Relative says all hostages freed by Abu Sayyaf

SIBU: A relative of two of the hostages held by Abu Sayyaf confirmed that all the four Sarawakians kidnapped by the group on April 1 have been freed and are on their way to Sabah.

“I was told that the four of them are in good health. Their family members are now in Sandakan waiting to receive them," she said.

It was earlier reported that brothers Wong Teck Kang, 31, and Wong Teck Chii, 29, their cousin, Johnny Lau Jung Hien,21 and Wong Hung Sing, 34, were released by Abu Sayyaf late Tuesday.

They were seized from their tugboat which was on its way to Sarawak from the Philippines.

The Abu Sayyaf had demanded a ransom of RM18mil for their release.

'If Taib's wife can be citizen, M'sian-born stateless kids can, too'

The government must give citizenship to stateless children if it can easily do the same for Sarawak governor Abdul Taib Mahmud's wife in six years, DAP's Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching said.

She said between 2008 and 2015, a total of 47,232 foreigners married to Malaysians were granted citizenship.

This includes those from Indonesia (19,935), India (5,228) and Cambodia (2,387).

However, between 2011 and April 2016, a total of 131,810 children in Malaysia were recorded as 'non-citizens'.

Most could not be registered as Malaysians because their Malaysian fathers did not register their marriage to a foreign spouse before the children were born, she said.

This despite the children being born in Malaysia, she said.

The federal constitution states anyone born in the federation, whose parents at the time of the birth were citizens or permanent residents of the federation, are citizens of Malaysia.

She said the federal constitution did not require the children's parents to register their marriage prior to the birth, for the children to be registered as Malaysians.

However, because of the administrative ruling, the children are considered non-citizens and have to pay full fees at public hospitals, nor are they entitled to free textbooks in school or enrol in public primary and secondary schools.

Neither will they enjoy subsidised fees at public universities, apply for student loans through the National Higher Education Loan Scheme (PTPTN) or obtain a passport.

"With all these challenges, the children will have great difficulties to excel in life and they will also have a problem to get a job," she said in a statement.

"Children should not be made victims due to their parents' carelessness.

"If we can give citizenship to foreigners, including those from Indonesia, India and Cambodia, why can't we grant citizenship to the children of our own Malaysian citizens based on humanitarian grounds?" she asked.

Yesterday, DAP's Batu Kawan MP Kashturi Patto questioned how Ragad Taib can obtain a citizenship in a relatively short six years after marrying the governor.

Govt Can Consider More UTCs For S'wak Once Each State Capital Has One - PM

KUCHING, Feb 26 (Bernama) -- When the government realises its objective of having an Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) in each state capital, phase two of the initiative will possibly see more UTCs in Sarawak considering the vastness of the state, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said, however, this would depend on increased revenue for the government and the nation being on a very strong fiscal footing.

The UTCs, he said, became testimonies of the government's commitment towards realising its "People First, Performance Now," philosophy when they turned out to be a resounding success in facilitating the people in dealing with not only government agencies but also the private sector.

"Once the first phase is settled (to have a UTC in each state capital), we can consider a second round towards meeting the call by Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem for more UTCs in the state," he said when opening UTC Sarawak in Jalan Bukit Mata here tonight.

Having a floor space of 29,000 square feet, UTC Sarawak, which is the eighth UTC in the country and started operations at the end of last September, now houses 47 government and private agencies under one roof.

The UTC is a brainchild of the Prime Minister to provide a one-stop centre for urban communities to deal with key government agencies and is part of the country's National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS).

It was introduced to improve the delivery system to the people via strategic partnerships between government agencies and the private sector.

According to Najib, with the full commitment of the government, UTC Sarawak costing RM48.5 million was up and running within 12 weeks and since January, has received more than 260,000 visitors.

He said transformation in terms of finding solutions to challenges required creative and strategic thinking, and that the UTC, which came about through brainstorming, was a fine example of this.

"This is the end result, we could come up with these UTCs which no other country has been able to do. Hopefully, it will inspire greater confidence of the people in the government which is very committed and serious not only about improvements, but transformation across the country, no matter urban or rural areas," he said.

Najib said he was also committed to working with Adenan and other state leaders in bringing about transformation for a better future for Sarawak.

Meanwhile, he said this year, 200 imams or Village Security and Development Committee chairmen in Sarawak would be selected to perform the Haj under the sponsorship of the 1MDB Foundation.

Malaysia Airports To Continue To Expand Airport Facilities

KUCHING, Feb 5 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Airports Holding Bhd (MAHB) says it will continue to upgrade facilities at the airports it manages and operates in order to meet customers' needs.

Managing Director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said upgrading works include those at the Kota Baharu International Airport (KBIA), Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) and Kuching International Airport (KIA).

"We do not wait until it hits maximum capacity. We will upgrade, that is our job," he told reporters after launching MAHB's Green Day 2015 at the KIA here Thursday.

Badlisham said KKIA and KIA are capable of catering to increased flight frequencies, especially KKIA, which has undergone expansion.

He said Malaysia Airports is also assisting other agencies like the Ministry of Tourism and Malaysian Tourism to promote more international flights to KIA and KKIA.

He said flight frequencies will however depend on the demand from businesses, tourists and leisure and entertainment travellers.

"For the airlines, if there is an increase in demand they will certainly increase their flight frequencies," he added.

He said KIA, which can receive 5.23 million visitors annually, is currently recording 4.1 million visitor arrivals.

Badlisham said the Green Day initiative aims to inculcate environmental awareness among employees while promoting staff camaraderie.

"We must be cautious of the environment especially in flood-prone areas, where our airports are sited at river and sea banks," he said.

Ministry says structure on M’sian, not Indon soil

Indonesian residents claim 4-storey building is on Indonesian territory.

FMT

KUCHING: Malaysia has not encroached on Indonesia’s territory by erecting a structure within the republic’s borders as alleged by local residents of an island in North Kalimantan, said Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jafaar.

Indonesian news portal Kompas reported that residents of Kayu Mati Island – which is shared by both countries – claimed to have seen a new post built by Malaysians in an area that they believed falls within Indonesian territory.

Local leader Imam Basran was quoted as saying that he was sure it was a new structure, claiming that he had frequented the area over the past four decades.

“What happened was when we built the check-point there was an allegation from a local representative (Indonesia) that we built the facilities on their border but I have already checked and it is not,” he said when asked to comment on the allegation during a press conference here yesterday.

According to Wan Junaidi there was a river at Pulau Sebatik and the border runs through the middle of the river and it did not encroach the Indonesian and Malaysia border.

He said the four-storey building built by Malaysia was within its territory while the border runs through a river, called Puis Point and at the other side of the river was the Indonesian army check-point.

Wan Junaidi said Malaysia had no name for the island but the Indonesians called it Pulau Kayu Mati.

He said previously Malaysia did not have a check-point there and the government through the National Security Council constructed the building which would accommodate the police, immigration and custom offices as well as other agencies.

He said the construction of the building was expected to be ready by mid-year and would start operating by year’s end.

With the facilities, Wan Junaidi said Malaysia would have its enforcement agencies stationed there to help reduce illegal immigrants from Nunukan, Kalimatan from coming over to Tawau, Sabah and at the same time curb smuggling goods from Nunukan.

-- BERNAMA

IGP warns separatists: Wait for my action

Sabah and Sarawak police have been ordered not to tolerate any violation of the Constitution.

FMT

PUTRAJAYA: Inspector-General of Polis Khalid Abu Bakar today issued a stern warning to those agitating for Sabah’s and Sarawak’s separation from Malaysia, saying it amounted to treason.

“Let me say this to those inciting the people to support the move to take Sabah and Sarawak out of Malaysia: just wait for my action,” he told reporters covering the launch of the police football tournament for 2015.

He said he had given strict directives to Sabah and Sawarak police against tolerating any violation of the Federal Constitution.

“The Royal Malaysian Police will not let it happen,” he said of the separatist moves.

Yesterday, Sabah police arrested nine people suspected of distributing separatist literature. They were detained under the Sedition Act but were released after their statements were recorded.

Sabah Police Commissioner Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said police also recorded statements from 14 witnesses.

Calling Taib’s bluff

What now, Abdul Taib Mahmud? Neither your vast billions, nor the legal letters from one of London’s more prominent lawyers, were able to stop Swiss NGO Bruno Manser Fund’s executive director, Lukas Straumann, from exposing your terrible legacy.

Taib’s threats and intimidation were unsuccessful, and the book launch of ‘Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian Timber Mafia’ by Straumann went ahead as scheduled on Friday, Jan 17, in London.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was not deterred by Taib’s bully boy tactics, when his lawyers tried to stop the broadcast of the interview with Straumann. To make things worse, Amazon has started stocking the book, despite earlier intimidation by Taib’s lawyers who threatened to sue Amazon, for selling what they had termed a “defamatory book”.

At the launch, the main speaker, Straumann, summarised the role of the major players in the deforestation of Sarawak and gave an insight into Taib’s money logging activities, the politics involved, Taib’s family, Swiss activist Bruno Manser, how governments and multinational banks surreptitiously aid Taib, and more importantly, how he (Straumann) became involved.

Clare Rewcastle Brown (left), the founder of Sarawak Report, said former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had criticised Taib and stressed that he should not “get away” with timber corruption.

The only Malaysian panel member, lawyer See Chee How, claimed that he had won all of his land rights cases on behalf of the indigenous people. Sarawak land laws are based on UK land laws, but he stressed that “winning is one thing, the enforcement of the law is another”.

Jetty Word, the director of the Borneo Project, talked about the dams which Taib was building and how these had wrecked people’s lives, for instance, from the ill-effects of polluted water.

Although Rewcastle Brown noted that Mahathir was displeased with Taib, we must question the role of Putrajaya and Taib. One cannot exist without the other. The two are like a growing foetus, linked by an umbilical cord to its mother.

'No BN without Taib'

Most of Sarawak’s petroleum revenue goes to Putrajaya and in return, Taib is allowed to plunder his own nation using timber revenue.

Taib treats Sarawak as his personal fiefdom and Putrajaya is complicit. Putrajaya depends on Taib to deliver BN to Parliament. Without Taib, BN would have long ceased to rule Malaysia, perhaps even ceased to exist.

The current redelineation exercise in Sarawak will create more seats for Sarawak. Mahathir may criticise other PMs for supporting Taib, but what did he do during his 22 years in power. He had the chance to intervene, but he did not.

What about the people? Taib knows that money talks. There are allegations of him bribing his way into power, paying the tuai rumah (village chief) to vote BN, and paying party members to vote for him.

He uses money to ‘compensate’ the tribal people for the loss of their ancestral lands and replacing virgin forest with oil palm. Everything he does is for his own profit. Very little is given back to the people. Taib makes billions from all his ventures, but the people are given only a few thousand ringgits in compensation.

Taib has homes all over the world, but the villagers who are displaced find themselves in shanty towns, far away from their ancestral lands. Deprived of their normal hunting grounds, they can neither cultivate crops, nor hunt. People become ill from having to live with polluted water.

Taib is aware of the historical and sociological background of Sarawak. He practised 1Malaysia long before Najib (right) thought of the idea. Taib capitalises on the harmony of the multi-ethnic races, and he keeps Umno Baru out of Sarawak because he knows that this is his only usefulness to Sarawakians.

The political parties in Sarawak are like the swaying palm trees - one day they are with you, the next day, they are not. Money is useful and Taib knows how to exploit the indecision of the tribal leaders. It is also alleged that Taib grants favours to his cronies and they, in turn, make sure he is kept happy.

Silent Sarawakian majority

Taib sends his children abroad to study, but the folk in the interior do not have that luxury. Children may have to walk or travel by boat for several hours to reach school. The rivers are not just their source of livelihood, but also a means of transport.

That is why children are vulnerable when they hitch rides in timber lorries to go to school.

Look at the manner in which the general populace of Sarawak dealt with the rapes of the Penan girls. What happened to the voices of disgust? Where were the protests in the major towns and cities? The citizens of India voiced their anger when their women were raped and were denied justice.

When some Sarawak leaders claimed that the Penan were good storytellers, the majority of Sarawakians kept quiet.

Taib’s lawyers said that Straumann’s book was “based on an entirely false and highly damaging premise”. When asked to explain how Taib got his wealth, the lawyers gave no information.

Did the London lawyers really believe that Taib had amassed his wealth like another Malaysian celebrity who started saving from her teenage years, to buy diamond rings and handbags? Did the lawyers fall for the story that Taib’s children are intelligent and business savvy, and were able to turn RM1 into a few billion ringgits?

Today, Malaysia’s reputation is at stake. The success of the illegal logging in Sarawak has meant that the Taib timber model is being exported to countries with weak governments. The local people in Cambodia, parts of Africa and Papua New Guinea, are suffering just as the Sarawakians have suffered.

Shame on us Malaysians, for not doing enough to remove Taib and his ilk - be they in Putrajaya or Petra Jaya.

---

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Ponggal makes its mark in Sarawak

State minister urges more to join in for bigger celebrations next year.

FMT

KUCHING: The Tamil harvest festival, Ponggal, marked by the Malaysian Indian community at a special function at the Kuching Waterfront today received government encouragement for celebrations to be held every year.

State welfare, women and family development minister Fatimah Abdullah encouraged the organisers to come up with a bigger event next year, adding the state government was ready to encourage more non-governmental organisations to join in.

Fatimah lauded the event as this enabled social interaction to foster understanding among the various communities and pave the way for respect and harmony in a multi-racial country.

More than 108 people took part, most of whom gathered under the canopy to cook a sweet dish made of rice and milk.

Other activities at the celebration, held by the Sarawak chapter of the Malaysian Hindu Sangam, included cultural dance performances, a Kolam drawing demonstration and kabbadi games.

Malaysia Hindu Sangam president Mohan Shan said he was happy to see a large multi-racial turnout, despite the drizzling rain.

He said that among the functions of the Malaysia Hindu Sangam was the preservation of the culture and traditions of the Hindus and added that today’s event was a great achievement for the Indian community in Malaysia.

- BERNAMA

Sarawak cancels Islamic talk after Christians object

An Islamic talk deemed by Christians in Sarawak as highly provocative has been cancelled by the Chief Minister's Office today.

Datuk Daud Abdul Rahman, the minister in charge of Islamic affairs in the state, said he “advised” the organisers to cancel the talk because of objections from the Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS), certain individuals and politicians.

The talk – organised by the Islamic Information Centre (IIC) and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) – was scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday.

But it was deemed unhelpful in defusing religious tension between Muslims and Christians in the country.

“We have looked into the objections and we find that they have a valid reason,” said Daud.

“We do not want to create disharmony among the various religious groups especially the Christians and the Muslims and the various races.

“It’s totally unnecessary,” Daud, who is also a Minister in the Chief Minister's Office, told reporters after witnessing Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem hand over cheques to various organisations at his office in Kuching this afternoon.

The talk, in conjunction with Prophet Muhammad's birthday, was to feature Iraqi Islamic scholar Shaykh Afeefuddin Al-Jalani speaking on the Prophet Muhammad in the Bible.

It was planned to be held at the IIC tomorrow and Unimas on Thursday.

The Anglican Diocese of Kuching, Assistant Bishop Aeries Sumping Jingan, told The Malaysian Insider yesterday that he spoke to the chief executive officer of IIC, and a state authority on the ACS's objection to the programme.

Sumping, who was acting on behalf of ACS chairman Datuk Bolly Lapok, said he made it clear to the CEO of IIC and the state authority that “we want the talks to be cancelled”.

PKR state chief Baru Bian, who today faxed a letter to Daud, stated that the topic of the talk was “an affront to Christians because Prophet Muhammad was never mentioned in the Bible, contrary to what the topic implies”.

He said many church leaders considered the topic to be blasphemous.

“Imagine how the Muslims would feel if a group of Christians proposed to invite a Christian scholar to talk about the Quran.

“I shudder to think of the reaction from the extreme ‘defenders of the faith’ in West Malaysia,” he added.

Baru said his objection to the talks was not an attempt to curb people’s freedom of expression, but said it they had to be done in an inclusive and accommodating manner.

“Sarawak is considered to be the last bastion of religious harmony and mutual respect and we must be mindful to guard this fortress at all times,” he said.

IIC reportedly tried to salvage the talk by changing the topic to “Muhammad SAW: The Blessing for Mankind.”

It made changes to the talk's promotional poster on its Facebook page this morning but removed it soon after. – January 13, 2015.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/sarawak-cancels-islamic-talk-after-christians-object#sthash.qp0TmgZP.dpuf

Book Review: Money Logging

Written by John Berthelsen - Asia Sentinel

A sad tale of the Asian timber mafia and the man who did more than anything to create it, Abdul Taib Mahmud. By Lukas Straumann, Bergli Books. Softback, 313 pp. Available in major bookstores.

On Oct. 3, 2011, a depressed, paranoid former chief operating officer for a San Francisco-based property company called Sakti International named Ross Boyert slipped a plastic bag over his head, taped it tight and suffocated himself to death in a Los Angeles hotel room. He was 61.

But Boyert, however delusionary he was when he died, left behind him an explosive legacy – the details of virtually all of the properties owned by Abdul Taib Mahmud, the longest serving public official in Malaysia. It is a breathtaking collection according to the documents that Boyert – who was fired by the Taib interests -- gave to a crusading journalist named Clare Rewcastle Brown. They show that Taib, through nominees, family members and other subterfuges, is worth in excess of US$21 billion.

Taib is not mentioned on the Forbes list of Malaysia’s richest, but if he were, he would be worth almost twice as much as the man listed as richest -- Robert Kuok, whose fortune is in property, sugar, palm oil and shipping. He would also be about halfway up the list of the world’s 50 richest billionaires although his name is not mentioned there either. That is because, according to this book by Lukas Straumann, Taib amassed his entire fortune illegally, as undoubtedly a handful of others have around the world that remains hidden. Nonetheless, according to Boyert’s documents and the research by Rewcastle Brown and Straumann, he is an engine of corruption the likes of which the world has never seen.

Taib built his real estate empire in Canada, the United States, Australia and the East Malaysia state of Sarawak on timber. Into the process, in his 33 years as chief minister, he staged some of the most depressing environmental destruction on the planet. An estimated 98 percent of the old-growth timber of Sarawak, a state three times the size of Switzerland, is gone, sold via timber permits to logging companies, many of them connected to him, that shipped the logs to Japan, China and across much of the rest of the world.

Using the documents furnished by Rewcastle Brown, and with considerable additional reporting, the story of Taib’s looting of Sarawak is told by Straumann, the director of the Basel-headquartered Bruno Manser Fund, an NGO named for a Swiss naturalist who fought to save the indigenous Penan tribe from the depredations of the loggers’ bulldozers, and who disappeared into the forest in 2000 and has never been found. It is an explosive book. Taib has threatened to sue Amazon if it distributes it. So far, Amazon has backed away from delivering it.

The book, Money Logging: On the Trail of Asia’s Timber Mafia, published by Bergli Books, also of Basel, tells the story of Taib’s rise to power, starting in 1965 as minister of agriculture and forestry. By the end of that decade, he would be Sarawak’s richest politician. Today he holds interests in property companies that own prestigious buildings in Seattle, San Francisco, Ottawa, London, Adelaide and in Malaysia itself. The major companies he controls through family members or by proxies, according to Boyert’s documentation, include Sakti International, Wallyson’s Inc., Sakto Group, Citygate International, Ridgeford Properties, Sitehost City and literally scores of smaller ones. He is believed to control more than 100 companies.

One of the most important things about this story is that Taib was first anointed by Tunku Abdul Rahman, the father of Malaysia and the country’s first prime minister. Abdul Rahman was followed in office by five other prime ministers who sat in Kuala Lumpur and later the Putrajaya government complex and did nothing about him. It was hardly a secret that he was both looting the country and stealing, on a breathtaking scale, the resources that belonged to the Dayak, Murut, Penan and other local tribes that make up the peoples of Sarawak.

Nothing was done about him because he developed a political machine that could deliver votes to the Barisan Nasional, the ruling national coalition in Peninsular Malaysia. Taib is a Muslim. Most of the Sarawak tribes are either Christian or animist. And, to the government across the South China Sea, it would have been unthinkable to have a non-Muslim government leader in charge. Later, during the current administration of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, it became clear that the Barisan’ very survival depended on Taib and his fellow Kleptocrat, Musa Aman, who continues stealing the people of the neighboring state of Sabah blind, although on a smaller scale.

What’s worse is that Taib’s activities in Sarawak, according to the book, spawned a series of giant timber companies including Concord Pacific, Samling, Shin Yang, WTK and Ta Ann Holdings – all of which have received backing from the international banking community including HSBC and others – and have expanded far outside of Malaysia to Cambodia, Australia, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Congo-Brazzaville, Papua New Guinea and just about every other country with less than reputable governments and tropical timber to loot.

“Virtually all of this timber (from Papua New Guinea) was exported to China in the form of logs and other Asian destinations and the trickle-down of wealth in the country itself remained minimal,” Straumann writes. That is true of virtually every country in which the Malaysia-based lumber companies operated.

There is one more sad corollary to this story. As a Dec. 23, 2014 story in the New York Times about Costa Rica’s rainforests demonstrates, tropical forests will regenerate, and, given the space of time, return to their former state. The forests of Sarawak, if not all of Borneo, once one of the world’s greatest green lungs, will not. Sarawak’s forests are being replaced with oil palm plantations.

Taib has stepped aside as chief minister and is now the state’s governor. He ostensibly is under investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission after the Swiss government forwarded allegations to the Malaysians of money-laundering into Swiss banks.

“It is up to his successors (as chief minister) to correct the state’s course of action and the government’s condescending attitude towards its indigenous peoples,” Straumann writes. “Now, the Malaysian judiciary and anti-corruption authorities need to live up to their responsibility. While it is a good thing that Sarawak’s last ‘White Rajah’ has finally stepped down, he does not belong in the governor’s residence. He belongs in jail.”

That last sentence is sadly unrealistic. Malaysia’s anticorruption commission and its judiciary have no intention of doing anything about Abdul Taib Mahmud. He remains far too valuable to the ruling coalition in Putrajaya to keep the state in loyal hands. He has announced plans to build a long series of dams on rivers to supply power that, given Borneo’s state of development, will never be needed. But skimming from the contracts will continue to supply a fortune to Taib and his family.

Sabah’s autonomy on religion

By SSK 

The issue of religion, in particular regarding Islam, is a sensitive issue, made worse of late due to the Allah issue and Bahasa Malaysia Bibles controversy. What is happening in some states in West Malaysia is of concern to Sabah. The main concern is that what is happening in West Malaysia may soon happen in Sabah if the issue is not clarified.

To understand the issue of religion in Sabah we must revert to the Cobbold Commission and the 20-Point Memorandum where it says that while there was no objection to Islam being the religion of Malaysia there should be no State religion of North Borneo, and the provisions relating to Islam in the present Constitution of Malaya should not apply to North Borneo. The British members of the Commission were of the view that the non-Muslim community wanted complete religious freedom concerning worship, education and propagation in North Borneo and that the provisions of the Federal Constitution regarding Islam should not extend to North Borneo and that the State Legislature should be the authority that decides what happens.

Article 5A of the Sabah State Constitution says, “Islam is the religion of the State; but other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the State.” Article 5B(1) says that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is Head of Islam in Sabah but Article 5B(2) says the State Legislative Assembly shall be responsible for making provisions for regulating Islamic religious affairs and for constituting a Council to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in matters relating to Islam.

Despite having Article 5A and 5B, Articles 11(1) and 11(4) of the Federal Constitution is retained to guarantee religious freedom and to allow State Law to control or restrict the propagation of any religious belief among Muslims.

In other words, this would mean there is a certain degree of autonomy in Sabah and the Sabah State Assembly can formulate its own policies, which may differ from that of the West Malaysian states, but just as long as it does not contradict the Federal Constitution. This results in the preservation of the freedom of religion in Sabah, with limited exceptions for the propagation of Muslims, and the Sabah State Assembly retaining the power to decide on the ‘rules of engagement’ and recommend these rules to the Agong.

Overall, there should be no confusion on this matter as far as Sabah is concerned and there are no restrictions to Christians in Sabah using Allah or publishing Christian literature, Bibles included, in Bahasa Malaysia. So let us not allow the controversy in West Malaysia to spill over to Sabah because Sabah has specific laws on what should and should not happen. And this is the guarantee we must give to the people of Sabah.

Plenty of smoking guns on illegal migrants in Sabah

 

COMMENT On page 267 of the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) report, it is stated that “Indeed, as far back as 1999, it was already reported in local newspapers in Sabah that it was a lucrative business being involved in fake ICs or genuine ICs illegally issued. There was much money to be made by syndicates or individuals or corrupt officials because a false IC could fetch between RM400 and RM500, and a Malaysian passport could cost up to RM50,000.”

Some people have claimed that a lot of activities associated with the illegal immigrants in Sabah represent an industry, and present opportunities and temptation for corruption. Corruption is a big problem in this country. It is also very costly.

I also hear of illegal immigrants becoming victims of enforcement personnel. They become part of the problem rather than the solution. Their vulnerability is often taken advantage of. I have heard stories that very often, enforcement personnel, usually towards the end of the month, demand to inspect the purses of illegal immigrants and take away some or all their monies.

Let me briefly make some comments on the RCI and its report. The RCI is the latest attempt by the federal government to show the public that it is doing something to resolve what is perceived to be a government-created problem for Sabah. Perception, being what it is, could be real or imagined.

But in the Sabah case, there are many signs of smoking guns. The problems associated with the illegal immigrants are often described as the mother of all problems.

The unusually large population of foreigners, both legal and illegal, has permanently changed the economic, social, cultural, political and demographic landscape of the state. Many of them were initially illegal but became legal, rightly or wrongly.

By my reckoning, there are in Sabah more foreigners than locals, who feel fearful and threatened. I have some indicators for this but time does not permit me to elaborate. This is not surprising because this issue has been in the making for more than 30 years.

There appears to be lack of political will on the part of the government to resolve the problem once and for all. More and more Sabahans are convinced that this is a deliberate move or agenda for Sabah by the federal government.

Double standard?

During the late 60s and early 70s, plenty of Vietnamese refugees landed in the peninsula. They were confined to Pulau Bidong, off the coast of Terengganu. Within two years, they were all deported to other countries. The government was very pro-active.

At about the same time, illegal immigrants from the southern Philippines and Indonesia also started to come to Sabah. Unlike the Vietnamese, they are still in Sabah today. There appears to be double standard in the treatment between the non-Muslim Vietnamese and the mostly Muslim Filipinos and Indonesians.

Malaysia is neither a state party to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951, nor the 1967 Protocol. This being the case, all refugees are treated as illegal immigrants.

All the moves, actions and pronouncements by government leaders have so far not produced the desired results. At one time the government declared an amnesty. It was extended several times so much so that the illegal immigrants did not take it seriously. No review was carried out to assess its effectiveness.

From time to time, you hear of some illegals being arrested and placed in the temporary detention centres. They have now become temporary on a permanent basis. Occasionally you hear of raids and deportations but the number of illegal immigrants appears to increase rather than decrease.

There is no basis to blame the illegal immigrants for being in Sabah. As human beings, they are looking for a better life and opportunities. They have human rights, no more and no less than any Malaysian. Their human rights must be respected. Human rights have no borders.

The question many genuine Sabahans ask is - why are or were they allowed to enter the state illegally and move around with impunity? It is believed that hundreds of thousands of them have been granted citizenship as well as the right to vote, in return for their support for the Umno-dominated BN government.

Former chief minister Yong Teck Lee had to vacate his Likas state assembly seat because he won it in 1999 with the help of phantom voters. Justice Muhammad Kamil Awang said that the 1998 electoral roll for the constituency was illegal, and the election held in March 1999 was null and void. The judge, among others, stated that the evidence adduced represented the tip of an iceberg.

The logical and correct move by the government would have been to rectify the tainted electoral roll. Instead, the Election Act was amended whereby once the electoral roll was gazetted, it cannot be challenged in any court of law. This is bad law and inconsistent with democratic principles.

Why should a responsible government be unwilling to clean a tainted electoral roll if it has no sinister motive?

Flawed RCI report

As the 13th general election was approaching, the government finally announced the establishment of the RCI on Feb 8, 2012, but without the terms of reference. I found this rather odd. It was like putting the horse before the cart.

The terms of reference were announced much later. The eight terms of reference were all investigative and not corrective in nature. The RCI was not assigned the task of identifying the real people responsible for the problem and the action to be taken against them.

Initially, the RCI was given six months to come up with the report. It had been the hope of many Sabahans that the report could be known before the general election. In the event, it was extended for another six months.

The general election took place on May 5, 2013.

The report was submitted to the Agong on May 14 this year. It was finally released in Kota Kinabalu on Dec 3 by the chief secretary to the government. As a civil servant, it was surprising for him to conclude that there is no political motive involved, despite all indications to the contrary. Even the RCI was silent on it. The chief secretary did not back his contention with hard evidence. One gets the impression that he was playing politics.

The public expected the report to be tabled and debated in Parliament.

Despite the reservations shown by many towards the RCI, the evidence adduced from the witnesses had endorsed what many Sabahans have suspected all along but denied by government leaders. What was disclosed by witnesses was not surprising. What is surprising is that the government appeared to be uncaring and insensitive to the welfare and interests of Malaysians in Sabah by placing the interests of foreigners over theirs.

In short, the RCI has cleared the real culprits - the government and political parties - of any wrongdoing. Instead, the RCI pointed the finger at civil servants. This is very surprising. The main function and responsibilities of civil servants is to translate government decisions and policies into action. They operate under the principle of ‘I am your obedient servant’.

Even if they are doing wrong, either deliberately or inadvertently, surely they cannot escape from government notice and attention for over 30 years.

Experience and events also indicate that the government was aware of what was happening. For example, the decision to establish the federal task force was made by the PM himself. I was present when the decision was made. I welcomed the move but I was disappointed that it took about one year just to create the post of the head of the task force. Yet the task force was supposed to resolve the issue once and for all.

That is why I am convinced that the federal government is not serious in solving the problem. There is so much disconnect between declared intention and actual action. It has been said ‘a man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds’.

I believe the task force is still in existence but so is the problem, only bigger and more complex.

In so far as the ‘Projek IC’ is concerned, the RCI concluded that it “probably existed” despite the availability of hard evidence to suggest that it definitely existed. The question of probability should not arise. The existence of ‘Projek IC’ is an open secret to the ordinary Sabahans.

Report not signed

Right-minded Sabahans who were looking for relief and justice would be shocked and disgusted with the report. It is a very disappointing report, to say the least.

It looks odd that in the report the term ‘royal commission of inquiry’ appears, yet on the cover it is being referred to as report of  the 'commission of enquiry'. The chairperson and the commissioners also did not sign the report. Other reports which I have seen are much more dignified.

The RCI agreed with the proposal by the National Registration Department (NRD) workshop to establish a permanent secretariat supported by a management committee on foreigners. It is surprisingly a very short recommendation and not even original.

Only time will tell whether or not this is the last of illegal problems in Sabah following the release of the RCI report and the implementation of its recommendations. In government circle, it is not unusual that when no one is brave enough to take tough decision involving strong political will, a committee would be formed.

That committee, in turn, forms sub-committees. Responsibility is diluted. More often than not, it is taken over by the passage of time.

I am reminded of the story of four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. It ended that Everybody blamed Somebody when actually Nobody asked Anybody.

Finally, you may then ask - what should be done? The illegal immigration issue is a national problem. They should be equally distributed among all the 13 states. It is not fair that Sabah alone shoulder the burden.

Some suggestions

• Illegal entry into Sabah should immediately stop.

• Sabah identification cards should be issued to all genuine Sabahans. Only Sabahans with Sabah ICs should be allowed to vote.

• Names on the electoral rolls without the Sabah ICs should be taken out from the electoral rolls.

Foreigners who obtained ICs illegally should be deported but allowed to return with proper travel documentation if their services are needed.

I realise this will be a massive exercise but it is necessary. A massive problem requires a massive solution. It is the government which made its bed, it must be prepared to lie on it. This is responsibility and accountability.

If the federal government was pro-active right from the beginning by not allowing illegal entry into Sabah, we would not be saddled with this problem today. But it was allowed to happen and continue for more than 30 years. I will not be surprised if many of the illegal immigrants have moved to other parts of the country in search for better opportunities.

Sabah is their entry point into Malaysia and to the rest of the world, courtesy of the federal government.

---

SIMON SIPAUN is former state secretary of Sabah and former Suhakam commissioner. The above speech was given at the Bersih/Pacos forum on the RCI report in Kota Kinabalu on Dec 13.

CM's Office bars Ridhuan Tee from entering S'wak

 

 The Office of the Sarawak Chief Minister has issued a directive prohibiting the entry of academician Dr Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah into the state.

Mohd Ridhuan is scheduled to deliver a religious talk at the Lundu District Mosque in the Tanjung Datu state constituency, about a 30-minute drive from Kuching, at 8pm today.

Chief Minister Adenan Satem (right) is the state assemblyperson for Tanjung Datu.

Sarawak Immigration deputy director Hamfatullah Syawal Hamdan, when contacted by Bernama, confirmed that the Immigration Department had received instructions from the Office of the Chief Minister to bar Mohd Ridhuan from entering the state.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Sarawak Immigration Department said Mohd Ridhuan did not show up at the Kuching International Airport today.

He said he had waited for Mohd Ridhuan, who was scheduled to arrive this morning, but the academician did not come.

A source contacted by Bernama said: “The chief minister is not in favour of the presence of Mohd Ridhuan in Lundu tonight, and had instructed that the event be cancelled.”

Sarawak had previously prohibited the entry of several opposition political party leaders from entering the state, via Kuching and Sibu.

Adenan had said previously that Sarawak was tightening its immigration rules and stepping up the scrutiny of visitors from the peninsula to keep out “extremists, religious bigots and racists”.

- Bernama

Sabah RCI report: Act on it pronto

Kit Siang tells Putrajaya to show the political will to resolve the illegal immigrants issue.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP is pushing for speedy action on the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS), which will be released to the public tomorrow.

In a press statement today, party strongman Lim Kit Siang urged the Cabinet and Barisan Nasional MPs to demand that the Joseph Pairin Review Committee on the RCIIIS recommendations complete its work and publicise its report before the year’s end “so that the new year of 2015 can begin with the serious resolution of the 40-year problem”.

He also urged the Prime Minister to call for an emergency meeting of Parliament in the closing days of 2014 to discuss the issue. He said this would demonstrate the government’s “seriousness and political will” to resolve the problem.

“I do not think I am the only one to have the queasy and sickening feeling that despite the release of the report of the RCIIIS tomorrow, it will be the latest in a merry-go-round passing-the-buck game,” he said.

Lim also told the Chief Secretary to the Government, Ali Hamsa, to ensure that all MPs would be given full sets of the RCIIIS report.

“I have been trying to contact the Chief Secretary or someone in the Prime Minister’s Department to arrange for a set of the RCIIIS Report tomorrow, but to no avail,” he said.

“My staff was pushed from pillar to post from one department to another, as nobody seems to know who is in charge, until finally to be informed that all the three officials involved in the RCIIIS had gone to Kota Kinabalu for the public launch of the report tomorrow.

“This is not a very impressive display of efficiency and competence of the Prime Minister’s Department in Putrajaya, which probably holds the world record as the prime minister’s office in any country with the largest annual budget.”

Govt plays dirty, denies PKR leader entry to Sarawak

PKR’s Tan Poh Lai accuses government of abusing their powers to silence the opposition.

FMT

PETALING JAYA: PKR’s Wanita deputy head Tan Poh Lai has accused the Barisan Nasional-led government of misusing their powers and silencing the voices of the opposition when they denied Wanita Keadilan chief and MP for Ampang, Zuraidah Kamaruddin entry into Sarawak.

In a statement, Tan said, “I urge BN to fight fairly and not misuse or abuse their powers to silence the opposition.

“The people have a right to hear from both sides and make informed decisions themselves.”

Saying this was not the first time Zuraida was denied entry without any explanation, Tan added, “As the Sarawak election approaches, I feel that the BN administration is simply too afraid to allow opposition leaders to meet the people there. There is just too much to cover up.”

Condemning the actions of the Sarawak immigration, Tan also asked when the ban will be lifted including why the ban was instituted in the first place for Zuraida and others from Pakatan Rakyat when they had none nothing wrong.

Ministry looking into claims Sabah Christian students forced to pray under tree

The Labuan Matriculation College in Sabah has been told to probe into claims that Christian students were forced to pray under a tree if they wanted to take part in the Students' Parliament.

Sabah paper, the Daily Express reported on its website today that the Education Ministry had ordered the college to investigate the claims, which included telling the students to wear Muslim headscarves and songkok.

The newspaper reported in its portal that Christian students were not given a place in the college building to meet for prayers and were asked to pray under a tree.

It also said that students had complained about being told to don tudung if they wanted to join the Students' Parliament.

The students' parents were unhappy with these events, it reported.

"The poor students are forced to pray under the sun or tree in the compound. Even then, the security guard would allegedly harass them (students) to hurry up, forcing them to stop even before they can finish praying.

"This is ridiculous, especially when freedom of worship is guaranteed in the Federal Constitution and the nation's leaders keep reiterating this," the Daily Express said.

Quoting a source, the paper also said a Christian lecturer had shown a letter from the Education Department to the Catholic Church of Sabah to the college director, Sawang Amit.

The letter concerned the college's move to stop non-Muslim students from praying inside.

But Swang denied any knowledge of the letter and said that there was no approval from the ministry to allow Christian students to pray inside, the news portal reported.

After failing to get a response from Sawang, the Daily Express contacted Deputy Education Minister I, Datuk Mary Yap Kain Ching, on Friday.

Yap said the claims against the college were serious and the school's officers had been instructed to investigate them.

"We want to ascertain if there is any truth in the allegations. They will report back to me," she was quoted as saying.

The article also caught the attention of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who is the Kota Belud MP.

"This has been happening way too frequent. Normally apology's issued. But enough is enough. Action must be taken against the officers. #LMC," he said on Twitter this afternoon.

Rahman, who actively tweets via the handle @mpkotabelud, also posted a snapshot of the Daily Express' article.

"If this claim is true, immediate action must be taken by MOE (Education Ministry) officers to rectify and not repeat such incident."

The college, according to Daily Express, was also embroiled in a controversy in July 2012 when Christian students from Sabah and Sarawak were pressured to convert to another faith.

It was said three students allegedly converted but it could not be confirmed although a probe into it was called.

In October 2012, Catholic bishops in Sabah jointly signed a letter together with a report from the Sabah Catholic Diocesan Centre, and called for a full probe into allegations of attempts to convert non-Muslims in local institutions of higher education.

The letter was sent to the "highest authorities" with copies addressed to Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, as well as Tan Sri Bernard Dompok and Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili, who were ministers from Sabah at the time.

In December 2012, the Education Ministry met with representatives from the Catholic Diocesan Centre over the matter. – November 29, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/ministry-looking-into-claims-sabah-christian-students-forced-to-pray-under#sthash.FC2bNdFA.dpuf

Passed over for promotions, Sarawak Dayaks seethe at civil service discrimination

 

A list of promotions, purportedly in the Sarawak Road Transport Department, has sparked outrage among Dayak professionals and civil servants in the state over what they see as proof of discrimination against non-Malay Bumiputera in the federal civil service.

The list, which has been posted on a blog and on Facebook, names eight Malay enforcement officers as “berjaya” (successful) in securing promotions from the N27 scale to N32, while three Dayak officers were listed as “simpanan”, or reserve.

To Dayaks – as Sarawak's indigenous people are called – the list confirms what they have felt all along and what has also been noted in the just-released Malaysia Human Development Report 2013 – that discrimination exists within the Bumiputera working in the civil service, with Malays given preference over natives.

The list was posted on November 25 on www.pengerindu.com, a blog on Dayak interests which has a wide following among Ibans, a branch of the Dayak people.

“Dayaks are only qualified to become 'reserves' until when? I fear the 'tsunami of young Dayaks' could undermine the Sarawak government if nothing is done to help the Dayaks," wrote the author of the post, Mr J.

The post, which has been shared on Facebook, drew sarcastic and angry comments, such as Mijin Asong's, whose original posting in the Iban language translates to "Pity us Ibans to be listed like that... this is clearly religious nepotism".

Another Facebook user, Cobbold John, said Dayaks were "pemain simpanan (reserve players)”, while one called Ribi Rayang said: “That is the reality".

She also joked that the abbreviation "AK" for "anak", (or son or daughter of in traditional Dayak names) actually stood for "Awak Kemudian (you later)".

Civil service recruitment

The Ibans, the largest Dayak ethnic group, make up about 60% of Sarawak's population. Chinese are 25.4% and Malays 22.2%.

The Malaysia Human Development Report, however, showed that federal civil service departments had hired Sabah and Sarawak Bumiputera at "lower than their population share".

In 2009, 6.5% of Bumiputera from Sabah, or 2,170, and 4.9% from Sarawak, or 1,631, were hired in federal departments, the report said, citing statistics from the Implementation and Coordination Unit in the Prime Minister's Department.

This was lower than their population share at 11% for Sabah and 8.7% for Sarawak.

In the earlier years of the New Economic Policy (NEP) from 1970 and 1985, three quarters of new public service jobs went to Malays, with top positions going to Malays, the report added.

“Among bureaucrats holding the most senior government posts, 80% were Malays and 6.3% were Chinese.

“While there is no data available for Sarawak and Sabah (for that period), an examination of the list of senior government officers in the state and statutory bodies reveals a similar trend.

“It is only in the police, armed forces and resident/district offices do we see a better representation of other ethnic groups.

“It is safe to say that very little has changed since the NEP period,” stated the report, which was commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme.

By 2005, data as of June that year showed that "Other Bumiputera" – the term used by the government to denote non-Malay, non-Muslim Bumiputera – only made up 7.8% of the civil service.

Malays, meanwhile, had the highest portion at 77.04%.

But the report also acknowledged that steps had been taken to increase the non-Malay Bumiputera representation in the civil service, and that there had been an increase in recent years.

"Emphasis in the future, now should now aim to strengthen representation at the management and professional levels," it said, warning that if not addressed, such imbalances could lead to "increased racial polarisation and perceived discrimination in our civil service".

In 2012, figures from the Public Service Department showed that there were 1.36 million civil servants, of whom 88.9% or 1.2 million were Bumiputera, but this was not broken down into Malay and non-Malay Bumiputera.

Keeping to the Malaysia Agreement

Despite the acknowledged increase, the effect on the ground has not been fully felt.

Sarawak's outspoken minister, Tan Sri Dr James Masing said the NEP, which was meant to give priority to Bumiputeras in the civil service, had failed to include non-Malay Bumiputera.

“When the NEP was created, it was done with the correct and noble intention. It was to give Bumiputera, the most disadvantaged group in Malaysia at that time, a launch pad to move forward.”

The federal government has also neglected its promise under the Malaysia Agreement to ensure that Sabah and Sarawak natives take charge of the federal civil service in their states, he added.

"If we consider the promised Borneonisation of the Sarawak civil service, then Dayak communities get a raw deal.

"Dayaks deserve more. We have the numbers. We have the necessary qualifications. The federal civil service mustn't marginalise us in civil service recruitment," Masing told The Malaysian Insider.

"Borneonisation" of the public service refers to the point in Sabah and Sarawak's agreement at the formation of Malaysia that indigenous people from these states would be appropriately represented in the civil service.

PKR's Ali Biju, the assemblyman for Saratok, agreed that Putrajaya ought to uphold this point in the Malaysia Agreement.

“It seems to have ended as the Malay-nisation of the civil service," Ali said.

Ali, an Iban, said young Dayak professionals and graduates “felt marginalised”, and the posting of the promotions list, as well as the Malaysia Human Development Report, have only served to confirm the Dayaks' suspicions that such discrimination had been happening.

“We have long suspected it and we believe it is happening at all levels of the civil service, from the top to the lowly jobs.

“We are the largest ethnic group in the state and the number of Dayaks in the federal civil service does not reflect that," he said.

Masing, meanwhile, urged Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun to ensure that more Sabah and Sarawak natives were not only recruited into the public service but given higher posts according to their capabilities. Entulu is the MP for Selangau, in Sarawak.

"The Public Service Department is under his ministerial purview... it is my hope that he will look at recruitment along these lines to remedy the imbalance," Masing said. – November 30, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/passed-over-for-promotions-sarawak-dayaks-seethe-at-civil-service-discrimin#sthash.qV3Dx1b6.dpuf

All ‘Sabah, Sarawak Keluar Malaysia’ NGOs banned

The Registrar of Societies (RoS) has gazetted the NGOs concerned as unlawful.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: Home Minister Zahid Hamid declared on Thursday that all Sabah Sarawak movements involved in getting the two Borneo states out of the Federation with the peninsula would be declared unlawful with immediate effect.

Zahid said the declaration follows Umno President and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak saying that the Sedition Act would be retained and strengthened with two key aspects including one on taking action against anyone instigating Sabah and Sarawak to leave the Federation. The other point is on Islam.

The Home Ministry, stressed Zahid, has taken steps against the NGOs concerned.

“The Registrar of Societies (RoS) has gazetted the NGOs concerned as unlawful,” said Zahid on the sidelines of the Umno General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

If the Sedition Act is strengthened on the two aspects, continued Zahid, the police would take the necessary action against those flouting the law.

Najib, predictably, played to the gallery at the Umno General Assembly when he pledged that the infamous Sedition Act 1948, introduced by the British but abolished in the United Kingdom, will be retained and indeed strengthened.

He had promised, not once but thrice so far, that the Sedition Act will be abolished, the last time being on cable television in London.

In a contradiction in terms, elsewhere, he pledged that all promises made will be kept so that the people will know that the ruling Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) is a party that keeps its promises.

The meet broke twice into visual images of the reformasi movement and the Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia movement. Activist Hishammudin Rais and Doris Jones of Sabah featured prominently.

However, he did put in a caveat: any action taken must be fair.

The Sedition Act, under its second prong, allows for legitimate criticisms of government mistakes.

The general criticism against the Sedition Act is that it circumvents the Federal Constitution and strips the right to free speech. The Act is being challenged in the Federal Court, sitting as the Constitutional Court.

It’s likely that Putrajaya will wait for the outcome in the Constitutional Court before deciding what to do on the Sedition Act.

Respect and engage

Azmi Sharom, The Star

IN Parliament on Monday, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Wan Jaafar had reportedly brushed aside Kuching MP Chong Chien Jien’s queries about secessionist activities in Sabah and Sarawak.

The Minister was supposed to have said that the number of such people consist of frustrated ex-politicians and is small and insignificant.

He backed this up by saying his “intelligence” (meaning sources) told him so.

Ah, the famous; “I know better than you because I have all the information” argument.

It is such an irritating argument because they never actually tell us anything about their “superior” knowledge and intelligence so there is no way of verifying its validity.

Be that as it may let us put aside that galling old tactic so favoured by those in power for a moment.

The Minister also says that there will be efforts made by the Government to try to extradite those calling for secession from overseas.

From his remarks, it appears that the country where these secessionists are operating from is Britain.

I presume that if the Government is successful (which I doubt as Britain generally does not extradite people for political reasons), then they will be punished using one of the myriad laws we have for such purposes.

Let me make myself crystal clear at this point; I do not want to see a break up of Malaysia.

I do not want to see any state going off on their own.

This is not based on any legal obligation, it is purely emotional.

I will be sad to see this odd amalgam of states, each with its own distinct dialect, culture and personality drift apart.

But I also think that being dismissive and high-handed is not the way to keep us together.

Actually it can be totally counterproductive.

The fact of the matter is that there are those calling for the secession of Sabah and Sarawak.

Whether they are small or big, what has to happen is that there must be engagement; not brushing them aside and not punishing them.

Look, Sabahans and Sarawakians have grievances.

On record, there has been much unhappiness regarding issues such as Project IC; the sense that their wealth goes mainly to the peninsula; the fear that the extremism blooming in the West is going to infect their cherished culture of acceptance and openness; and the list goes on.

Groups and individuals who are unhappy with the way things are, who think that the Malaysia Agreement has not been respected, must be engaged.

If they are deemed illegal and driven underground, this makes civil discussions difficult, if not impossible.

Worse, it will convince some that they have a case because why would you try to shut up a group with differing views unless it is because you can’t provide convincing counter arguments?

These grievances must be discussed openly and solutions must be found and if mistakes have been made in the past, then they must be admitted to and apologies tendered coupled with clear efforts at rectifying said mistakes.

This will require honesty and also humility.

Anything less is simply not good enough.

If one goes into this waving one’s big bad law, threatening people who disagree with you and acting in a generally arrogant manner, one will only be making things worse.

Sarawak labeled as ” ground zero of deforestation’

NGO calls for replacement of top officials in Sarawak "who should have dealt with these problems a long time ago but failed to do so"

FMT

KUCHING: The Swiss-based Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) has called on the Sarawak Government in a statement to establish a Green Task Force “to deal with the urgent problems of corruption in the timber industry, deforestation and the loss of biodiversity”.

The Task Force, adds the NGO, should see the replacement of the top officials in Sarawak “who should have dealt with these problems a long time ago but failed to do so”.

The BMF call for the Task Force follows two events on November 17.

REDD-Monitor, an international body based in Frankfurt, Germany, labeled Sarawak as “ground zero of deforestation”.

November 17 is also the day that Chief Minister Adenan Satem apparently publicly humiliated the Big Six in the Sarawak timber industry by getting them to sign a Corporate Integrity Pledge worked out by the Malaysian Integrity Institute.

“This must have been bitter for Sarawak’s timber giants who have earned billions of dollars under Adenan’s predecessor, the notorious Taib Mahmud,” said the BMF statement.

While Adenan has since qualified the strong words he reportedly used in the presence of the Big Six and journalists, notes BMF, he did reiterate that corruption and illegal logging in Sarawak were “very serious“ and that Sarawak needed more protected forest areas.

Adenan reportedly told the heads of Rimbunan Hijau, Samling, Shin Yang, WTK, KTS and Ta Ann . . . “I will put the fear of God into people who are dishonest”, “don’t mess with me”, “I mean business” etc and/or words to that effect. The Chief Minister clarified the next day that the harsh words were actually meant for those working with the Big Six, the lesser mortals, and others in the Sarawak Government, not the heads of the Big Six.

“While the Bruno Manser Fund commends the new Chief Minister’s resolve to fight corruption and combat illegal logging, pledges alone will not be enough to save Sarawak’s’ threatened old-growth forests, which have been reduced to less than ten per cent of the state’s surface,” said the BMF statement.

The NGO called on Adenan to seriously consider, as among Task Force initiatives, an export ban like that imposed by Myanmar and Gabon on raw logs.

Among other measures, it advocates freezing of timber concessions over high-conservation value forests, the publishing of all forestry and plantation concessions in order to create transparency, as well as a comprehensive review of indigenous communities’ claims over forests in the light of the latest court decisions on native rights.

“It appears particularly important that indigenous communities who wish to protect their native lands from being logged or converted into plantations, should be allowed to do so without restraints,” said BMF.

It cited the proposed “Penan Peace Park”, a model that integrates forest protection with socio-economic development in Upper Baram, as a case in point.