18 September 2007
MEDIA RELEASE, BRUNO MANSER FONDS, BASEL / SWITZERLAND
“Give us your forest – and we’ll give you a water
pipe.”
Logging giant, Samling Global, justifies the use of force
against indigenous communities in Sarawak’s last primeval rainforests.
Samling Global Ltd., the Malaysian multinational logging
corporation, for the first time acknowledges that it is having recourse to
force against indigenous Penan communities in order to get hold of timber
resources in a forest concession certified for “sustainable” logging by the
Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC).
“Unfortunately, despite positive negotiations, a few members of
the Long Benali community continued erecting blockades to assert their claims
over land and forest areas. These blockades were subsequently dismantled by the
authorities,” Samling writes in a media statement released on 13 September
2007. According to the company, it has been appointed by the Sarawak state
government to lead a task force “to attain cooperation of Long Benali”.
The land occupied by the Long Benali community in Borneo’s Upper
Baram region is a key access point to one of the last tracts of primeval
rainforest in the East Malaysian state of Sarawak. For more than twenty years,
the Penan have resorted to peaceful blockades of logging roads to prevent the
logging companies from depleting their source of livelihood. Since 1998, the
Penan have been waiting for the local courts to hear a case they filed against
Samling and the State of Sarawak, in which they claim native customary rights
over their traditional lands deep in the jungles of Borneo.
It came as a shock to the Penan when they learned in January
2005 that the MTCC had awarded Samling a certificate for “sustainable” logging
of their last remaining virgin jungles. More than 600 Penan immediately sent a
protest letter to the MTCC, saying that the certification had been issued
without their informed consent, and the elected headmen of eight Penan
communities launched a formal appeal against the certification.
In spite of all this opposition, Samling has continued with its
encroachments into the Penan rainforests with the blessing of the MTCC and
asked the security forces to clear a blockade of a logging road near Long
Benali on 7 February 2007 – five days before the Malaysian Government
signed the “Heart of Borneo Declaration”, in which it has committed itself to
conserving the biodiversity of the Bornean jungles, together with neighbouring
Brunei and Indonesia.
In its recent media release, Samling states that Long Benali was
given water pipes “to trunk clean water to the village”. However, the company
fails to mention that the village declined to accept this “gift” from Samling,
whose logging activities are the main reason for the pollution of drinking-water
supplies in the Upper Baram region.
There may be “voluntary gifts” to the Penan from the company,
but when it comes to the question of rights, Samling makes its standpoint
unmistakeably clear. “The Penan have no rights to the forest,” said Samling
executive James Ho in an interview recently broadcast on Swiss television.
Moreover, Samling’s army of lawyers are actively working to prevent them from
obtaining any rights to the forests they have lived in for centuries.
What you can do:
- PLEASE NOTE THAT PERSONAL LETTERS AND FAXES ARE MORE EFFECTIVE
THAN E-MAILS IN SUCH A CAMPAIGN -
1) Write a polite personal letter to the CEO of the Malaysian
Timber Certification Council, asking him to revoke the certification of
Samling’s Sela’an-Linau Forest Management Unit:
Malaysian Timber Certification Council,
Mr. Chew Lye Teng,
Chief Executive Officer,
19F, Level 19, Tower 1 Menara PGM
No. 8, Jalan Pudu Ulu, Cheras,
56100 Kuala Lumpur
MALAYSIA
FAX: +60 3 9200 6008
E-mail: chewlt@mtcc.com.my
2) Write a polite personal letter to the international banks
which sponsored Samling’s public listing in March 2007, asking them to stop
supporting Samling and to pay back the profits of the Samling public listing to
the indigenous communities whose forest is being destroyed by Samling:
Credit Suisse Group
Mr. Walter Kielholz, Chairman
Paradeplatz 8
8070 Zurich
Switzerland
FAX: +41 44 333 56 79
E-Mail: walter.kielholz@credit-suisse.com
HSBC Holdings plc
Mr. Michael F Geoghegan
Group Chief Executive
Level 41, 8 Canada Square
London E14 5HQ
United Kingdom
FAX: +44 20 7992 4623
E-Mail: michaelgeoghegan@hsbc.com
Macquarie Group
Mr. Allan E. Moss
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
No. 1 Martin Place
Sydney NSW 2000
AUSTRALIA
Fax: +61 28232 3350
E-mail: allanemoss@macquarie.com
3) Write a polite personal letter to the Malaysian Prime
Minister, Abdullah Badawi, congratulating him on his recent statement that
Malaysia’s remaining rainforests ought to be protected and asking him to ensure
the recognition of the Penan's rights to their forests in Sarawak.
Dato' Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi,
Prime Minister of Malaysia
Perdana Putra Building
62505 Putrayaja
MALAYSIA
FAX: +60 3 8888 3444
E-mail: ppm@pmo.gov.my
4) Write a polite personal letter to the Samling management,
asking the company to recognise the Penan’s rights to the forests and to stop
logging Sarawak’s last remaining primeval forests.
Wisma Samling Head Office
Mr. Yaw Chee Ming
Chief Executive Officer
Lot 296, Jalan Temenggong Datuk Oyong Lawai Jau
98000 Miri, Sarawak
MALAYSIA
E-Mail: enquiry@samling.com
For more information, please contact us:
Bruno Manser Fonds
for the Peoples of the Rainforest
Heuberg 25
4051 Basel
SWITZERLAND
Tel. +41 61 261 94 74