An uplifting email from the indefatigable Bruno Manser Fund...

Bruno Manser (25 August  1954 ~ ???)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends,

We would like to inform you that the Bruno Manser Fund is about to release an explosive report on the Malaysian Taib family, one of South East Asia's most notorious kleptocratic clans.

Sarawak has been in Taib Mahmud's
greedy clutches for more than 30 years

The report entitled The Taib Timber Mafia: Facts and Figures on Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) from Sarawak, Malaysia contains twenty portraits and details on the corrupt business connections of long-term Sarawak Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud ("Taib"), and his closest family members and associates. Taib is the main culprit for the destructive logging of the rainforests of Sarawak, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots.

As an exclusive, the report will give estimates on the net worth of 20 Taib family members and associates and will systematically expose their business ties to the timber, plantation, construction and media sector in Malaysia and other countries such as Australia, Canada, the US, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. The report follows up on our earlier research on the Taib family, published in December 2011.

The unembarrassable Dompok:
politician with a rhino hide

On Wednesday, 19 September 2012, the report will be presented in Brussels to the EU Commission on the occasion of a visit of the Malaysian Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Bernard Dompok.

The report will be released to the general public on Thursday, 20 September 2012, 3 p.m. GMT. Copies will be sent to all major international financial services providers as well as to cabinet ministers and government agencies from OECD and ASEAN countries. The Bruno Manser Fund calls on the international community to take decisive action against the Taibs, in particular to freeze their illicit assets and to prosecute them for corruption, money-laundering and related crimes.

Interested journalists may obtain a copy of the embargoed report beforehand, by sending us an email.

Your BMF team

Legacy of rainforest "Robin Hood" lives on
11 March 2005

Bruno Manser: officially dead
but not forgotten

Environmentalist Bruno Manser has been declared officially dead by a Swiss court, five years after he disappeared in the Malaysian jungle.

But Manser’s efforts to save the rainforest have not been forgotten and continue to influence attitudes towards tropical wood.

"It’s five years since Bruno vanished without a trace, so it’s not just a legal step, but also a symbolic one," said Lukas Straumann, director of the Bruno Manser Fund, set up by the environmentalist to spearhead his campaign.

"Friends and family have had to say farewell to him in stages."

Manser became a household name in Switzerland in the 1990s, when he staged a spectacular 60-day hunger strike outside parliament in Bern to highlight the plight of Malaysia’s Penan tribesmen.

The Penan, who still live a nomadic lifestyle in the forests of Sarawak on the island of Borneo, are threatened by illegal logging practices that encroach on - and destroy - their habitat.

Manser became interested in the Penan in the 1980s and often clashed with the Malaysian authorities and timber companies as he defended tribal land rights.

Hero

"Bruno Manser is still a hero to the Penan because he made their struggle known to the world," Straumann told swissinfo. "He also made a stand when fighting deforestation and related human rights violations was not very popular."

The environmentalist spent six years living with the tribesmen. He was banned from Sarawak after launching his campaign against rainforest logging.

He disappeared in May 2000, when he is believed to have entered Sarawak secretly. Investigations by the Malaysian police and Swiss activists failed to find any trace of Manser.

Many of his friends believe he was killed because of his campaign, which embarrassed the Malaysian government and earned him plenty of enemies along the way.

But despite vanishing, Straumann says that Manser has had a powerful influence on attitudes towards tropical wood. "He is the person who made it headline news in Switzerland," he added.

[Read the rest here.]

BRUNO MANSER: TRIBUTE TO AN ECO-WARRIOR

THAT'S RIGHT, BULLY THE HELPLESS... MALAYSIA BOLEH!

URGENT ALERT – ARREST OF JOAS LEADERS
16 September 2009

As Malaysia commemorates its 46th anniversary, 15 indigenous Sarawakians have been detained by Kuching police at 2:45pm today for trying to send a memorandum of protest to the Sarawak Chief Minister. Among those arrested are Mark Bujang (BRIMAS), Raymond Abin (BRIMAS) and Hellan Empaing (WADESA), all leaders of the Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (Indigenous People's Network of Malaysia) as well as representatives from the Kayan, Kenyah and Penan communities of Sarawak.

The contingent, consisting of 6 Penan, 4 Iban, 2 Kayan and 3 Kenyah are all representatives of communities who will be affected by two major dams which are being built in their areas. They had prepared a memorandum on the issue and were delivering it to Wisma Bapa Malaysia, the office of the Chief Minister. While waiting for endorsement of the document, they were arrested by local police. They are currently being held in the Kampung Gita Police Station in Petra Jaya, Kuching, Sarawak. It is uncertain whether they are being charged, or what reasons are being given for their detention.

Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia strongly condemns the detention of its members who were attempting to deliver a memorandum on behalf of the indigenous peoples of the Baram and Murum areas of Sarawak. The memorandum protested the State Government’s actions to build hydro-electric dams in these areas without the free, prior and informed consent of the communities affected and without due regards to the status of the native lands involved. The actions of the State Government are in clear contradiction to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Malaysia strongly supports.


We also condemn the use of arrest to intimidate and silence the voices of the communities who are questioning the construction of large dams on the area. This demonstrates the unwillingness of the State Government to ensure the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples in projects that affect them.

We call upon the Sarawak State Government to immediately release all fifteen Sarawakians and engage in a proper consultative process with the affected communities. We also call for the respect of the constitutional native land rights of these communities. It is also in violation of the right to peaceful assembly, guaranteed under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.

Take action!

1. URGENT: Please phone the Gita police station and ask after the well-being of the activists, ask what they are being charged with and demand their unconditional release in line with Constitutional guarantees of freedom of assembly (Article 10). Tel: ++6 082-254417

2. Write to the following:
Chief Minister of Sarawak
YAB Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud
Chief Minister of Sarawak
22nd Floor, Wisma Bapa Malaysia,
Petra Jaya, 93502 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
mustaphah@sarawaknet.gov.my
FAX: +6082-444566

2. YB Datuk Amar Wilson Baya Dandot
State Secretary of Sarawak
20th Floor, Wisma Bapa Malaysia
Petra Jaya, 93502 Kuching,
Sarawak, Malaysia
wilsonbd@sarawaknet.gov.my
FAX: +6082-441677

3. Datu Haji Abdul Razak Tready
Sarawak Attorney-General
State AG’s Chambers
Level 16, Wisma Bapa Malaysia,
Petra Jaya
93502 Kuching,
Sarawak, Malaysia
razakt@sarawaknet.gov.my
FAX: +6082-440525

4. Tan Sri Musa bin Dato’ Hj Hassan
Ketua Polis Negara
Ibu Pejabat Polis Diraja Malaysia
Bukit Aman,50560 Kuala Lumpur
musa@rmp.gov.my
FAX: +603-22731326

5. Datuk Mohmed Salleh
Ketua Polis Negeri
Ibupejabat Polis Kontinjen Sarawak
Polis Diraja Malaysia
Jalan Badruddin,93560 Kuching,
Sarawak, Malaysia
mohmad@rmp.gov.my
FAX: +6082-257664

Yours truly,

Adrian Lasimbang
President
Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS)
+60138737676
lasimbang@gmail.com

For more information, please also contact:

Jennifer Rubis
+60198566251
jen.rubis@gmail.com

LATEST UPDATE: Just received notice that all 15 indigenous leaders arrested earlier today for trying to send a memorandum to Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud have been released on bail (RM3000 each). They have been summoned to appear in court on 29 September 2009. The Bruno Manser Fund, along with a great number of NGOs in Malaysia and worldwide, is asking the Sarawak authorities to drop all charges against the arrested indigenous leaders and to apologize to them for such rude treatment.

Indigenous activists rounded up in M-Day swoop

Andrew Ong
Sept 16, 2009 6:40pm
Malaysiakini

There was no Malaysia Day cheer for a group of 15 individuals who were arrested in Kuching while attempting to hand a petition to Chief Minister Taib Mahmud over the displacement of indigenous people.

They were picked up in front of the Wisma Bapa Malaysia building by a group of police personnel and whisked away to the Gita police station.

Sarawak Conservation Action Network (Scane) spokesperson Phillip Jaw, who was among those arrested, expressed disappointment with the police actions.

He said among those arrested were indigenous people residing in the remote areas of Murum and Baram - where hydroelectric dams will be constructed and thus displacing tens of thousands of people.

"Some of us traveled for two days just to be here and hand the petition stating our concerns over the dams. We are disappointed, sad and unhappy that our voices are not heard," said Jaw.

According to Pandungan state rep Dominique Ng (right), who was also arrested, the group started gathering at about 11am but no one from the Chief Minister's Office entertained their request for an official acknowledgment of receipt for the petition.

Police moved in at about 2.45pm after the group haggled in vain with government officials.

"For Sarawakians, Sept 16 is the day we celebrate our independence. But today, it seems the people's voices are being stifled while we seem to be descending into a police state," Ng told Malaysiakini.

Masing: They refused police order to disperse

Ng said those arrested did not breach the law but were merely exercising their democratic rights in voicing their grievances to the government.

"The government is refusing to even listen despite Prime Minister Najib's 1Malaysia rakyat diutamakan (people first) campaign and all. In our case, it is rakyat diabaikan dan diseksa (ignored and suffering)," he said.

"They were arrested for illegal assembly after they refused a police order to disperse," said Sarawak Rural Development Minister James Masing (left).

"That's the law of the land. I believe they will be released soon," he told AFP.

Another detainee Raymond Abin, an activist with Borneo Resources Institute Sarawak (Brimas), said the arrest was regrettable, especially on a day as significant as Malaysia Day.

“People came from afar to have their voices heard. There is no other way for them to express themselves other than through a petition,” lamented Raymond.

According to lawyer Harrison Ngau, the 15 individuals must face charges in court for illegal assembly under Section 27 (5) of the Police Act on Sept 29.

Repeated telephone calls to Kuching district police chief ACP Wong Wai Loong for comments went unanswered.

Petition falling on deaf ears

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Orang Asal Network (Joas) has condemned the arrest of the 15 individuals and for failing to listen to the grievances of the affected groups.

“We also condemn the use of arrest to intimidate and silence the voices of the communities who are questioning the construction of large dams on the area.

“This demonstrates the unwillingness of the state government to ensure the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples in projects that affect them,” said Joas president Adrian Lasimbang.

According to Lasimbang, petition had states that the state government decided to build hydro electric dams in the two areas without consulting the affected communities and without any regard to the status of the native lands involved.

“The actions of the state government are in clear contradiction to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Malaysia strongly supports,” said Lasimbang.