Penyokong dan Pemimpin Barisan Nasional yang Buta-Tuli

Kuching
Tuesday, 15th March 2011


Buta dan Tuli-kah Pemimpin dan Penyokong Barisan Nasional ?

Selepas lebih sebulan bergulamang dengan buku-buku, maka tibalah masanya untuk saya melepaskan geram terhadap orang-orang BN baik penyokong-penyokong, pemimpin-pemimpin muda mahupun pemimpin kanan mereka yang sejak kebelakangan ini asyik "mengkelabukan" minda anak-anak muda serta penduduk-penduduk rumah panjang yang pemikiran mereka hanya 0.5% mencapai tahap "pemikiran wawasan 2020" mengikut visi pemimpin mamak yang lebih rasis daripada Melayu tulen di dalam memperjuangkan nasib mereka yang 110% lebih maju daripad pemikiran mereka sebelum merdeka.

Pada kali ini saya akan cuba membawa pemikiran pelawat Bukittunggal kepada satu bidalan ataupun idiom iaitu membuta-tuli. Membuta tuli ini berasal daripada dua kata nama iaitu buta dan tuli. Buta bermaksud tidak boleh melihat ataupun cacat pengelihatan manakala tuli bermaksud tidak mendengar atau pekak. manakala kata tambahan "Mem" menunjukkan ianya adalah kata nama ataupun perbuatan. Daripada definasi kedua-dua perkataan tersebut maka membuta tuli bolehlah dierti-katakan sebagai sengaja tidak melihat atau tidak mendengar ataupun pendeknya "main semborono" atau orang Iban cakap "main rambang". 

Intipati perbincangan saya pada hari ini adalah berkenaan dengan kelakuan membuta-tuli penyokong-penyokong serta pemimpin-pemimpin BN di dalam mempertahankan  perbuatan salah laku pemimpin mereka serta di dalam hal memberikan sokongan terhadap pemimpin mereka yang rasuah. Mungkin ada pembaca di luar sana yang mengaitkan perkataan salah-laku dengan tuduhan liwat terhadap  Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim atau saya gelar DSAI. Yalah sebab perkataan SALAH LAKU memang perkataan popular bagi stesen-stesen TV BN didalam mengaitkan DSAI. Setiap kali masa depan politik DSAI mulai cerah mereka akan mengaitaknnya dengan perkataan SALAH LAKU untu menganiayai beliau.Ini bukan kali pertama, malahan yang ke2. Baiklah mereka menang sebab semua ajensi kerajaan adalah di bawah kuasa UMNO, malahan ajensi yang melibatkan siasatan DSAI pun dikuasai oleh saudara Perdana Menteri sendiri. Memang orang tidak hairan Mengulas kes liwat DSAI adakah patut pihak polis menipu DSAI dengan memberikan berus gigi kemudia dicuri untuk mendapatkan DNA ?(Mereka gelar sebagai Datuk Najib Alantuya).

Sebelum terlajak lebih jauh maka eloklah saya berhenti mengulas kes liwat DSAI sebab semua dunia tahu bahawa kes tersebut adalah kes rancangan UMNO. Saya berbalik kepada sokongan membuta tuli terhadap pemimpin BN. Saya akan fokus ulasan saya terhadap apa yang berlaku di Sarawak. Dunia sudah tahu bahawa Sarawak dikuasai oleh Taib Mahmud iaitu pemimpin BN yang sangat berkuasa. Kuasanya jauh mengatasi DNA ( Datuk Najib Alantuya ) malahan tidak keterlaluan kalau dikatakan di Malaysia tiada orang yang lebih berkuasa daripada Taib Mahmud ini. Siapa yang berani bersuara menentang Taib? DNA? Kalau DNA lebih berkuasa daripada Taib sudah lama beliau (Taib)  masuk jel.

Saya buktikan melalui pendedahan demi pendedahan di buat oleh Sarawak Report ataupun Radio Free Sarawak serta berpuluh-puluh laporan telah duat kepada Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission tapi sampai kini habukpun tarak...malahan Taib sendiri mentertawakan MACC dengan berkahwin lagi satu dengan perempuan yang sama baya dengan cucunya.

Adakah ini memainkan peranan mengapa Jabu menyokong Taib Mahmud secara membuta-tuli?

Pemimpin BN yang ingin saya kaitkan dengan membuta-tuli yang pertamanya adalah Datuk Alfred Jabu ak Numpang (saya akan gunakan Datuk Jabu di dalam ulasan saya berikutnya). Kalau kita pergi ke mana-mana rumah panjang dan kita bertanya tentang Jabu daripada mereka, rata-rata mereka akan bagi tahu anda bahawa Datuk Jabu adalah Iban nilat pelir Taib. Tapi ingat jangan sekali-kali bertanya kepada tuai rumah sebab anda akan mensia-siakan masa anda. Ini adalah kerana majoriti daripada tuai rumah(tr) telah menjadi hamba kepada pemimpin BN yang mengumpan mereka dengan elaun RM800 sebulan. Lihatlah bagaimana TR-TR ini diperkudakan oleh pemimpin BN untuk memujuk anak buah mereka untuk menyerahkan tanah pusaka/adat mereka kepada syarikat-syarikat besar di dalam projek usaha-sama tanaman kelapa sawit yang tidak menguntungkan, maka atas sebab mempercayai pemimpin secara  membuta-tuli  mereka sanggup menjadi anasir syarikat besar ini....

Hey PBB and Taib Mahmud...Inikah Politik Pembangunan?

Pengalaman penulis sendiri yang cuba untuk menasihati tuai rumah sebuah rumah panjang di dalam kawasan N25 Balai Ringin agar menarik diri daripada usahasama tanaman ladang kelapa sawit bersama anak buahnya, sebab usahasama ini akan menyebabkan beliau serta anak-anak buahnya kehilangan tanah pusaka mereka  buat selama-lamanya. Daripada mengucapkan terima kasih, saya telah dituduh sebagai anti-pembangunan. Inilah dia akibat daripada sokongan yang membuta-tuli tuai rumah tersebut kepada pemimpin BN. Dia mungkin tidak nampak kesan jangka panjang usahasama atau JV (Joint Venture) ini, Tapi dalam masa enam-puluh (60) tahun yang akan datang keturunannya mungkin tiada hak ke atas tanah berkenaan. Tapi adakah tuai rumah berkenaan memikirkan masalah ini? Atau dia telah buta dan tuli dengan suapan yang diberikan oleh pihan pengurusan ladang atau oleh pemimpin BN?

Tapi Datuk Jabu apa pula motifnya? Saya tidak berapa nampak sebab yang konkrit kenapa Datuk jabu sanggup menyokong Taib Mahmud bagaikan perumpama sanggup "menjilat pelir Taib"  sehingga menyebabkan kaum Iban terlalu jauh ketinggalan dari segi pelajaran dan ekonomi. Dalam masa 30 ke 40 tahun yang akan datang, Datuk Jabu akan dikenang sebagai pemimpin yang menyebabkan kaum Iban jauh ketinggalan.

Tak Kira Apa budak-budak dan pemimpin PBB yang Membuta-Tuli Buat, Dua personaliti ini berjanji akan mendedahkan segala perbuatan buruk laku Taib Mahmud! 

Selepas Datuk Jabu, saya ingin menyentuh berkenaan dengan sokongan membuta-tuli pemuda PBB melalui ketuanya Datuk Fadillah Yusof  terhadap Taib Mahmud. Fadillah mewakili pemuda PBB dengan angkuhnya telah membuat laporan polis terhadap Sarawak Report (SR) dan Radio Free Sarawak(RFS) atas dakwaan memfitnah Taib mahmud. Itulah tanda-tanda sokongan yang membuta tuli. Disebalik membuat laporan polis terhadap Taib Mahmud atas dakwaan rasuah serta salah guna kuasa Fadillah dan budak hingusan di dalam PBB telah membuat laporan terhadap pemberi maklumat (Whistle blower). Buta kah Fadillah. Atau Tulikah pemuda PBB? Kepada Fadillah serta anggota dan penyokong PBB saya ingin mengingatkan agar jangan menyokong Taib Mahmud secara membuta-tuli. Paling lama Taib akan berkuasa  adalah dalama masa 2-3 tahun lagi. Sanggupkah Fadillah dan PBB menjilat ludah selepas Taib tidak berkuasa lagi? Ingatlah apa yang saya tulis ini. Hanya masa yang akan menentukan bila Taib Mahmud serta ahli keluarganya akan di dakwa serta hilang semua harta-benda mereka. Saya harap Fadillah serta anggota PBB yang lain tidak jadi macam Rafidah Azis  dengan mahathir selepas mamak Mahathir turun takhta.....

Adnan Satem..Cuba menunjukkan Kesetiaan Kepada Taib Dengan Menyambut Cabaran Baru Bian Untuk Berdebat Secara Membuta-Tuli....Jangan Adnan nanti kamu diaibkan!

Seorang lagi pemimpin BN yang menyokong Taib membuta tuli adalah Adenan Satem. Walaupun kerjaya politik pemimpin ini seakan-akan tamat setelah beliau dituduh sebagai mahu merampas jawatan ketua Menteri Sarawak daripada Taib Mahmud dalam tahun 2007. Tetapi di kebelakangan ini kerjaya politiknya cuba diangkat kembali oleh Taib Mahmud. Untuk membalas jasa atau untuk membuktikan taat setia beliau kepada Taib, beliau telah sanggup untuk mewakili Taib Mahmud untuk berdebat dengan saudara Baru Bian iaitu Ketua Perhubungan PKR Sarawak berkenaan NCR Land (tanah adat).

Dengan angkuhnyah beliau telah menyahut cabaran Sdra Baru Bian untuk mewakili Taib Mahmud seraya berkata " Saya akan berdebat dengan Baru (Bian). Dia peguam sayapun peguam"!

Memanglah Adenan Satem peguam tapi saya nak tanya bilakan kali terakhir dia bertindak sebagai peguambela atau peguamcara di mahkamah? Dan kalau adapun bilakah kali terakhir dia  mengendalikan perbicaraan tanah adat? Saudara Baru Bian seperti yang sedia maklum merupakan seorang peguam yang telah memenangi banyak perbicaraan mewakili kaum Iban di dalam kes tanah adat. Adenan bagaimana ? Sedalam mana pengetahuan serta pengalamannya di dalam hal tanah adat.

Kepada Adenan Satem saya hendak nasihatkan beliau, iaitu janganlah  hanya kerana mahu menunjukkan sokongan kepada Taib secara membuta-tuli janganlah  pula sanggup secara membabi-buta untuk dimalukan oleh saudara Baru Bian seperti "nganjong umpan empa jani" dan akhirnya kehilangan karier politiknya kali kedua. Ingat apa yang terjadi kepada  Ahmad Shabery semasa perdebatannya dengan DSAI tahun 2008 dimana beliau telah dimalukan oleh DSAI di hadapan TV yang ditonton oleh berjuta-juta rakyat malayia dan antarabangsa. Sanggupkah Adenan Satem dimalukan Sdra Baru Bian demikian?

Saya ingin menggesa para penyokong, ahli biasa serta pemimpin-pemimpin PBB baik yang senior mahupun junior agar tidak menyokong pemimpin yang mengamalkan rasuah serta kroni secara membuta-tuli.

Ingatlah wahai semua orang BN

Kalau Suharto yang perkasa boleh ditumbangkan

Dan Marcus yang rakus boleh dimalukan oleh rakyat yang  Sejiwa sehati

Tidakkah kamu semua terfikir bahawa Taib Mahmud serta Raziah bakal

menerima nasib yang lebih teruk?

Marilah keluar dari PBB serta jangan sokong Taib membuta tuli

Last but not Least ....Dedicated to Penyokong BN yang Membuta- Tuli!

Mupok Aku

Taib Mahmud's Son Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib Faces US$ 132 Million Divorce Suit

Kuching
Friday, 11th March 2010

A Friend to Bukittunggal, A Penan Said "Wrath From God".

Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib ("Abu Bekir"), the 48-year old son of Abdul Taib Mahmud ("Taib"), Chief Minister of the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo, is facing a divorce application by his estranged wife that involves a claim of 400 million Malaysian ringgits (US$ 132 million).

The case was filed at the Kuala Lumpur Syariah High Court last month and made public yesterday by Malaysia's The Star newspaper and the online news service Malaysiak! ini.

According to Malaysian media reports, Abu Bekir's wife, Shahnaz A Majid, is seeking MYR 300 million (US$ 99 million) of assets which the couple had amassed together since 1991 as well as MYR 100 million (US$ 33 million) in compensation.

She also claimed that Abu Bekir had caused her physical and mental torture.

The couple owns thousands of hectares of land in Sarawak, shares in 15 different companies and seven luxury cars, including Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley and Maserati marques.

Abu Bekir is a key figure in Taib's global network of corruption and money-laundering. He is a founding director of the Canadian Sakto Development Corporation with headquarters in Ottawa, a shareholder of the California-based Sakti International corporation and a shareholder of the Australian Sitehost Pty Ltd, which runs the Hilton hotel in Adelaide

Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib with his second wife, a Russian widow, at a wedding bash in Sarawak

Abu Bekir is also a major shareholder and Deputy Group chairman of Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS), the flagship of the Taib family business empire.

CMS has massively benefited from public contracts handed out by the Sarawak state government without an open tender, such as construction contracts for the controversial Bakun megadam.

CMS has also been given a 15-year contract for the maintenance of all public roads in Sarawak.

The Swiss Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) is currently leading a global campaign against the Taib family's blatant corruption and their role in the destruction of the Borneo rainforest.

BMF is asking governments worldwide to freeze Taib assets in order to restitute them to the people of Sarawak in the upcoming post-Taib era.

Mupok Aku

International Communities Protest Against Taib Mahmud Corrupt Practices

Kuching
Friday, 11th March 2011

While the International Communities in all over Europe , the US and Canada, Expose the corrupt practices of Taib Mahmud But The PBB Youth have been trying hard to defend their corrupt and playboy leader. Are they work for the rakyat or for Taib Mahmud?

Protests over timber corruption that has made a billionaire of the chief minister of the Malaysian state of Sarawak and enriched his family at the expense of the state's indigenous and other citizens have spilled over to the streets of San Francisco, Seattle, Ottawa and London.

A Swiss nonprofit organization is asking the law enforcement authorities in the United States to investigate what they allege is a murder on U.S. soil and illegally acquired assets stashed in the United States as well as other countries.

Sarawak stretches for over 750 kilometers (465 miles) along the northeast coast of the island of Borneo. Once blanketed with highland and lowland tropical rainforests, over the past 30 years the rainforests have disappeared, driven by the demands of the logging industry.

Malaysia's deforestation rate is increasing faster than anywhere else in the world, but until now, facts about the people and companies responsible for deforesting Sarawak have been shrouded in secrecy.

A new report released by the Swiss Bruno Manser Fund exposes the Sarawak timber industry's complex structure and its links to Abdul Taib Mahmud, who has been Sarawak's Chief Minister since March 26, 1981. Elections will soon be held in Sarawak, likely within the next six weeks.

In February, the nonprofit Bruno Manser Fund launched an international campaign against what the group calls "the blatant corruption and abuse of public funds" by Taib and his family and political associates.

The organization, based in Basel, is named in honor of Swiss citizen Bruno Manser who disappeared in Sarawak while defending the rights of the indigenous nomadic Penan people. Manser was last seen in May 2000 in the isolated village of Bario, Sarawak; he was declared legally dead in 2005.

The new report, "Development of global timber tycoons in Sarawak, East Malaysia - History and company profiles," is authored by Daniel Faeh of the University of Bern's Economic Geography Group.

Faeh identifies "the specific politico-economic situation in Sarawak" as the main driver behind the state's rapid deforestation, particularly the fact that Chief Minister Taib, who is also minister of planning and resource management, "has absolute control over the allocation of timber licences and logging concessions to himself, his allies, friends and family."

"As a result," writes Faeh, "it is not surprising that the land claims of local indigenous groups have been systematically neglected."

For 30 years, indigenous people across Sarawak have been beaten, arrested, jailed and killed defending their traditional forest lands against forced development.

On 9th March 2011 in San Francisco, anti-Taib demonstrators went to the Citibank branch at 260 California Street in the city center. The building is the seat of Taib's Sakti International Corporation, which used to be headed by the late Ross Boyert.

Boyert

After having been dismissed by the Taibs, Boyert filed legal action against Sakti in a San Francisco court in early 2007.

Boyert, who administered the Taib family's U.S. properties for 12 years, was found dead last September in a Los Angeles hotel room with a plastic bag tied around his head.

In an interview with the London-based Sarawak Report given weeks before his death, Boyert said he and his family had been harassed and terrorized by Taib agents ever since he had filed the case.

The Bruno Manser Fund, together with an international NGO coalition against Taib timber corruption, is asking the U.S. authorities to freeze all Taib assets in the United States and to investigate Boyert's allegations against the Taibs and the circumstances of his death.

Anti-Taib demonstrators in front of the FBI's Northwest Regional Headquarters in Seattle, located in a building owned by Taib family members. (Photo courtesy BMF)

The Bruno Manser Fund says the Taib family "has profited immensely from the destructive logging of Sarawak's tropical rainforests and today has a stranglehold over the state's economy." Among the companies controlled by the Taibs are Achi Jaya, which has a monopoly on log exports.

The Swiss NGO and its supporters have published a list of Taib's "secret" foreign assets and are urging the governments of Australia, the British Virgin Islands, Canada, Hong Kong, Jersey, and the United Kingdom as well as Malaysia, to investigate the financial transactions of these 49 companies under their respective anti-corruption and anti-money-laundering legislations and to freeze all Taib family assets for later restitution to the people of Sarawak.

On March 3, anti-Taib protesters appeared in front of the Taib-owned Abraham Lincoln building in downtown Seattle, where the Northwestern Regional Headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, are located.

The Seattle property is held through Wallysons Inc. The Bruno Manser Fund says Wallysons' chairman is Taib's son, Sulaiman (Rahman) Taib, while Taib's Canadian son-in-law, Sean Murray, is its president.

The Bruno Manser Fund and its allies are asking the FBI to investigate the financial transactions of Wallysons and other Taib-controlled properties in the United States. When demonstrators attempted to enter the building to speak with FBI investigators, they were denied entry.

Anti-Taib demonstrators in Ottawa, Canada (Photo courtesy BMF)

On February 28, anti-Taib demonstrators appeared on the streets of Ottawa and London in an attempt to publicize what they called timber corruption and victimization of indigenous people in Sarawak.

The Bruno Manser Fund lodged a detailed complaint in June 2010 with Jeanne Flemming, director of Canada's Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre, FINTRAC, over the Canadian government's business ties with Taib family companies.

The complaint centers on the fact that 11 Ontario Government ministries are occupying offices at Sakto's Preston Square Tower III in Ottawa.

The Sakto Corporation, an Ottawa property developer, was founded in 1983 by Onn Mahmud, Taib's brother.

The Bruno Manser Fund alleges that the company's rapid development has been funded with illegal timber trade kickbacks channelled through two Hong Kong businesses.

FINTRAC has left the complaint unanswered.

In the report published Tuesday, Faeh writes that Sarawak's timber industry is more than a Malaysian issue - it is a cause for global concern.

In the late 1980s, Sarawak experienced one of the most rapid log clearances in Southeast Asia.

With these profits, timber groups from Sarawak such as Samling, Rimbunan Hijau, WTK, KTS, Shin Yang and Ta Ann accumulated capital which allowed them to expand their business operations all over the globe. They are now operating not only in Southeast Asia but also in Australia, Africa, Central and South America, Russia and the Pacific, the report states.

Faeh writes, "Their track records of diversification and internationalization, however, go hand in hand with the violation of human rights, political patronage and the destruction of the environment in their home country and many other parts of the world."

Mupok Aku

Protest Against Taib In London Will Spread to Sarawak Soon

Kuching
Tuesday, 1st March 2011

In Malaysia, only the Barisan Nasional supporters are allowed to gather or to attend any ceramah. As for the oppositions, if they do so a troop of police or dub as BN dog by the opposition will be despatched to the scene by the "higher authority" to stop the gathering.
The recent incident happened in Lawas when Baru Bian on 23rd February 2011 was stopped by the police from talking to his supporters who came from as far as Bario and Ba Kelalan just to listen to their leadersand to meet him.
But this unfairly treatment by the police cannot stop the Malaysians especially Sarawakians from going to the street to expose the Barisan Nasional leaders corruption practices.
The latest was the protest organised by Sarawakian from all over Europe and Australia. This morning they staged a show of disgust outside the Central London headquarters of the wealthy propety company that is linked to Taib Mahmud, Ridgeford Properties.
To all Sarawakians that had no opportunity to join the crowds let's pray for the protest to spread to Sarawak.
For a show of support, we would like to share some of the photos taken during the demonstration. Some of the photos clearly shown that Peter John Jaban was among the crowds. Hope the photo will shut Joseph salang mouth who yesterday claimed that Free Radion Sarawak in which Peter John is one of it deejay was operating from Malacca.
Please see the photos below. If you like them please leave your comments.

 Hi Salang...Half of Peter John in Malacca and another half in London!..A Proof that Radion Free Sarawak is not operating from Malacca

Memorendum to The King: Natives of Sarawak Warn Pertubuhan Kebajikan Al-Ehsan Islamaiah Malaysia To Respect The Rights Of Malaysian from other Faiths

Kuching
Saturday, 26th February 2011

Being Malaysian I am Reminding Arshad Kassim not to offend the feelings of Malaysians From the  other Faiths such as Christians, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Arshad Kassim : This is Malaysia thus Please think and act as Malaysia!

Federal Constituition  has never  mentioned that Malaysia is a Muslim country. Even though article 3 of the constituition does mention that Islam is the official religion of the Federation but no article in the contituition ever mentioned that Malaysia is an Islamic Country.

It was reported in Utusan Malaysia on Thursday, 24th Feb 2011 that the Pertubuhan Kebajikan Al-Ehsan Islamaiah Malaysia led by it Assistant Secretary General Arshad Kassim had submitted the Memorendum to the Agong, to complain about the Setting-Up of the  interfaith portfolio by YAB Lim Guan Eng, the Chief Minister of Pulau Pinang on 16 Feb 2011. According to Lim, the role of the potfolio was to to handle non-Muslim religious issues in the state. It will be chaired by Lim himself while Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy was appointed the deputy.

Islam Is The Religion Of the Federation. WhatBut can Malaysians Embrace  the Other Religions?

Article 3 of the Federal Constitution also clearly mentions that Malaysians are allowed to practice the other faiths other than Islam. As such action should be taken against any person or organisation that tries to instigate any religious conflict in the country. The action of this organisation is tantamount to instigating religious unrest should be handled accordingly.

This country is a multi-racial and multi-religious country. Muslims in this country must learn to live with Malaysians from  other religions. Actions that can offend the feelings of the non-muslims must be avoided. As a non-muslim myself who had studied and worked in Peninsular, I had never offended my muslim friends or colleagues. But how about our muslim friends. For those non-muslim who had ever attended the Religious Classes (Islam) might have heard how their Ustazah or Ustaz offended and belittle them for being a non-muslim or kafir/Infidel. Or one can ask the non-muslim soldiers how they are being treated for being non-muslim? I dont want to eloborate further here because I dont want to be percieved as an  anti  Islam.

A few days ago, I recieved the information from reliable source that the religious practices like morning prayer and religious talks by Christian priests were no longer allowed in the two popular mission schools in Kuching, the St Thomas and St Joseph School  by the Ministry of Education. The schools were no longer the elite school with good examination results as they have been plagued by the non-christian students,  who  most of them came from the nearby police stations and army camps. But what has our Christian Ministers done? 

But Why There Was No Police Report  Made Against This Group

This country is a multi-religious country. The action of this group of submitting the memorendum to the King and Governor of Pulau Pinang can incite religious unrest in the country therefore should be charged accordingly in court.

To all Sarawakians especially the christians, please  read more the history book so that we all awared the conditions that had been put forward by our forefather before they agreed to be part of Malaysia.

Mupok Aku

Gordon Brown's sister-in-law Promises to Reveal Taib Mahmud Corruption Activities

Kuching
Thursday, 24th Feb 2011

Persons Behind Sarawak Report and Radio Free Sarawak

In a flat above a restaurant in Covent Garden, an investigative reporter called Clare and a tribesman from Borneo covered in tattoos prepare to transmit their daily revolutionary radio broadcast deep into the Borneo jungle.

They make for an unlikely double act - she is a white, middle-aged Englishwoman, and he the proud grandson of a Dayak headhunter who broadcasts under the pseudonym Papa Orang Utan. Their aim is no less outlandish: to expose the alleged corruption of Taib Mahmud, chief minister of the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo 6,500 miles from London, and bring an end to his 30-year rule.

"This is Radio Free Sarawak," begins Papa Orang Utan, donning his headphones to interview a village headman who has been forcibly removed from his land and who, quite remarkably, speaks to them on a mobile phone from the edge of the Borneo rainforest. Clare briefs Papa: "Make sure you ask if he knows that it's chief minister Taib who has stolen their land? And get who he'll be voting for!"

Until now the identity of the "pirates" behind Radio Free Sarawak has been a closely guarded secret - and for good reason. Scandal-plagued Taib, 74, is one of the world's most ruthless and wealthiest men - richer allegedly than the Sultan of Brunei, whose independent country lies alongside - and locals who oppose him can feel the full force of his retribution.

But today is a watershed: the duo have bravely decided to out themselves ahead of the upcoming Sarawak elections, expected in April. Indeed, the Evening Standard can reveal that the mystery Englishwoman who set up Radio Free Sarawak four months ago and who brought out the tattooed tribesman - real name Peter John Jaban - to front her broadcasts is in fact Clare Rewcastle Brown, sister-in-law of former prime minister Gordon Brown.

The last time she was in the public eye was in May 2009 when she published a letter defending the then prime minister's cleaning arrangements in the wake of the expenses scandal. Her piece, "The true story of Gordon Brown, the cleaner and my husband", laid out their "very ordinary shared cleaning arrangements" and explained why The Telegraph's front page "scoop" was groundless.

"My poor husband Andrew," she recalls, "was the face on the front page on the first day of the expenses scandal, which was pretty damn unfair given that Gordon's arrangement with the cleaner was later judged wholly legitimate. The reporters arrived on our doorstep thinking they'd 'got Gordon' but they hadn't done their due diligence and when we presented them with the truth, they didn't want to hear it."

Today she sees less of her husband's older brother, "Gordon and Sarah being mainly up in Scotland", but they are "a close-knit family" and "Gordon is hugely supportive," she says.

Rewcastle Brown, 51, born in Sarawak to British parents in the days before the former British colony was handed over to Malaysia, lived in the region until the age of eight, and she is the author of the hard-hitting Sarawak Report, a hitherto anonymous blog that gets 18,000 hits a day.

"English is still the unifying language in Sarawak and I use my blog and broadcasts to expose the outrageous deforestation which has seen 95 per cent of Sarawak's rainforest cut down and replaced by logging and palm oil plantations which have enriched Taib and his family," she says. "What's more, my investigations indicate some of the Taib family money is right here in London and includes a lucrative property portfolio in the heart of our capital."

Her work, she adds, is also about "giving the 2.5 million oppressed people of Sarawak a choice".

"The leader of the opposition party, a charismatic human rights lawyer called Baru Bian, inspires hope of real change in the upcoming election, but scandalously only one-third of the electorate are registered to vote and the corrupt Malaysian government turn a blind eye because Taib always delivers them Sarawak, their richest state."

Borneo: Clare as a child in the former British colony

She says their decision to go public was prompted by death threats posted to the Sarawak Report website and by the mysterious fatality of her chief whistleblower in America. "Before Christmas, Taib's disaffected US aide Ross Boyert was found dead in a Los Angeles hotel room with a plastic bag around his head. The inquest is still pending but there was a sense that Peter and I could be in danger. Rather than hide, we've decided to come out fighting."

She kicks off her leather boots and laughs. "The irony is that Taib and his people think we're a huge operation but there are just five of us with a couple of laptops and a mixer. Advances in MP3 technology mean that these days shortwave radio is cheap and easy to do. We've been so effective that Taib's people believe we're funded by George Soros, whose foundation funds Radio Free Burma."

Her outfit - started in October from the dining room of her loft in Victoria where she lives "in shabby dilapidation" with Andrew and their two teenage children - costs less than £10,000 a month, she says. Initially she funded it herself but she's since roped in some "better-off friends" who help out "anonymously". "Not Gordon," she hastens to add. "His support is strictly moral!"

Her passionate dedication to a cause 99 per cent of Londoners have never heard of sometimes causes strains, she admits, with friends and family. "But I honestly believe that Taib is probably one of the worst environmental criminals on the planet and that he has taken huge amounts from the country of my birth."

She smiles. "He never saw me coming. When he set up his property companies in 1982, he could never have imagined that some mad woman sitting in her kitchen in London would unravel his property empire simply by scrutinising company reports online."

As an investigative journalist who started with the BBC World Service in 1983, she is better equipped than most to uncover the wealth of the Mahmud family.

"My investigations have indicated that Taib and his family have a property empire in Canada, the US and the UK. Funds have been generated by Taib selling off rainforests with some of the money going through the British Virgin Islands."

The Evening Standard put these allegations to those who are behind the companies and they were denied.

Rewcastle Brown's passion for the rainforests of Sarawak was kindled as a child when she accompanied her mother, Karis, a midwife, into the jungle. Back then, Sarawak had the most biodiverse rainforest in the world with 3,000 species of trees, 15,000 plants, 420 birds and 221 mammals.

"My mother would drag me to remote clinics to show the indigenous Dayaks what a healthy baby should look like," she recalls.

"Everyone in those villages sleeps in one long-house and my mother frequently saved the lives of their sick babies. As a kid, my first friends were the local children and we used to climb trees and run barefoot, dodging the odd scorpion."

The family came to the UK when Rewcastle Brown was eight and she attended a private boarding school and later finished her masters in international relations at the LSE. It would be 38 years before she returned to Sarawak on a media trip where the degradation of the rainforest - so evident from the air - shocked her to the core.

In 2008 she went back to report on a by-election and secretly film companies clearing rainforest for oil palm. That was when she "fell into a peat bog and nearly died", and it was also when she met Jaban, 46, an election monitor fired from Taib's state-controlled radio for allowing callers to criticise the chief minister.

Last year she invited Jaban to become the voice of Radio Free Sarawak in London. It was a drastic step because it meant that while Taib stays in power, Jaban can never go back.

"I miss my four children, I miss my home," he says, tears streaming. He looks vulnerable, like a fish out of water, but he suddenly straightens. "I am prepared to die for this cause," he says. "In the days of my grandfather, you had to bring a decent clutch of heads as a sign of your masculinity when you got married. Today things have changed but you still have to be a man."

What are their chances of success? Rewcastle Brown ponders for a moment. "People say our man hasn't got a prayer in the election and that Taib will intimidate voters as he always does but I think our reports are having a huge effect and that there's a groundswell for change."

She smiles thinly. "You've got to take heart from what is happening in the Middle East to rulers who seemed equally immovable until just a few weeks ago."

Read More Here

Bruno Manser Fund to launch international campaign against Sarawak timber corruption

Kuching
Wednesday, 23rd February 2011


Campaign focus on Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud - Corruption identified as one of the main drivers of Borneo deforestation

The Bruno Manser Fund is about to launch an international campaign against the blatant corruption and abuse of public funds by Abdul Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. A campaign website, www.stop-timber-corruption.org, will go online on Monday, 21 February, and will be regularly updated and equipped with features for an interactive campaign with public participation.

Taib, one of South East Asia's longest-serving politicians, has been in office since 1981 and is planning to celebrate his 30th anniversary in power on 26 March 2011. The 75-year old kleptocrat will stand as an incumbent for another five-year term of office in the upcoming Sarawak state elections, which are due to be held before July.

Taib has abused his public office to a frightening extent and has managed to convert the state of Sarawak into his family's private estate. He simultaneously holds the offices of Chief Minister, and Finance Minister, as well as that of State Planning and Resources Minister, which gives him enormous political power. In addition, Malaysia's “Barisan Nasional” coalition, which forms the federal government, is dependent on Taib's support to remain in power. Sarawak's largest private company, its electricity supply, large-scale logging interests and the control of log exports are also concentrated in the hands of the Taib family.

Since 1983, Taib and his immediate family members have started to transfer considerable parts of their ill-gotten assets overseas. The Bruno Manser Fund has established a black list with 49 Taib companies in eight countries worth hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. The list will be published next week, and the authorities of these countries will be asked to freeze all Taib assets and to launch criminal investigations against the Taib family.

In Sarawak, corruption has proved to be one of the main drivers of deforestation. While most of the state's forests have been logged or converted into plantations over the last three decades, Sarawak's indigenous communities have seen little, if any, benefit from Taib's so-called politics of development. Poverty, illiteracy and a lack of basic infrastructure are omnipresent in rural Sarawak.

Sarawak's numerous indigenous communities, and particularly the Penan, have struggled since the 1980s against destructive logging and have fought for their land rights but, in most cases, they have been outmanoeuvred and cheated by Taib and his cronies.

Please contact us for more information:

Bruno Manser Fonds, Socinstrasse 37, 4051 Basel / Switzerland, +41 61 261 94 74

Helpless NCR Landowner Bashed-Up By Loggers Were Detained By Police

Kuching
Sunday, 20th February 2011

SARIKEI, 14 Feb 2011: Minggat anak Nyakin, who has a parcel of NCR land at Sungai Rotan and Sungai Penyaru Kuba (Kiba) Sarikei, found out the hard and painful way that standing up for his rights is no easy task and could cost him his life.

Lying in Sarekei Hospital after being viciously attacked while checking on alleged illegal logging activity on his NCR land, Mingat has to now deal with being under police remand for trespassing.

Said Ngumbang Anak Barau of the Tahabas (native landowners Network): “Not only was he (Mingat) badly beaten up, he was also arrested by the police.

“Mingat and his son Juan went to their land to check on illegal logging. When they found out there was still logging going on, they tried to talk to the manager but instead were attacked.”

Helpless Minggat Lying in a Hospital in Sarikei....

According to Ngumbang, the incident occurred on Feb 14.

In December 2010, Mingat reported alleged illegal logging over his land to the police, the Land and Survey Department as well as the Public Works Department and called for an investigation.

On the day of the incident, Mingat and Juan had decided to check on the situation. Upon finding continued logging activity, they decided to drop in at the log-pond and tried negotiating for compensation with its manager.

Iban nowadays has been perceived by others as coward, weak and disunited who can be easily robbed of  NCR lands. If Indian has HINDRAF and Malay with PERKASA why can't we form-up a radical movement that will defend our rights such as the NCR lands and other rights that we are  entitled to under the constitution....Bukittunggal 

The negotiation went sour and before Minggat and his son could leave the office building, they were attacked viciously at its footsteps.

Iban should not just keep quiet when our people being robbed of their NCR Lands. Let's Unite under one umbrella and chase those NCR robbers from our land!

“Although badly hurt, his son managed to escape in the darkness towards a nearby oil palm plantation, while his father was left  in an unconscious state at the footsteps of the log-pond manager’s office.

“Regardless of any wrongdoings or crimes that Minggat or his son may have committed, the source of the problem has yet to be investigated satisfactorily by the authorities.

“Minggat’s family agrees that Minggat should be fairly investigated, and so does the timber company that has been operating for many years on NCR lands allegedly without a relevant or valid licence.

“The alleged illegal logging seems to be proceeding unhindered thus far.

“A police report has been lodged by Minggat’s wife on Feb 16 regarding the attack. The attackers have not been arrested,” he said.

“The name of the timber company which owns the log-pond remains unknown to the rest of us, while there is no telling when investigations will be made on Minggat and his son’s attackers.

“What is certain is that Minggat and Juan will remain hospitalised for a few more days or even weeks.

“Today, their pains are too debilitating for them to even ponder what they will do next.” Ngumbang added.

This article was originally published in Free Malaysia Today on 19 February 2011

Christian Federation of Malaysia Warns Siti Bahayah Not to Link Valentine's Day With Christianity

Kuching
Sunday, 13th Feb 2011

The Christian Federation of Malaysia has stressed that Valentine’s Day is a secular observance which Roman Catholics and Protestants do not commemorate as a religious festival.

ts chairman Bishop Ng Moon Hing said Christians in Malaysia were hurt by statements made which linked Valentine’s Day to sins and Christianity.

Even though he did not mention specifically Siti Bahayah's name, but the public knows that Siti Bahayah on Feb 15, 2009, was reported to have warned Muslim youth against celebrating Valentine's Day as the occasion has been linked with "immoral activities, discoing, couples meeting in private," which she said "were traditions of the Christian community."

She was made popular because of her book entitled Cakar Harimau!

Such comment should not be allowed air publicly especially in a multi-racial nation like Malaysia. Siti Bahayah a well-known Islamic motivator who was made popular by her ":Cakar Harimau techniques" should be banned from appear in the televisions for such sensitive remarks.

Just imagine if any christians ever made such sensitive remark that link Islam to immoral activities in Malaysia. I am believe that such person will be detained under ISA.

In condemning the National Fatwa Council, the Council of Churches of Malaysia also said the Council had erred in its inference that Valentine’s Day was a Christian observance.

Its general-secretary Rev Dr Herman Shastri said: “Although the word ‘Valentine’ draws some connection to St Valentine, church authorities have not endorsed the connection, be it Roman Catholic or Protestant.”

On Thursday, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom said the National Fatwa Council had decreed in 2005 that Muslims should refrain from celebrating Valentine’s Day as it was not part of Islamic practices.

The Malaysian Islamic Develop­ment Department (Jakim) launched an anti-Valentine’s Day campaign last night.

It also held a discourse on “Beware of Valentine’s Day Trap” during the launch in Putrajaya.

Jakim director-general Datuk Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abdul Aziz, in explaining Jakim’s call for Muslims to stay away from Valentine’s Day celebrations, said: “Islam promotes love and affection between people. There is nothing wrong in expressing it but when it crosses the boundary of decency, then we have to advise the young to stay away.”

Flyers were distributed to university students to remind them of the negative impact of Valentine’s Day.

Sermons delivered at mosques in the Federal Territory and Selangor during the Friday prayers yesterday also called on Muslims not to celebrate the occasion.

PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi said the wing would continue campaigning against Valentine’s Day celebration, adding that “we will not abandon our mission to save the younger generation from committing sins.”

Marlott : Najib Real Slogans are 1Malay First and 1Malaysia Second

Kuching
Saturday, 13th Feb 2011

Malaysia's national tourism agency promotes the country as "a bubbling bustling melting pot of races and religions where Malays, Indians, Chinese and many other ethnic groups live together in peace and harmony."

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak echoed this view when he announced his government's theme, One Malaysia. "What makes Malaysia unique," Mr. Najib said, "is the diversity of our peoples. One Malaysia's goal is to preserve and enhance this unity in diversity, which has always been our strength and remains our best hope for the future."

If Mr. Najib is serious about achieving that goal, a long look in the mirror might be in order first. Despite the government's new catchphrase, racial and religious tensions are higher today than when Mr. Najib took office in 2009. Indeed, they are worse than at any time since 1969, when at least 200 people died in racial clashes between the majority Malay and minority Chinese communities. The recent deterioration is due to the troubling fact that the country's leadership is tolerating, and in some cases provoking, ethnic factionalism through words and actions.

For instance, when the Catholic archbishop of Kuala Lumpur invited the prime minister for a Christmas Day open house last December, Hardev Kaur, an aide to Mr. Najib, said Christian crosses would have to be removed.

There could be no carols or prayers, so as not to offend the prime minister, who is Muslim. Ms. Kaur later insisted that she "had made it clear that it was a request and not an instruction," as if any Malaysian could say no to a request from the prime minister's office.

Similar examples of insensitivity abound. In September 2009, Minister of Home Affairs Hishammuddin Onn met with protesters who had carried the decapitated head of a cow, a sacred animal in the Hindu religion, to an Indian temple. Mr. Hishammuddin then held a press conference defending their actions. Two months later, Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told Parliament that one reason Malaysia's armed forces are overwhelmingly Malay is that other ethnic groups have a "low spirit of patriotism." Under public pressure, he later apologized.

The leading Malay language newspaper, Utusan Melayu, prints what opposition leader Lim Kit Siang calls a daily staple of falsehoods that stoke racial hatred. Utusan, which is owned by Mr. Najib's political party, has claimed that the opposition would make Malaysia a colony of China and abolish the Malay monarchy. It regularly attacks Chinese Malaysian politicians, and even suggested that one of them, parliamentarian Teresa Kok, should be killed.

This steady erosion of tolerance is more than a political challenge. It's an economic problem as well. Once one of the developing world's stars, Malaysia's economy has underperformed for the past decade. To meet its much-vaunted goal of becoming a developed nation by 2020, Malaysia needs to grow by 8% per year during this decade. That level of growth will require major private investment from both domestic and foreign sources, upgraded human skills, and significant economic reform. Worsening racial and religious tensions stand in the way.

Almost 500,000 Malaysians left the country between 2007 and 2009, more than doubling the number of Malaysian professionals who live overseas. It appears that most were skilled ethnic Chinese and Indian Malaysians, tired of being treated as second-class citizens in their own country and denied the opportunity to compete on a level playing field, whether in education, business, or government. Many of these emigrants, as well as the many Malaysian students who study overseas and never return (again, most of whom are ethnic Chinese and Indian), have the business, engineering, and scientific skills that Malaysia needs for its future.

They also have the cultural and linguistic savvy to enhance Malaysia's economic ties with Asia's two biggest growing markets, China and India. Of course, one could argue that discrimination isn't new for these Chinese and Indians. Malaysia's affirmative action policies for its Malay majority-which give them preference in everything from stock allocation to housing discounts-have been in place for decades. So what is driving the ethnic minorities away now?

First, these minorities increasingly feel that they have lost a voice in their own government. The Chinese and Indian political parties in the ruling coalition are supposed to protect the interests of their communities, but over the past few years, they have been neutered. They stand largely silent in the face of the growing racial insults hurled by their Malay political partners. Today over 90% of the civil service, police, military, university lecturers, and overseas diplomatic staff are Malay. Even Talent Corp, the government agency created in 2010 that is supposed to encourage overseas Malaysians to return home, is headed by a Malay, with an all-Malay Board of Trustees. Second, economic reform and adjustments to the government's affirmative action policies are on hold. Although Mr. Najib held out the hope of change a year ago with his New Economic Model, which promised an "inclusive" affirmative action policy that would be, in Mr. Najib's words, "market friendly, merit-based, transparent and needs-based," he has failed to follow through. This is because of opposition from right-wing militant Malay groups such as Perkasa, which believe that a move towards meritocracy and transparency threatens what they call "Malay rights."

But stalling reform will mean a further loss in competitiveness and slower growth. It also means that the cronyism and no-bid contracts that favor the well-connected will continue. All this sends a discouraging signal to many young Malaysians that no matter how hard they study or work, they will have a hard time getting ahead.

Mr. Najib may not actually believe much of the rhetoric emanating from his party and his government's officers, but he tolerates it because he needs to shore up his Malay base. It's politically convenient at a time when his party faces its most serious opposition challenge in recent memory-and especially when the opposition is challenging the government on ethnic policy and its economic consequences. One young opposition leader, parliamentarian Nurul Izzah Anwar, the daughter of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, has proposed a national debate on what she called the alternative visions of Malaysia's future-whether it should be a Malay nation or a Malaysian nation. For that, she earned the wrath of Perkasa; the government suggested her remark was "seditious."

Malaysia's government might find it politically expedient to stir the racial and religious pot, but its opportunism comes with an economic price tag. Its citizens will continue to vote with their feet and take their money and talents with them. And foreign investors, concerned about racial instability and the absence of meaningful economic reform, will continue to look elsewhere to do business.