles with poverty.

According to United Nations statistics (http://www.undp.org.my/uploads/SabahHumanDevp.pdf), 23% of households in the state live below the national poverty line, with child poverty rates standing at 42%. More than one fifth of the population aged six and above have never been to school.

Yet the state boasts rich natural resources and an enviable biodiversity, not to mention tourist attractions such as Sipadan island and Mount Kinabalu. The truth is that the state has precious little control over the revenues it makes, which are channelled directly to the federal government.

What has Umno brought? Instead of development and improved infrastructure, as it has promised in every election campaign, it has tried to tighten its hold in the state by appointing Malaysians from the peninsula as heads of departments in the civil service.

Umno has yet to address the problem of illegal immigrants. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala, who regards it as a minor issue, has obviously not visited the crime-ridden “black areas” of Kota Kinabalu, which are controlled mainly by illegal immigrants.

Sabah’s voters made their choice clear in the 1994 election. Simple majority or no, PBS had clearly won the mandate.

In the 1980s, former chief minister Harris Salleh bartered away Labuan to curry favour with the federal government and paid the price when the voters reacted by supporting PBS and ousting his party, Berjaya.

But the voters still suffer. The frogs betrayed not only their trust, but also put in place a government motivated by greed instead of a belief in democratic principles. Sabah deserves better.

---

Erna Mahyuni is a Sabahan writer currently based in Kuala Lumpur.

Sarawak's White-Haired Rajah

Photo: Malaysiakini

(ASIA SENTINEL) An NGO details more of the hidden wealth of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud

The Sarawak Report, an NGO based in the east Malaysian state, has uncovered exhaustive evidence that the chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, has looted Sarawak of hundreds of millions of US dollars and hidden the wealth in Canada, the UK, Australia and the United States. Asia Sentinel is pleased to print the latest of the Sarawak Report’s examinations of the Taib family’s wealth.

The Sarawak Report has uncovered additional documents that lay bare a system of private deals that enabled Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud to conceal his true ownership of the properties. This was presumably in order to hide the extent of his enormous wealth, for which he has yet to provide any legitimate explanation.

Under the system, while it is Taib‟s relatives who are publicly registered as the official shareholders and directors of the companies owning the properties, a separate, private agreement ensures that the shares are actually held in trust for him. Download PDF.

Documentary evidence of elaborate concealment

Among documents in its possession Sarawak Report has a copy of one such private agreement relating to the shares in Sakti International, a company that owns buildings in San Francisco. Sakti is part of a web of companies started in North America by the Taibs, which includes Sakto, a major Ottawa property company, and Wallysons, which owns the Abraham Lincoln Building in Seattle, housing a top secret anti-terrorist facility for the FBI.

The five official shareholders of Sakti International, which is registered in California, are Taib's brothers, Onn Mahmud and Arip Mahmud, along with three of his children, Sulaiman Taib, Mahmud Taib and Jamilah Taib. However, as the document which we have obtained shows, a resolution made soon after the formation of the company has privately ruled that half those shares, a commanding majority, are held in trust for the Chief Minister. The value of these shares amounts to US$40 million for Sakti alone, according to the company‟s documents.

Tip of the iceberg?

However, Sakti International, estimated to be worth US$80 million, accounts for just a small proportion of the Taib family wealth. Our previous exposes have revealed a vast portfolio of further international property assets owned by members of Taib Mahmud‟s immediate family. For example, Taib's own children are the shareholders and directors of numerous companies controlling residential and commercial buildings in Canada, Australia, Britain and the United States together worth hundreds of millions of US dollars. Yet many of these assets came into their possession when they were in their early 20s and still college students with no visible access to legitimate resources to invest. The inevitable question for Taib Mahmud, therefore, is whether, as in the case of Sakti International, they are also secretly holding these other properties in trust for him? If not, what explanation can there be for these investments?

A number of reports have been made to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) regarding the recent disclosures of the Taib family wealth. These new revelations proving the direct link to the Chief Minister will increase the pressure on the MACC to respond with a proper investigation.

Further Fingerprints

The Sakti International documents in our possession, released as part of the disclosure in a recent court case, provide further extensive evidence of Taib Mahmud‟s involvement in the company, despite his denials of any business connections. Indeed one of the company‟s earliest official documents, signed in 1987, lists him as one of the Directors of Sakti International.

Chief Minister's name in black and white, listed as a Director Of Sakti International

The document in question is a Domestic Stock Corporation Statement for Sakti International, which is required annually by the State of California. In 1987, the year the company was set up, its inaugural statement clearly registered Taib Mahmud, along with his brothers Onn Mahmud and Arip Mahmud, as a director of the company. The only officer of the company is listed as Mahmud Taib, the Chief Minister's eldest son.

It is well-known that in subsequent Taib family enterprises the Chief Minister has always scrupulously avoided including his own name in any documentation. This early mistake will undermine his constant claims that, in keeping with his role as Chief Minister, he has no direct business interests. It is clear that he in fact set up Sakti International, using the address of his own house in San Francisco. Download PDF

Cover Up

Subsequently, records show that the structure of the company was altered to make Onn, Arip and Mahmud Taib the three Directors, while Rahman became the only officer of the company. But, as we are now able to exclusively report, Taib Mahmud secretly retained his control through a resolution by the company directors dated April 8th 1988. This resolution (see top) placed 500 of the 1,000 shares issued by the company in trust for him.

The Godfather

The Sakti documents give insight into the methods used by Taib Mahmud to control his family members, who are supposedly the earners and "businessmen" who have generated the Taibs' legendary wealth. The five relatives who were selected to own shares in Sakti International were each given a different number of shares. Each then surrendered differing proportions of these shares to be held in trust for the Chief Minister.

Brother Onn Mahmud gets 400 shares, but of them 200 are held for the Chief Minister, whereas brother Arip gets just 200 shares, 100 of which are in trust for Taib. Mahmud Taib has the same arrangement as Arip. However younger brother, Sulaiman Rahman Taib, who was later made sole director of Sakti, only gets 100 shares under the agreement and they are all in fact held in trust for his father. Daughter Jamilah also only gets 100 shares, but she gets to hold them all herself.

The system ensures that Taib Mahmud has half of all the shares held in trust for himself, whereas none of the others hold more than 200 shares. In this way he clearly keeps a commanding control over the company he pretends not to own.

Taib in charge

Former employees of Sakti have testified to the controlling position the Chief Minister holds over the other members of the family. Rahman, as he was known in the States, was still in college when he became sole director of Sakti and has been described as being in awe of his father, with whom he reportedly once had to wait a week to get a meeting.

"We always considered Taib to be the ultimate boss and decision-maker" one former executive has told Sarawak Report, "It was obvious that he was the source of the money and Rahman was extremely deferential towards him".

Where did the money come from?

The Chief Minister has so far made no comment on the string of recent exposes regarding his wealth. However, this new evidence will increase the widespread demands for him to explain how he and his family accrued the millions necessary to acquire such investments. Taib's personal salary from his numerous concurrent positions still only delivers an official income of just under 50,000 MYR (around US $16,000) a month.

In past weeks the existence of Ridgeford Properties in London and Sakto Corporation in Ontario, Canada have also been made public (see previous exposes on Sarawak Report). These companies own and manage numerous office blocks worth hundreds of millions of dollars. On paper the directors and owners of these concerns are Jamilah Taib and her husband Sean (Hisham) Murray, a Canadian national. However, like Sakti, Sakto was originally set up under the names of Taib family members, not Murray.

Although numerous members of Sean Murray's family now work for Sakto, all the evidence indicates that they are in fact Taib family businesses, ultimately controlled by the Chief Minister of Sarawak.

Surely the weight of evidence is now such that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission will be unable to ignore the deluge of demands requiring thorough investigation into Sarawak's White Haired Raja?

Bakun dam delay worries Sarawak Hidro

By Joseph Tawie - Free Malaysia Today

KUCHING: The state government has still not given the green light for the impoundment of the RM7.3 billion Bakun dam, which is already behind schedule, and this is causing concern to Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd. The delay will cost Sarawak Hidro, the owner and developer of the dam, a staggering amount in interest payment on its loan to the Employees Provident Fund.

Sarawak Hidro is wholly owned by Minister of Finance Inc.

“From next year, an additional interest payment of RM10 million per month will be incurred as the dam is already five months behind schedule.

“It will take seven months from the impounding date for the dam to reach its minimum level in order to generate power,” Sarawak Hidro managing director Zulkiflie Osman told reporters recently.

Sarawak Hidro wanted the impoundment to begin by end-2010 to curb the adverse impact on costs, waiting time and staff morale.

But the state government appears hesitant, perhaps due to political consideration as the state election must be held before July next year.

“If the dam is to be impounded now, it will become a very hot political issue in the coming election and it may even cause the downfall of the state government,” said a veteran politician.

“From the moment the dam is impounded, there are fears that the mighty Rajang River may dry up even though there are some small rivers including the Baleh River to supply water to the Rajang River,” he said.

Backlash

But the water from these rivers may not be sufficient enough to make the Rajang River navigable.

“If the Rajang River should dry up, the people are worried that they may not be able to communicate by express boats. They will suffer economically, the fish and other marine life will diminish, and houses constructed along the river banks will be affected as the water level sinks. Houses will become cheap in downstream towns like Kapit, Kanowit, Sibu and Sarikei.

“People will start to migrate to other towns,” said the politician who declined to be identified.

Understandably, the state government is unwilling to take that risk even though consultants have assured them that nothing of that sort would happen.

But the people are unlikely to believe or trust the government.

These are the issues that the state government does not want the opposition to use to frighten the people in the coming election.

The delay is also expected to cause potential investors in Sarawak Corridor of Renewal Energy (SCORE) to put on hold their investments as they are uncertain of the power supply.

Many are thinking of diverting their investments elsewhere as they cannot wait much longer.

Profits

Besides political consideration, the delay could also be attributed to the on-going discussions between Sarawak Hidro and Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) for the sale of the dam to SEB.

Sources close to the state government said that SEB has offered to buy the dam for RM6 billion, but Sarawak Hidro wants to let it go for RM8 billion.

The state government, unhappy with the federal government’s decision to scrap the under cable transmission to the Peninsula, wants SEB to take full control of the project so that it can supply electricity to SCORE without any federal government influence.

Of course, the state government and SEB have other reasons for taking over the dam.

The dam will operate initially on one turbine that is capable of generating up to 300MW and, by the end of next year, between 600MW and 900MW will be available for use of industries in Sarawak.

Sarawak needs about 900MW.

By 2020, all the eight turbines will be fully utilised to produce 2,420MW and with power from the Murum dam, the total capacity can easily reach 3,344MW.

The 95-metre high Bakun dam is the second largest in the world and is expected to submerge an area of 700 sq km, displacing some 10,000 natives of Kayan, Kenyah and Penan origins.

In addition to the Bakun, Murum and Bengoh dams, the state government is planning to build 11 more dams in the state.

Penans’ cry of desperation from Long Sebayang

I received the following alert from Long Sebayang in Limbang. The livelihood of Penan communities is being threatened by a politically well-connected timber company. It’s really the last stand for Along Sega, a much-respected local Penan leader.

View Larger Map
Report of 26 June 2010, Blockade in Long Sebayang.
Today, Penans from 10 communities are unified in Long Sebayang, two communities are settled Penans, eight are nomadic. The big chief Along Sega in charge of the 10 communities are present.

On the site, the Long Sebayang village is situated just around 4km from the camp of a timber company. Petronas, the natural gas and petrol company is also present; they are actually building the office and worker houses for a future gas pipe line going through the area. The Penans and Petronas share a good relationship here: the office and houses are built next to the village; Petronas apparently pays RM2,000 per month to rent the land of Penan. Petronas has also given the contract for the wood they need to build the camp to the Penans instead of the timber company and after three years, when their work here will be finished they will give all the buildings and materials, such as generators or chainsaws to the Penan community. All this means that for Petronas (which is owned by Malaysian government), the owners of the land are the Penans.

The timber company doesn’t agree and when the Penans have finished preparing some wood board they come with the bulldozers and allegedly steal the wood, making it impossible for the community to honour their contract with Petronas – the only income they have. The timber company says that as they have the titles for the land this wood is their property for the next 60 years (the duration of the licence).

The Long Sebayang community has settled here for four generations – a long time before the company arrived – and they used to live in the area as nomads ever since. According to the timber company, the nomads are always moving so they can’t have a property, but the reality is that the nomads move but on a defined territory so they know what is their land and what is not, and their territory is the one that the timber company and others are occuping today.

The blockade was set up after having mentioned in a letter to the government, the companies and the police that the communities wanted to have a meeting to talk about their land rights, to get them back, or at least to receive another area where they can be sure to preserve their traditional life-style. And if they have no meeting they will set up some blockades.

For now, more than two weeks later, they have received no news from the police, the government or the companies but a violent aggression on one Penan allegedly by a manager of the (timber comapny).

The communities don’t want to hear about monetary compensation from the companies or the government;… they need to create their own commercial activity. For this purpose, they have asked the timber company to use their bulldozer to create a fish pond but the timber company responded that the Penans don’t have the right to create it because the land doesn’t belong to them; the land belongs to the timber company and it owns the titles.

The situation in the area is getting worse: now there are around 10 blockades, 40 per cent of them from Penan, and 60 per cant are from Kelabit (against the gas pipe). In Long Sebayang the children are not sent to school any more: to reach school, they need to leave the village alone for one day and they are scared to come back and find it in ruins. They are used to this kind of behaviour from from the companies, which allegedly uses gangsters to scare them.

Access to medical care is also nearly impossible for them: the closest hospital is four hours away by four-wheel drive and the company allegedly refuses to give a lift to emergency cases when they go down to town. There was the case of a young Penan father, in a state of agony, totally uncounscious, and whimpering for each breath, whom we had to bring urgently to hospital after our visit to Long Sebayang. This happened certainly because of a ‘non alimentation’ that the people doing the blockade have to withstand. This man had eaten nearly nothing for the past two weeks and sometimes nothing at all for several days.

No NGO gave support to them with money or food, no local press covered what happened. If you go to the first village down the mountains out of the jungle, just three hours driving from Long Sebayang, the people don’t even know what is happening up there. Only some local people support them but it is not enough to feed every day the population of 10 villages united as one.

Today the Penans from this area are like kept as ‘otages’ in their own place, not having the right to create commercial activities, being spoiled off their land, and not being able to leave their village for just less than one day.

They are asking urgently for food support from NGOs as well as media and press support because they are determined to keep the blockades until they receive a good resolution of their land issue.