Tong Tana December 1999 - Bruno Manser Fonds

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Sarawak - Malaysia 8 Tragic turn of events in the conflict between indigenous people and state-owned plantation companies “The land is our blood, our breath, our life” jk – The inhabitants of the Iban longhouses of Busang and Bali were shocked to discover on June 19th of this year that bulldozers of the Sarawak Oil Palm Bhd (SOP) were destroying their rubber trees, their fruit orchards and their crop fields in order to plant a palm oil plantation. As the Iban erected an altar according to their tradition to hold a “Miring” ritual to beg forgiveness from the spirits for this desecration, the construction work on the terrain was stopped. The 43 families with 300 members – according to the prevailing laws the rightful owners of the land – protested immediately against these illegal dealings to the responsible instances, seeking talks with the company and the government – without success. On July 3rd the villagers discovered that six bulldozers operating simultaneously had started work again. At a press conference on July 5th they requested the SOP to respect their land rights and to pay for the damage they had caused – to no avail. When the “Miring” altar was forcefully destroyed on July 10 the villagers became so agitated that work was stopped; the next day the bulldozers were already at work once more. In desperation five representatives of the two longhouses travelled on July 30 to Kuching to personally present their problems to the Chief Minister Taib Mahmud – he did not receive them. In August alone 7 charges were submitted to the police. They personally reported to the police chief that a gang recruited by the company was threatening them with Samurai swords, rattan pipes and other weapons in order to force them to give up their land – a practice which not even the state will shrink from doing; the government of Sarawak is, apart from the Shin Yang Company (see below in “Arsonists...”) the main shareholder of the SOP. The police undertook nothing. All efforts of both longhouses to protect their property were thwarted. As the Iban demanded the SOP company to immediately stop their bulldozers on September 1, they were attacked by the armed bandits, resulting in a clash with serious consequences. Four of the SOP employees were mortally wounded. Only then did the police become active and arrested 19 indigenous men of 17 to 60 years of age. The charge is murder, the accused can expect the death penalty. The trial is expected to take place on December 16. At the beginning of October the first “Gawai Kelingkang” was held near Rumah Busang for over 50 years. This Iban ritual lasting several days asks the tribal and warrior spirits for support in the coming battle against the Sarawak Oil Palm Bhd. In order to receive the protection of the spirits dances for raising the spirits were held, offerings were brought and several human skulls from former head-hunting days were presented. Various chiefs as well as relatives of the imprisoned spoke to the gathered crowd, “We are all sad that both our chiefs are in prison and not present at this Gawai. We do not want blood to be shed on our land. But our government did not help us, it also never helped all the other indigenous people of Sarawak whose land was stolen.” Great is the rage and grief in Rumah Busang and Rumah Bali; only the 5 year-old granddaughter of the chief does not yet understand the price her grandfather may have to pay for defending the land wich one day will be hers. Source: Rengah Sarawak October 12, 1999 Iban-Warrior Sarawak’s indigenous peoples on the web jk – The web is valuable, especially in countries with a censored press such as Malaysia. At http://www.rengah.c2o.org, the voices of the indigenous peoples of Sarawak can now be heard worldwide – the site is warmly recommended to everyone!
Arson in Sarawak I jk – The forest fires in Borneo were fortunately not a topic this year. It was actually good luck that there was no continuation of the conflagrations but the forest did burn like it did in the past two years, only the rainy season began on time and quenched the fires that were set on purpose before a blanket of smoke could cover SE Asia. The plantation industry continues to use the illegal slash-and-burn methods to claim land, as the highest authorities for the environment in Malaysia stated in August: with the help of satellite pictures 11 companies in the plantation business could be arrested. The guilty also included the notorious Samling Company and the Shin Yang Company. Both originated in the logging industry and are now diversifying in the palm oil business. As the interconnection of the government and the economy were only exposed by chance, it is not surprising that Malaysia also did not publish its air pollution data this summer (reason: tourists should not be deterred) and also that no legal proceedings have yet been initiated against the 11 companies. Compared to the method of preparing the ground without using fire (US$ 200/ha), burning the forest is so cheap (US$ 0.0004/ha) that the next catastrophe is pre-programmed. Source: Rengah Sarawak, August 25,1999 9 Timber industry in Sarawak – who’s making a profit jk – As the Sarawak Forest Department reported at the beginning of October, 70% of the approx. 120,000 jobs in Sarawak’s timber industry are held by foreigners. According to the Sarawak Timber Association STA they prefer foreigners because they work more reliable and cheaper than their own people. Further investigations would be necessary in order to find out why the relationship of the indigenous people and the logging industry was so poor, the STA also stated. The BMF will gladly make its archives available if those who are responsible really want to find out why nobody saws off the branch they are sitting on! Correction: Forestry in Sarawak jk – Two mistakes occurred in our report of the talk with Prof. Dr. Brünig in the last newsletter of September 1999. “The elusive issues of social justice and customary or statutory rights of land and resource ownership remained outside the concern of Samling Co.. The co-operation with GTZ effected little change.” was a remark made by our editors and should have been marked as such! We apologize to Prof. Brünig for this omission; unfortunately nothing has changed in the meantime as to the truth of the statement. Furthermore the photo that was shown does not depict the Alan-peat bog forest but a mixed forest of peat bog- Ramin, with a giant Ramin in the center. The Alan-peat bog forest is shown here instead (Ed. Tong Tana). Alan-peat bog forest: if the canopy would be left intact, e.g. by application of strip-shelterwoodsystem, sustainable forestry would be possible using careful cutting and transportation/extraction techniques, thinks Prof. Brünig. Malaysian forestry experts in Cameroon bm – After the Malaysian Company WTK turned the lands of several Penan tribes into a battlefield they now export their expertise in “exploitation” to Africa – for want of resources in their own country. During a control tour through a WTK concession area in Djoum in Cameroon 388 abandoned tree trunks with a total volume of 1703 m 3 were found: they were either illegally felled or of unsatisfactory quality. Source: Bubinga, October 1999.
Page 1 and 2: January 2000 Newsletter on rainfore
Page 3 and 4: Sarawak - Malaysia Taib Mahmud - Ch
Page 5 and 6: Proposed Biosphere Area in Eastern
Page 7: Mutang Urud meeting in Malaysia, he
Page 11 and 12: Switzerland Derborence Sion A virgi
Page 13 and 14: With disdain! Arson in the rainfore
Page 15 and 16: BMF Internal Where have the poison

Tong Tana December 1999 - Bruno Manser Fonds

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