When will BN stop raping Sarawak?

This was posted 28 January 2009. On the eve of the Sarawak elections, I dedicate this reposting to the beautiful, free peoples of Sarawak. To the victory of the people!More landslide losses for UMNO ahead? (Pic courtesy of Michael Chick)

LOGGING OPERATIONS CAUSE DEADLY LANDSLIDES

Tony Thien | Jan 28, 09 11:11am

The landslide in Upper Limbang in northern Sarawak that caused the death of three people and injured seven others is a direct consequence of destructive logging practices, according a Swiss-based NGO, Bruno Manser Fund (BMF).

The landslide is the third in just over a week in Sarawak. On January 16, a landslide killed two workers at a petrol station near the city of Miri in northern Sarawak.

Last Wednesday, a landslide severed a section of the Pan-Borneo trunk road near Bintulu, causing hundreds of vehicles to be stranded for hours.

The most recent incident involving three people killed and seven others injured occurred at a timber camp in the Upper Limbang region of Sarawak, BMF said in a statement to Malaysiakini today.

It quoted Bernama as saying the dead were identified as two Filipinos and a Malaysian who worked for a local timber company.

“Research by the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) has shown that the landslide took place near Long Sebayang on the upper reaches of the Limbang river,” BMF said.


Logging in the area, which is claimed by the local Penan and Kelabit communities, has been controversial since the mid-1980s when locals set up a number of blockades on logging roads to prevent the timber companies from encroaching into their rainforests, it added.

The Bruno Manser Fund said logging interests in the area used to be closely linked to James Wong, Sarawak's former minister of the environment.


It added: “Logging operations near Long Sebayang are currently being carried out by Lee Ling Timber, a company with its headquarters in Limbang.”

Further upriver, a second company, Samling, extracts timber on a large scale. Both companies have plans to convert large natural forest areas into tree plantations, which is likely to cause further environmental destruction.

[Images courtesy of Bruno Manser Fonds, Malaysiakini & Michael Chick]

BRUNO MANSER: Tribute to an Ecowarrior

Remember the euphoria... post GE12!

Three years ago today the nation almost voted Barisan Najis OUT!

Had it not been for the large numbers of voters in Sabah and Sarawak who continued voting for the devil they know - not to mention the usual gerrymandering, outright bribery, and vote rigging - Malaysia would have found herself liberated from over 50 years of progressively more corrupt and arrogant misrule.

Think about the glorious feeling so many of us experienced on 9 March 2008, when we awoke to a brand new day in Malaysia - with the prospect of a fresh new government just within sight - one that would be responsive to what the people desire, not what a small handful of plutocratic families dictate.

Think hard about it when you next go out and cast your vote!

Here's to a walloping victory, Zaid!

Going to cast my vote in a few minutes... for ZAID IBRAHIM!

Confessions of a Fence Sitter

From here on, I surrender my neutrality

Goh Keat Peng
March 4, 2010
7:37pm

Of all the places one can think of, the fence must be about the most uncomfortable place on earth to sit (or perch) on. To sit on the fence for a while may be alright but certainly not for long. Fences will poke and scratch us on the most tender parts of the human body. Sooner than later, you will find it better to get off the fence and take your rightful place on firm ground.

It is for me to decide to get myself off the fence. Getting off the fence constitutes a conscious decision on my part as an adult person where I wish to place myself, that is, on which side of the fence I wish to be on. That is a decision I make for myself. Nobody can or should do this on my behalf.

Likewise, it is for others to decide to stay on the fence or when to get themselves down from their respective fences and when they finally do, to decide which side of the fence will best reflect their own views about life. That is each person's human right, each person's freedom to choose when to get off and on which side they wish to place their feet.

As for me, in the present context wherein we as a nation have found ourselves in, quite clearly despite its very human imperfections, Pakatan Rakyat's stand on all the critically vital issues of grave national concern - press freedom, usage of the world 'Allah', the judiciary, ISA, local government, civil service, police, MACC, '1Malaysia', gender, religious, ethnic and cultural issues, elections laws and practices, economic policies, etc, most certainly reflects most closely my own political aspirations and vision for the nation.

I constantly remind myself (and am reminded) that as and when Pakatan forms the federal government, it may not (probably will not) be able to resolve fifty-plus years of abuse and anomaly. As is clearly evident at the state level, the civil service for one is not always cooperative or open to change and reform.

Be that as it may, I am satisfied that in the main, the Pakatan agenda for institutional change and reform is by far to be preferred than more of the same. Quite honestly, speaking for myself, despite the rhetoric, sloganeering and even good intentions on the part of some in the present administration, more of the same is not tenable and in my opinion, disastrous for the nation and its people.

Yes, in choosing to go with the Pakatan I could arguably be bluffed by them once they form the federal government. But you know what? For me, it is better to be bluffed once if it comes to that than to let the bluff of fifty plus years continue.

If anything, the Malaysia I see today is far worse than my Malaysia during my schooldays some forty-five years ago. The intensity of the abuse of the resources and the institutions of state is indescribable, unfathomable, despicable and contemptible.


No amount of semantics and spinning can make such vast scale wrongdoing become sensible or acceptable or good by any definition or yardstick.

A country of such rich resources, human and inanimate, could and should have made our nation world-class. My nation, Malaysia, has instead become a country of missed opportunities and unfulfilled triumph. If we the people allow things to go on as it is, our children and grandchildren will live in a terrible and horrible cultural environment of disrespect and intolerance in a climate of fear and distrust.

My prayer and aspiration is for the nation politically to evolve a two-party or coalition system of governance whereby there is no monopoly or iron-clad dominance of political power but that each side would be given a fair chance to compete thus making reform and desirable change a constant need within each of the parties and coalitions. Democratic elections is when either side has a fair and equal chance to win office.

Is this the smelly end of BN?

Therefore, today, when several individuals for reasons best known to themselves leave the party and badmouth the party, etc, I as a free individual person would like the world to know that I am here and now choosing to identify and state in an unequivocal manner my support and re-commitment to PKR and Pakatan.

I feel and think that Pakatan, for the grave political risks it has taken and the resolve it has, deserves my vote and my energies. I hope that for every departure, there will be many more arrivals to the cause of needed change.

From here on in my journey in life, I give up my non-partisan stance. I surrender my neutrality. That does not mean that I shall cease to be fair and reasonable to anyone regardless of his or her political association.

That does not mean that I shall just simply shout out abuse or whatever at anybody or rush to condemn persons or their roles and initiatives. That does not mean that I will be blind to wrong and silent to abuse wherever it is found. That does not mean I won't listen to or be corrected by persons on the other side of the political divide.

There is a cost to my decision, however, a price to pay. In making my choice, to be fair, I am hereby withdrawing my association from any group or body where political non-partisanship is necessary. As for me, I have made my choice.

Two good reads from Free Malaysia Today...

BN shows how bankrupt it is of strategies

The lacklustre Hobson’s choice premier Mohammed Najib Tun Abdul Razak, who has been struggling to be taken seriously and continues to struggle mostly, in vain, to try and restore the dwindling fortunes of his party, is behaving like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a fast approaching vehicle.

[Read the rest here.]


Bad omens and political quakes

The year of the Tiger, according to Chinese soothsayers, does not augur well for the premier, who was born on July 23, 1953, the year of the snake. Astrologers say the Snake and the Tiger aren’t pals. For the snake the “DNA for 2010 is poor people relations, poor health and poor luck.” The Tiger of 2010 is “the year to trigger any possible unfortunate event.”

[Read the rest here.]

Mei's excellent letter to Malaysiakini

This letter from a Malaysiakini subscriber named Mei was published August 7th, 2009. I think it deservcs as wide an audience as possible...


POLITICS OF FEAR WON'T WORK ANYMORE

I read with utter disgust that the BN government is considering net censorship. Isn't this absolutely contrary to the commitment that Mahathir gave when he was trying to lure investors into the MMSC?

The man is not even dead and you are telling me that his word is not even worth the paper he has put his pen to? And why? Because we cannot have full-blown democracy?

Look, you are either a democracy or you are not - you cannot do democracy half-way. If you are a dictator, or aspiring to take the country to such lows, at least have the guts to admit that and not hide behind rubbish like we need to be protected from ourselves.

We are 52 years old, not 12! If the memory of the bloody 1969 racial riots WAS strong in Malaysia, it is because the BN government wanted it that way, they deliberately kept it that way and milked it for as long as they could.

They encouraged the rakyat to remain fearful and mystified because they know that in making the facts known, they will not be able to hold it over the rakyat any more.

I grew up in the midst of the "riots" and whilst I remember them and I know of families who have lost family members, the fear lingered only for as long as the facts behind them remained unknown.

Now that the mystery has been removed, a lot of that fear is gone and I'm better able to relate to and learn from it - you fear the unknown, you learn to deal with the known.

The need to preserve peace between the races commonly invoked by the government? It is the government that is driving the wedge between the races.

I spent my childhood under a government whom, I think, really had the good of the nation at heart, under leaders who really did love us, and the country, in a way.

I grew up in the era where we - my Malay, Indian and Chinese friends - were truly friends and we did things together, we lived together, we played together, we ran the hills together, we snatched at fallen durians together, we ate together, albeit from our different plates because we knew enough about each other to be aware of and respect our differences, and we were not pre-occupied with looking for these but rather our commonalities and most of all, we did not spend the days tottering at the edge of suspicion and always trying to second-guess each other.


The country must survive? Aren't BN getting a little presumptuous here? This has nothing to do with the survival of the country but everything to do with the survival of BN and the BN is NOT the country!


The country will survive, there will be life after BN - probably a better one than what we have now and if we don't give it a go, we would never know, would we?

"The rakyat has lost faith in the BN."

Malaysiakini readers respond to Najib's announcement of a Royal Commission of Inquiry on MACC interrogation methods and a Court Inquest into the "sudden death" of Teoh Beng Hock...

What is the PM's role in this 'witch-hunt'?
July 24, 09 12:56pm

On Cabinet approves royal commission:

GH Kok: The cabinet has finally agreed to set up the royal commission of inquiry. However, as I have expected, the terms of reference of the commission falls far short of what is needed.

As reported in the media, the royal commission is to "look into the MACC's investigative procedures and to determine if there were any human rights violations when Teoh was being interrogated." Well, this is the very least that the royal commission should do but this is surely not enough!

We want to know who gave the instruction to the MACC to launch a witch-hunt against the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government that triggered a chain of events that led to the torture and death of Teoh Beng Hock.

We know that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission reports directly to Prime Minister Najib. We want to know what role the prime minister played in this witch-hunt.

We want the head of MACC to take the stand and answer these questions: who instructed him to start hounding the seven Pakatan Rakyat Aduns (state reps)? What instructions did they give him? What did they ask him to do? What did they ask him to find or fabricate as the case may be? What compelled him to order his officers to raid the Aduns service centres, take away files from the district offices, pull up mosque officials in Puchong for questioning, interrogate for eight hours a Kajang municipal councillor, interrogate an Adun's assistant for four hours, and finally cause the death of a courageous young man?

We, the people, want to know the truth. We want to hold the person, at the top of the chain of command, fully responsible for this entire witch-hunt. If it is necessary in order for us to get to the top person responsible, we should offer some immunity to those at the bottom who willingly provide us with the information.

The offer is open. It will not be over until it's over ... royal commission or not!

Richard Teo: Umno's exit from the seat of power has been expedited. This will be BN's last walk in the corridors of power. The events of the last few days have taken a pivotal turn and Najib could be the shortest-term Umno president to be the prime minister of Malaysia. Thanks to MACC which made all this possible. The groundswell of anger and bitterness at the institution which acted in a manner to topple the Pakatan Rakyat government was overwhelming.

People who have unwaveringly supported the BN government have now decided at last that we need a change in order to reform. It has become obvious that BN's 50 years of being in the government has corrupted all the institutions which form the pillars of a democratic nation.

Finally, the act that MACC did was an act that will finally nail the coffin of the BN. The only way BN can reform is to exit from the seat of power and to spend sometime to reflect on its past mistakes. And with some wisdom and past experience, maybe it can make a comeback at some later date. Farewell BN. We expected you to go after March 8, but we didn't expect it to be so soon.

A Concerned Malaysian: I think the people of Malaysia want JUSTICE to be done to be done for the late Teoh Beng Hock and not a mockery.

I seriously hope that the government will re-examine the royal commission's terms of reference. Although we may have not known Teoh but as a human person who has feelings, we feel very much for what has happened. People all around are very angry and unhappy with what is happening in Malaysia not just in Teoh's case but also in the case of Kugan where justice was not done.

The rakyat has lost faith in the BN. We hope that all those who have been responsible in the death of Teoh will be brought to justice.

JR Lee: Most Malaysians waited patiently for the cabinet to announce the setting up a royal commission to investigate, inter-alia, the death of Teoh Beng Hock. But we were shocked when the cabinet announced that the death of Teoh will not be investigated by the royal commission but only by an inquest headed by a magistrate, a very much lower authority.

Why the discrepancy? Why Teoh's death is not investigated by the royal commission? This is typical of a conspiracy to cover-up. It is definitely against the 1Malaysia principle of 'People First, Performance Now' promulgated by the PM.

It is blatantly clear that it is not 'People First' as Malaysians seeking for the truth wants Teoh's death investigated by the royal commission and the cabinet is also not performing what Malaysians expecting them to do.

The PM is not walking the talk, he is talking more of his walk and expect all Malaysian to believe him!

Bear in mind that Teoh was only a witness to an alleged crime and he lost his life in the hands of MACC. Just imagine if he was a suspect to an alleged crime.

Adcin: The royal commission announced by Najib may on the surface of it look like a smart move by our leader. It buys time for the government and it hopes that the public will move on and pass it all off as some unfortunate accident, when the anger subsides.

The experience of the royal commission on the Lingam tapes must have given heart to them. Except for some jokes at Lingam's expense and a ring tone composed in his honour, absolutely nothing of substance was ultimately achieved.

However they did not realise that they lost a lot of public confidence and in the end votes in the general election.

There will be no jokes this time for Teoh's commission, and the longer it drags on, the worse the effect will be on the government. There are no points that can be won or made for the MACC and their masters. The royal commission may buy some time and even protect some parties, but in reality it is a slow death for Najib and his BN.

We should be happy because all it needed was for Najib to cut to the chase, apprehend and castigate the offenders and revamp the MACC to be more accountable and transparent.

When will BN stop raping Sarawak?

More landslide losses for UMNO ahead? (Pic courtesy of Michael Chick)

LOGGING OPERATIONS CAUSE DEADLY LANDSLIDES

Tony Thien | Jan 28, 09 11:11am

The landslide in Upper Limbang in northern Sarawak that caused the death of three people and injured seven others is a direct consequence of destructive logging practices, according a Swiss-based NGO, Bruno Manser Fund (BMF).

The landslide is the third in just over a week in Sarawak. On January 16, a landslide killed two workers at a petrol station near the city of Miri in northern Sarawak.

Last Wednesday, a landslide severed a section of the Pan-Borneo trunk road near Bintulu, causing hundreds of vehicles to be stranded for hours.

The most recent incident involving three people killed and seven others injured occurred at a timber camp in the Upper Limbang region of Sarawak, BMF said in a statement to Malaysiakini today.

It quoted Bernama as saying the dead were identified as two Filipinos and a Malaysian who worked for a local timber company.

“Research by the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) has shown that the landslide took place near Long Sebayang on the upper reaches of the Limbang river,” BMF said.


Logging in the area, which is claimed by the local Penan and Kelabit communities, has been controversial since the mid-1980s when locals set up a number of blockades on logging roads to prevent the timber companies from encroaching into their rainforests, it added.

The Bruno Manser Fund said logging interests in the area used to be closely linked to James Wong, Sarawak's former minister of the environment.


It added: “Logging operations near Long Sebayang are currently being carried out by Lee Ling Timber, a company with its headquarters in Limbang.”

Further upriver, a second company, Samling, extracts timber on a large scale. Both companies have plans to convert large natural forest areas into tree plantations, which is likely to cause further environmental destruction.

[Images courtesy of Bruno Manser Fonds, Malaysiakini & Michael Chick]

BRUNO MANSER: Tribute to an Ecowarrior

BEE-ENDGAME: Laugh Till You Fart!

(From Kavilan's YouTube Channel, posted 16 September 2008)

Who is this ingenious N. Kavilan fler who "did a 'bad' thing and made a parody of Bodohwi"? Kavi spent a few hours doing the subtitles for this video and then uploaded it to Youtube. It parodies Hitler’s downfall in the movie Der Untergang.

Kavi, you've got to be the Makkal Sakthi version of Namewee! Heartiest congratulations on a brilliant piece of video art - loved it!!! :-)

NOTE: EMBEDDING HAS BEEN DISABLED BY THE VIDEO OWNER.
CLICK ON THE VIDEO IMAGE OR THIS LINK TO VIEW ON YOUTUBE!