Sarawak: Jabu Family Cash In On Native Lands

Jabu Family Cash In On Native Lands

Monday, January 10th, 2011 GMT

This post is also available in: Iban, Malay

Barbara Dubah Jabu, a wealthy match for her new husband with so much land taken from Iban NCR lands and handed to her by the state

News is circulating in the Betong area that Deputy Chief Minster’s family has just cashed in on Native Lands handed to them by the State of Sarawak (thanks to his political ally the Chief Minister, who is also the Planning and Resources Minister and Chairman of the Land Custody and Development Authority).

They are believed to have made a sale to FELCRA for RM 7 million. Not bad for lands that have been extracted from their rightful owners for a pittance!

Sarawak Report wonders if either FELCRA, which as a public federal body should publish all such purchases and deals (especially if the families of government Ministers are profiting from them) or indeed Jabu himself would confirm which of his many land acquisitions have been sold on in this way?

Or perhaps the lawyer handling the deal, Ani Solep, Advocate and Solicitor, would be so good as to make public the details of such a sale of once public lands to a public body?

Over shadowed by the Star Attraction? - Taib brings his own bride now revealed to be named Puan Sri Ragad Waleed Alkurdi

Taib’s chief Iban land-grab crony

It is, of course, well-known that it is not just the Chief Minister and his family who have been grabbing native customary lands for themselves. His Deputy, Jabu, is famous for having hugely profited also from land hand-outs in return for his total political loyalty.

Jabu has acquired enormous tracts of land for himself and his family during his lucrative years as Deputy to Taib Mahmud. Given his modest official salary and poor family background, it is inconceivable that he could have managed to raise the sums needed to buy these areas (now worth many millions of ringgit) if he had paid the market price.

However, as Taib’s political secretary Karim Hamza so recently explained, BN regard it as a perk of political office to take advantage of the “business opportunities” of land that might be offered to you “at a very cheap price”. The rest of the world regards this as corruption.

Enough to cover the wedding!

Jabu’s daughter Barbara, of course, got married this very weekend in great splendour. The Chief Minister and his own surprise new young wife attended the ceremony. Our exclusive photographs show that the bride and groom decked themslves out in full traditional Iban costumes to celebrate their union, but the real Iban population of their home areas and longhouses will be wondering how much of all this lavish entertainment was paid for at their expense?

How much of Jabu’s unexplained wealth has been gained from exploiting their own Iban people by receiving

Top table - nothing but the best for the Jabu wedding

lands taken by the state and then sold to him and his family at a very cheap price?

Herba Aromatics – owned by Jabu children

For example, was the land sold to Felcra for RM7 million the approximately 2,000 hectare plot that was recently handed by Taib to a company called Herba Aromatics? The owners of Herba Aromatics are none other than Gerald Rentap Jabu, the Deputy Chief Minister’s own son and his daughter, the newly wedded Barbara! A close family crony and cousin, Robert Lawson Chuat also enjoys some shares.

This land was ‘purchased’ from the state in 2008 for an agreed price of just over RM 1 million and is located in Lidong Road area, Betong. This is all Native Customary Rights Land belonging to Jabu’s own Iban people and it is of course worth a great deal more than this. In fact the land registry admits that the area is currently used for integrated farming purposes, proving that it belongs to the natives and not to the state – far less to Mr Jabu’s, who has now acquired it for such a low price.

All for the kids? - Jabu's kids are named as the owners, but his influence got them the land! As of this year they still had not paid the State for the acquisition.

How much did the real owners receive?

Crony politics - Jabu has received a wealth of lands from his boss. The lands were taken from the people of Sarawak.

We therefore wish to enquire how much Jabu’s children paid the natives, whose land they alienated? Many natives are angered in Betong that Jabu has acquired large tracts of Iban land in the area by paying the owners a laughable RM500 a door. Less than a month’s wage in Kuching for their entire lifelong inheritance!

Often this RM 500 a door compensation has in fact been paid to Headmen on behalf of members of their longhouses. Often these families did not even know that their land was being traded in this way and did not even receive the money! Such practices are of course illegal and some families are now seeking legal advice to proceed against their exploiters.

Just as outrageously, we can inform you that even the minimal sum which Jabu’s children were supposed to be paying the state for this area of valuable land ( taken from its rightful Iban owners), had yet to be paid earlier this year – a full two years after they had kindly received it from the Chief Minister!

Don't worry Mr Jabu, feel free to pay later. The State of Sarawak would not want you out of pocket before you have sold it on for a massive profit!

Did the Chief Minister perhaps tell Jabu’s children that they didn’t need to find the money to pay the State of Sarawak until after they had sold it on to somebody else at a much higher market price? Would that sale perhaps have been to FELCRA for RM7 million?

Sarawak Report demands that the Land Registry make clear whether Jabu’s children have yet paid all the money owing for this land and if so when?

Easy profits for Government Ministers of Sarawak at the expense of poor native communities

Such a profit would certainly have paid for Barbara’s wedding and set her and her new husband up very nicely for the start of their married life (although it represents but a small fraction of the family fortune). They have done so much better than those rightful owners, who were given RM 500 a door (if they got it), haven’t they?

So, this is progress and development BN-style! It means enormous wealth for Government

Haven't they done well thanks to Daddy Jabu?

Ministers, who are supposed to serve the people, while the poor lose their lands and livelihoods to make them rich.

Of course it is up to the people of Sarawak whether they continue to allow themselves to be robbed in this way or demand their lands back, which is what the opposition parties promise to do!

SARAWAK - Taib Robbing Natives' Land

New Outrage – Taking Care of My Son By Robbing My People!

SARAWAK REPORT

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010 GMT

This post is also available in: Iban

Another chunk of Sarawak handed to the Taibs?

Sarawak Report has uncovered an explosive situation in Sri Aman, where we can reveal that the Chief Minister is in the very process of trying to sell off land which he gave free to his son, for a multi-million ringgit profit.

The 22,000 acres in question (8,800 hectares) is in Bijat Land District, Sungai Tisak. It is established Native Customary Rights Land belonging to Ibans, according to Sadia the Iban rights group. They say at least 15 communities will be affected by the acquisition of the land for oil palm plantation, however no warning has been given to these communities and no offer of compensation has been made.

Is this what the State Government means by “more aggressive conversion”

Local Iban people, who say that loggers moved into their area unannounced 4 months ago, have only just discovered the situation that is unfolding and they have reacted in fury. No one has informed them who the loggers are and they did not know about the involvement of Taib’s son in plans to convert their area to oil palm!

One resident, who contacted Sarawak Report exclaimed ”Imagine they are going to make millions of ringgit and the Dayak suffer!”.

The development comes just days after Minister James Masing on behalf of the State Government informed journalists that BN is planning a “more aggressive conversion” of Native Customary Rights Lands in Sarawak to oil palm plantation. This, despite international condemnation of the destruction of the environment and the illegal abuse of the human rights of the Dayak. If they win the next election BN plan to DOUBLE the area of oil palm to 2 million hectares by 2020.

Abu Bekir (Taib's son) is the main shareholder of Titanium Management

Clear corruption

It is clear who is going to make the money from this land deal and so-called ‘development’. It is not for nothing that the local people have been kept in the dark about the whole plan that was hatched in the Land Survey Department, which Taib Mahmud controls as Minister of Planning and Resource Management.

As long ago as December 2008 the land was officially handed to Titanium Management Sdn Bhd, a company that is mostly owned by his son and a well-known business crony of his, Chris Chung. Titanium Management has been involved in a number of high-profile scandals over its receipt of state contracts in recent years, for which there seemed no qualification beyond the son’s relationship to the father. This large area of valuable land was given to Taib’s son in returned for an unspecified “payment in kind”! Such ‘payments in kind’ are a favourite method of doing business between the Sarawak government (run by Taib) and his own family members and it means that no payment has been properly identified. Effectively this NCR land belonging to the Ibans was given for free and without compensation, unless the Taibs can come up with a convincing explanation!

Disgraceful attempts to make a fat profit

Experienced businessman? Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib

Titanium’s Manager, the above mentioned Mr Chris Chung, is now known to be attempting to hawk the land to the Malaysian Government body FELCRA. Sarawak Report would like to ask if this is what is meant by ‘applying for Federal Government assistance to develop land in Sarawak’ that BN’s James Masing also referred to in his announcement? In which case all the Federal money will go to Taib’s son and his crony alone.

Chung is believed to be asking FECRA for at least RM 3,200 per acre, but is trying to secure RM 4,200 per acre. This would make a windfall profit to Titanium Management’s shareholders of between RM 70 million and RM 93 million! All for land they were handed for free by Daddy!

This may be a case of ’Kind Papa’ looking after his kids, but it is also a case of a cruel, ruthless and greedy despot grabbing land from his people to hand to his own already wealthy family. Taib said recently “I have more money than I can ever spend, so I leave it to my children to look after”. Why must he then continue to rob his people?

This is happening all over Sarawak and BN plans to double the land it takes

The pattern of activity here, right by the town of Sri Aman, has been repeated countless times all over Sarawak. Nicholas Mujah from Sadia, when notified of this particular case by Sarawak Report confirmed that to take Native Customary Land in this way without notification is an abuse of the law.

Indeed it is only later this morning (Thursday) that 16 Headmen are due to meet officials at the District Land Office, after being summoned just two days ago by letter. The Headmen were given no inkling in their letter of what they have been summoned for but they suspect that it relates to this removal of their land. If so the notification has come more than two years AFTER the deed has officially taken place!

On the other hand, our information suggests that Taib’s son has yet to succeed in closing his deal with FELCRA, most likely because he and his business partner have been too greedy in the price they are asking. If this is the case there may still be a chance for the Ibans to frustrate what has clearly been an illegal transaction!

In similar deals, Taib’s family have been very quick to sell on their shares and take their profits along with some shares in the subsequent plantation business. On this occasion, faced with such exposure, the buyers may feel wary of proceeding.

Likelihood of a bitter battle ahead

Soon to be taken for another oil palm plantation

Certainly, there is every sign that the Ibans of Sri Aman will not take this land grab lying down. Community leaders indicated, on discovering the situation today on Radio Free Sarawak, that they will fight the development. The offices of the opposition PKR leader, the human rights lawyer Baru Bian, is already handling similar land rights cases in the Sri Aman area and this one is likely to join 200 which they are now representing through the courts. Recently decisions have been going against the Chief Minister and his Government in the wake of a key ruling in the Federal Courts that recognised the land rights of the people.

Caught red-handed and in the middle of his sneaky transaction to enrich his family, this will be a particularly difficult and embarrassing situation for the Chief Minister to attempt to argue his way out of. But the likelihood is that he will as usual react by saying nothing at all!

Selangor water protesters tear-gassed

Selangor water protesters tear-gassed

UPDATED @ 05:17:44 PM 05-12-2010

By Boo Su-Lyn

December 05, 2010

Riot police begin firing their water cannons to disperse a crowd gathered for Selangor’s water rally in KL, December 5, 2010. — Picture by Jack Ooi

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — Riot police fired tear gas and used water cannons on at least 1,000 protesters near the KL Railway Station as they marched to the Istana Negara today to rally against a potential bailout of Selangor water utility companies.

Hundreds of protestors sought refuge at the Railway Station to avoid the police action after they started their march from the National Mosque.

Riot police later turned the water cannons on those who had gone back to the National Mosque despite organisers announcing an end to the rally shortly before 3pm.

The rally ended about 4pm when Pakatan Rakyat leaders appealed to the crowd at the National Mosque to disperse under the watch of phalanxes of fully-armed riot police.

Kuala Lumpur deputy police chief Senior Asst Commissioner Datuk Amar Singh promises to release those detained earlier to ensure a swift dispersal. It is understood that nearly 50 have been detained with
most of them held at the Police Field Force facility in Cheras.

“It is our guarantee that they will all be freed. So please disperse yourself.” he told the crowd.

Several policemen had earlier charged at more than 1,000 protesters, some of whom ran to seek sanctuary at the mosque. The crowd has so far remained at the vicinity of the National Mosque after failing to break through police barricades, water cannons and teargas.

The action at the National Mosque began after police had allowed a group of protesters through to deliver a memorandum the Yang di-Pertuan Agong seeking support for Selangor’s takeover of the
state’s water industry.

According to witnesses, police used tear gas and water cannons on the crowd after allowing Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and several state exco members to proceed to the Istana Negara.

“The MB and excos are inside the Istana gates. Submitting the memorandum. Or attempting to,” tweeted Khalid’s aide Tricia Yeoh.

In a statement issued this evening, the Selangor Mentri Besar’s office said Khalid handed the memorandum containing 250,000 signatures to Istana Negara public relations officer Khairi Abdul Rahman at 2.15pm.

The five-point memorandum asked among others that water rights to be handed back to the state.

Meanwhile, Kota Damansara assemblyman Dr Nasir Hashim was escorted by the police to Selangor’s water rally at the National Mosque, shortly after being detained earlier at the KL Sentral transport hub.

Apart from the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) chairman, two other PSM members who had been detained — Shah Alam councillor A. Sivarajan and party secretary-general S. Arulchelvam — were also escorted to the National Mosque, said Subang MP R. Sivarasa’s personal assistant, Peter Chong.

“The three were officially released and sent in a police car to the National Mosque,” Chong told The Malaysian Insider today.

The three had been held in the morning at the KL Sentral on their way to the Selangor water protest that began this morning at the National Mosque.

Witnesses said the trio were later re-arrested for being in the vicinity of the Istana Negara but police have yet to confirm.

The crowd later dispersed from the National Mosque after PAS central committee member and Kuala Selangor MP Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad pleaded with them.

“We guarantee that the last person standing will be freed. So we ask everyone to disperse,” he told the protesters, most of whom were clad in red.

More than 40 people at the rally were detained, said Chong.

“About 40 plus people were arrested. They are being taken to the Cheras police station,” Chong told The Malaysian Insider.

“Dr Nasir, Sivarajan, and Arulchelvam were rearrested, but they were just released again,” he added.

Earlier at the National Mosque at about 1.30 pm, Khalid called on the Sultan to support the Selangor government’s efforts to control the state’s water industry by upholding the Water Services Industry Act
2006.

“We humbly request the Tuanku to uphold the spirit and aim of the Water Services Industry Act 2006, which is to restructure the water services industry into one that is holistic and managed by the Selangor state government. We call upon Tuanku to remind the federal government of this,” he said in a speech at the National Mosque.

The Selangor mentri besar further accused Putrajaya of practising cronyism by backing the water concessionaires.

“It is the perception of the people that the federal government sides with the private sector, in this case a particular company, which is equivalent to cronyism,” said Khalid.

“The rakyat has to now pay high water rates and Malaysian taxpayers are forced to undertake the risk of Syabas’s business. We call upon the Tuanku to remind the federal government of their promise to end
cronyism,” he said.

Dr Dzulkefly told reporters later at the National Mosque that he would inform Parliament about the “excessive” police force used against the protestors, some of whom were women and children.

“It is excessive use of force,” said Dr Dzulkefly.

“It is unfortunate that the police used unwarranted force. We’ll raise this in Parliament,” he added.

Khalid’s administration is fighting for the rights over the water industry and promised to provide the first 20 cubic metres water for free and maintain 12 per cent increase in water tariff, compared to Syabas’ plans of a 25 per cent increase in 2012 and a 20 per cent increase in 2015.

Sources told The Malaysian Insider recently that Selangor water bondholders will urge Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to intervene directly in the state’s water restructuring deadlock in an effort to safeguard their bonds from being further downgraded.

The Malaysian Insider understands that major bondholders — including CIMB Principal Asset Management, Hong Leong Investment Bank and Great Eastern Life — have drafted a joint letter to Najib asking the federal government to bail out Syabas with a soft loan worth some RM1 billion.

In the letter, the bondholders contend that further downgrades of debt ratings will put capital markets at risk and will seriously impede the government’s effort to promote its Capital Markets Masterplan.

Putrajaya bailed out Syabas once already last year when it gave a RM320.8 million soft loan to parent company Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd (PNHB) in December to help settle its debts to water treatment
concessionaires.

Selangor’s water players — Syabas, Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB), Syarikat Pengeluaran Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash) and Konsortium ABASS — are at risk of debt payment default as water bonds
approach their maturity dates.

The debt service problem started when Syabas was barred from implementing a 37 per cent tariff hike agreed upon in January 2009, after the Selangor government claimed the sole water distributor had
not done enough to reduce leakages which cost the state millions.

This in turn led to payment problems between Syabas and water treatment concessionaires PNSB, Splash and Konsortium ABASS, who supply it with treated water.

Selangor water concessionaires are also already in technical default owing to the shortfall of money in the reserve account.

The Malaysian Insider understands that the reserve account, meant to hold at least six months’ worth of bond repayment money, is currently short by some RM50 million.

This shortfall may double in six months if the current water consolidation impasse remains unresolved.

The technical default triggered a downgrade of the debt issuances by Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd (MARC) and RAM Ratings Services Bhd on September 8, who warned of further multiple-notch downgrades in this quarter.

An industry source told The Malaysian Insider that bondholders suffered RM457 million in mark-to-market losses following the downgrade.

A statement by MARC at the time urged the federal and state governments to urgently interfere in the water industry’s restructuring negotiations to prevent a free fall of ratings in following months.

SARAWAK - Taib Share Shock !

Taib Share Shock ! – Exclusive

SARAWAKREPORT

Thursday, November 25th, 2010 GMT

Royal Mulu Hotel - Chief Minister owns shares in this state-funded enterprise

Sarawak Report can reveal that the Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, has a major personal shareholding in Sarawak’s highly controversial Royal Mulu Resort, a project that has received huge injections of cash from the State. This means that, as both Chief Minister and Finance Minister, Taib has authorised the diversion of large sums of public money straight into his own pocket.

As State Resources and Planning Minister, Taib was also responsible for the forced acquisition of a large area of Native Customary Lands from the indigenous Berawan tribe to build the resort, for which the tribespeople received virtually no compensation. Our evidence therefore further exposes him for having authorised this land-snatch for his own direct benefit.

His shareholding is in a company that was incorporated as recently as November 2007, Mesti Bersatu Sdn Bhd. This in turn has a 50% shareholding of the Taib/Mahmud family company Kenyalang Cergas, one of the main shareholders of Borsamulu Resorts Bhd (BRSB). BRSB was handed the ownership and lucrative management contract for what was once a state-owned National Park, thanks to a series of decisions by Taib’s own government starting in 1991. The management contract is paid for by the taxpayer!

In the money! - a decade ago the Geneids had nothing, now they are the toast of Malaysia's Tatler Ball 2010!

The other major beneficiaries and shareholders of the Royal Mulu Resort are members of his family, including his sister Raziah, her third husband Robert Geneid and the family of his late brother Arip Mahmud. Taib Mahmud has personally accused the Berawan people of being “greedy” for refusing to hand over their lands for ‘development’. Their peaceful protests in the 1990s were brutally put down by army and police and their leaders were imprisoned. Deprived of their territories, these communities are now impoverished and hungry and few people, apart from the Mahmud family, will have difficulty in discerning where the true greed lies.

This time it’s on record

The significance of this official confirmation of the Chief Minister’s own shareholding lies in the fact that Taib has normally sought to disguise his acquisitions and shareholdings in an attempt to avoid widespread allegations of corruption. He habitually uses members of his own family to hold shares on his behalf. Thus, the names of his many brothers and sisters, his late wife, his four children, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws are prominent as key shareholders in most of Sarawak’s important businesses.

Insiders have also told Sarawak Report that the elderly Chief Minister has employed a number of other devious methods to keep control of such companies until he is able to extract his wealth and invest it secretly abroad. These methods include forcing his nominees to sign undated resignation letters and share transfer forms, which he can use at any time to force their removal and employ somebody else as his front man or ‘nominee’!

Likewise, Sarawak Report has copies of US documents showing that shares which were publicly registered as belonging to family members were in fact secretly ‘held in trust’ for the Chief Minister himself.

Chief Minister’s name is in black and white in the Register of Companies

In black and white - Chief Minister Taib Mahmud declares his interest!

Mesti Bersatu Sdn Bhd therefore forms a notable exception, in that Taib declares his financial interest in black and white in Malaysia’s Company Register. It is likely to have been an oversight on his part and a sign of his growing confidence that he can do what he likes in Sarawak and get away with it.

He is registered both as a Director and a Shareholder of Mesti Bersatu and holds 400,000 shares out of the 2,300,000 total shares issued for the company. The other shareholders are his late brother Arif’s three wives (condoned under the Muslim faith) and two grown up daughters. At RM 1.00 per share, Taib’s shareholding represents an outlay of 400,000 ringgit.

Cheesy tourist welcome - the local tribespeople put on embarrassing display at the Royal Mulu Hotel (from the Geneid family facebook album)

The company is registered as having ‘No Operation’ at it’s Kuching address, but in fact owns half the shares in Kenyalang Cergas Bhd, which was set up in 1992 as a direct Shareholder of the Royal Mulu resort. The other Directors and Shareholders of Kenyalang Cergas are Taib’s sister Raziah and her current husband Robert Geneid, who were behind the original development of the resort and act as the main directors of the company. Crony timber tycoons the Yaw family, the owners of Samling, have also put money into the project, along with the architect from Singapore. Crucially the Sarawak State Government has also taken up an interest in the venture and has usefully pumped in large sums of life-saving injections of cash from the taxpayer over the years. That involvement was of course thanks to Taib Mahmud.

All thanks to Taib!

Raziah and Robert Geneid reportedly came up with the plan to develop Mulu, which is famous for its caves, in the early 90s, when Raziah was still married to her 2nd husband. In 1991, thanks to Taib Mahmud the Chief Minister, a decision was made by the Sarawak State Government to alienate land acquired in the National Park for a pitiful sum of RM 80 per acre from a local headman to their new family company the Royal Mulu Resort. The Geneids had no money or hotel experience, but Taib’s brother Arip, who had made money from another family venture Achipeligo Shipping (which has now developed into a separate major scandal over the allegations of billions made in timber kickbacks) invested in the venture.

Berawan land - who cares?

Given that the Chief Minister had alienated profitable state land into the hands of his unqualified sister and brother, the project was from the start corrupt. Even more corrupt has been the continuing support by the state of Sarawak, through the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation, of what has turned out to be a lamentably unprofitable venture. In the name of ‘developing tourism’ the SEDC has been paying what appear to be astronomical ‘management fees’ to the Geneids and their co-shareholders for running their own hotel investment!

This generosity has turned what would have been a disastrous investment and a failed venture into a major money-spinner for Raziah and Robert (the son of an Australian fruit-vendor) who appear to have turned the resort into something of a family forest playground, judging from family facebook sites. Indeed few actual tourists go there and most tourist guides warn visitors that the small sized National Park has long since been stripped of its wildlife by the effects of Taib’s logging activities in all the surrounding areas.

It is also, of course, thanks to Taib that awkward complaints by the local population have been so firmly suppressed by the full force of the state and police. Thus, while the Geneids party in luxury (arriving at their holiday hideaway via a specially-built airstrip that involved blowing off the top of a sacred mountain and taking more of the land that belonged to the natives), the local people have received none of the benefits of the much-trumpeted ’progress and development’.

Forest fun - canopy walk at Mulu. Berawan guides are not permitted

The Berawan tribe have now returned to court to fight the company’s forced acquisition (thanks to Taib’s government) of yet more of the NCR lands for a second extension of the resort as part of a deal to develop it further, in collaboration with the US-owned Marriott Hotel chain. So far they have received no compensation or recognition of their claims from Taib, despite the fact that previous governments did recognise their ownership of the land.

The Marriott Hotel chain appears to have no shame in participating in this deal, having already collaborated with Raziah Mahmud in developing the Marriott in Miri, again thanks to favours and land alienated by the government of Abdul Taib Mahmud.

However, Unesco which attributed World Heritage status to the site in 2000 has already signalled its own worries about the situation at Mulu. Its 2008 report into the management of World Heritage Sites raised the management of the park as an issue of concern. It states that the Chief Minister’s plan to flood great areas of Sarawak with dams could impact on the site and further points out that there have been reports that ”the benefits of tourism and World Heritage designation are not available to the indigenous groups. If these reports were confirmed” UNESCO states “this lack of engagement of local communities could threaten the effectiveness of management and impact the integrity of the property”. The UNESCO report requires reassurances by 2010, which can hardly have been forthcoming.

Local poor are dependent on tourist tips

Despite the usual bragging about ‘progress’ from AbdulTaib Mahmud, the ‘development’ of Mulu has predictably provided no compensation and little in the way of jobs for the local people. The Berawan are apparently banned from being guides in the park they know so well. In return these people have lost their lands and livelihoods and no longer have their hunting grounds. The Geneids and their government partners have therefore provided virtually nothing for the people who they have displaced, many of whom are starving hungry.

Progress and development at Royal Mulu - for the natives that is.

The once nomadic Penan of the area have likewise lost their hunting grounds, due to Taib-sponsored logging all around the actual park (which is on high ground and therefore does not have very interesting trees) and they are now living in shanty settlements on the fringes of the Berawan lands. Far from enjoying the fruits of modernisation they survive from making baskets for the few tourists who come to look at them from the resort hotel. So poor was the standard of housing provided by the Geneids in this ‘progress and development’ scheme that one such tourist himself put up the money to pay for the removal of mosquito-breeding swamps from beneath the settlement’s main longhouse, which had been a major discomfort and health hazard.

So how much has the Sarawak State paid to the Taib family to run Mulu?

Nevertheless, the taxpayer is still being forced to pay substantial sums to the Geneids in the name of ‘developing tourism’, for managing their own venture! The big question is exactly how much has Sarawak invested in this project that is now being taken up by the Marriott? Sarawak Report has ascertained that in 2007, the same year that Taib Mahmud openly acquired his shares in the company, a new contract was drawn up whereby the State was to pay even larger sums into the Borsamulu Resort Company, of which he was now publicly an owner.

Made from Ratan - bewildered Penan hunters reduced to a tourist attraction at Royal Mulu

Sarawak Report has been informed from reliable sources that the agreement was for Borsamulu’s management subsidiary to be paid RM 50 million a year for 50 years by the state. This means that the State of Sarawak has agreed to pay the Geneids and indeed the Chief Minister himself, RM 50 million a year to manage their own investment until the day they die! We therefore ask the Government of Sarawak if they will please confirm this figure and explain on what grounds they think they can condone such corruption?

Clearly these figures should be made public as it is the right of the people of Sarawak to be informed of the total sum of public money that has been poured into the Geneid’s forest playground since its inception in 1993 and they should also know how much more it is committed to spend.

Marriott Hotel

Sarawak Repot would also like to enquire of the Marriott Hotel Chain whether this continuing support by the Sarawak taxpayer forms part of their ’incentive’ for taking up a joint venture with the Geneids at Borsamulu Resort and also whether the company holds any ethical standards regarding human rights and the environmental impact of their activities? If so, how does their involvement in Borsamulu equate with these standards?

Marriott’s new business partners in their joint venture with Borsamulu Resort include the Chief Minister of Sarawak and his family, the State Government of Sarawak and the logging giant, Samling, recently condemned in an investigation into illegal logging by the Norwegian Government. Since Marriott are re-launching the resort under the auspices of eco-tourism and the Chief Minister and his family can only be described as one of the worst environmental menaces alive on this planet, we would like to ask Marriott how they are planning to deal with this contradictory arrangement?

'Eco-tourism' - a Geneid pal contributes to the destruction of the Mulu homeland of the Berawan Tribe

We would also like to enquire if Marriott can reveal the true identity of another of the major shareholders of Borsamulu, Widervale Assets Limited? We assume that in the course of doing their due diligence into the joint venture eco-tourism project they have identified the owner of this company, however in an instance of extreme irregularity it is not registered on the Malaysian Company Register, despite such a significant holding in a prominent state government-backed concern!

Given that Marriott Hotel Group’s promotional material regarding their planned acquisition of Mulu in 2011 claims confidence in the “eco-tourism potential” of the Royal Mulu Resort, Sarawak Report would finally like to ask on what criteria the Marriott Hotel Group judges ‘eco-tourism’? Their new business-partner, the Chief Minister of Sarawak, has sponsored the destruction of a huge segment of the Borneo rainforest, destroying the landscape of the whole of Sarawak. He authorised the logging of thousands of square miles of virgin rainforest surrounding the tiny Mulu National Park, eradicating most of the wild-life of the region, including inside the Park itself. In the process the local people and native forest tribes have been nearly starved into extinction and left to rot without a shred of compensation. Their protests have been put down by armed police.

We would therefore like to ask the Marriott Hotel Group how they intend to explain and justify these circumstance to their visiting ‘eco-tourists’ and indeed to concerned onlookers at UNESCO’s World Heritage Commission?

Radio Free Sarawak SPECIAL REPORTS

Radio Free Sarawak

SPECIAL REPORTS

Tuesday, 16 November 2010

HEAR THE TRANSMISSION HERE: http://radiofreesarawak.org/

Protest or pay for Selangor water rates hike

Khalid says protest or pay for Selangor water rates hike

Malaysia Insider

By Melissa Chi

November 13, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 13 — Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim told Selangor residents today that they either protest or pay higher rates for water as his Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government launched a campaign against a potential bail-out of the privatised state utility.

The Selangor Mentri Besar kicked off the “Return water rights to the Selangor people” campaign which was attended by 500 people at the land office here, although they were aiming for 100,000 people to sign a memorandum to the King.

The state government plans to submit a memorandum to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on December 5 over the federal government’s possible bailout of Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas).

Top Selangor Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders informed The Malaysian Insider last night that the state’s move was part and parcel of a plan to “pressure” the Najib administration not to proceed with a multi-million ringgit bailout of the state’s privatised water industry, and that state-wide ceramahs and gatherings had already been planned in advance to mobilise the numbers needed to attend the December 5 gathering at Istana Negara.

However, Khalid (picture) told reporters today the main goal is to create awareness among the people, when asked if he was confident that the people’s support could pressure the federal government and water concessionaires to give in.

“It’s the people, it could be more than 100,000. I don’t really worry. I don’t really care because after all, we’re taking money out of the people’s pocket. I’m just reminding the people that if you don’t do this, then you have to pay for it,” he said.

Khalid said the government will get council members, Village Development and Security Committee (JKKK) members, aduns, member of parliaments, village chiefs, surau and mosque members to commit their support of the memorandum. He said that group comes up to about 30,000 people.

He said if each of them can get ten people to sign up, then they will easily have about 300,000 signatures.

The state government is fighting for the rights over the water industry and promised to provide the first 20 cubic metres water for free and maintain 12 per cent increase in water tariff, compared to Syabas’ plans of a 20 per cent increase by 2015.

Selangor’s water players — Syabas, Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB), Syarikat Pengeluaran Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash) and Konsortium ABASS — are at risk of debt payment default as water bonds approach their maturity dates.

The debt service problem started when Syabas was barred from implementing a 37 per cent tariff hike agreed upon in January 2009, after the Selangor government claimed the sole water distributor had not done enough to reduce leakages which cost the state millions.

This in turn led to payment problems between Syabas and water treatment concessionaires PNSB, Splash and Konsortium ABASS, who supply it with treated water.

Khalid insisted that privatisation is not the solution for the state’s complex water issue.

“You’re talking about privatisation. The idea of privatisation is to bring efficiency and also better prices. I know a lot of people are very cynical about privatisation in Malaysia. They don’t call it privatisation, they call it ‘pirate-isation’,” he quipped.

PR leaders have insisted that a bailout would only rescue Barisan Nasional (BN) “cronies” who have profited “tremendously” from the government’s privatisation exercise.

“Our research shows that 20 cubic metres is enough for a family but with a swimming pool or if it’s used for business, that won’t be enough ... so if you use more, you have to pay for it,” the Mentri Besar said.

He assured that under the state’s control, the water concessionaires will not operate at a loss.

“It is time for us to have a movement to open the government’s eyes that water is the people’s rights.

“By taking over the water industry, the state government can make sure that price for water will not go up and the efficiency of handling the water supply can be improved,” he assured.

Tony Pua, DAP national publicity secretary told The Malaysian Insider last night, that the state government had planned 60 events from this week leading up to the date for the handing over of the memorandum.

“We have started the campaign to create awareness over the issue, prepared around 60 ceramahs around the state within the next three to four weeks. The ceramahs include with special focus groups, civil societies as well as church groups,” said Pua.

He added that during the functions, the Opposition leaders plan to zoom on the failure of Syabas to fulfil the concessionaire agreement, the history of privatisation, the high fees charged for privatised water in the country. They will also address the government’s multimillion bailout instead of forcing them to consolidate assets of concessionaires and place it under control, purview of the state government.

Sources told The Malaysian Insider recently that Selangor water bondholders will urge Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to intervene directly in the state’s water restructuring deadlock in an effort to safeguard their bonds from being further downgraded.

The Malaysian Insider understands that major bondholders — including CIMB Principal Asset Management, Hong Leong Investment Bank and Great Eastern Life — have drafted a joint letter to Najib asking the federal government to bail out Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) with a soft loan worth some RM1 billion.

In the letter, the bondholders contend that further downgrades of debt ratings will put capital markets at risk and will seriously impede the government’s effort to promote its Capital Markets Masterplan.

Putrajaya bailed out Syabas once already last year when it gave a RM320.8 million soft loan to parent company Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd (PNHB) in December to help settle its debts to water treatment concessionaires.

It is understood that the bondholders intend to issue a separate letter to the Selangor state government by early December at the latest to push for a speedy resolution of the state’s water woes.

All four term-loan borrowers are already in technical default following their inability to maintain six months’ worth of reserves in a special account used to pay bondholders. The shortfall is understood to be some RM50 million, although this deficit could double in six months.

The technical default triggered a downgrade of the debt issuances by Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd (MARC) and RAM Ratings Services Bhd on September 8, who warned of further multiple-notch downgrades in this quarter. An industry source told The Malaysian Insider that bondholders suffered RM457 million in mark-to-market losses following the downgrade.

A statement by MARC at the time urged the federal and state governments to urgently interfere in the water industry’s restructuring negotiations to prevent a free fall of ratings in following months.

Dangerous Chemicals in Food Wrappers Likely Migrating to Humans

Dangerous Chemicals in Food Wrappers Likely Migrating to Humans

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2010) — University of Toronto scientists have found that chemicals used to line junk food wrappers and microwave popcorn bags are migrating into food and being ingested by people where they are contributing to chemical contamination observed in blood.

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Perfluorinated carboxylic acids or PFCAs are the breakdown products of chemicals used to make non-stick and water- and stain-repellent products ranging from kitchen pans to clothing to food packaging. PFCAs, the best known of which is perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), are found in humans all around the world.

"We suspected that a major source of human PFCA exposure may be the consumption and metabolism of polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters or PAPs," says Jessica D'eon, a graduate student in the University of Toronto's Department of Chemistry. "PAPs are applied as greaseproofing agents to paper food contact packaging such as fast food wrappers and microwave popcorn bags."

In the U of T study, rats were exposed to PAPs either orally or by injection and monitored for a three-week period to track the concentrations of the PAPs and PFCA metabolites, including PFOA, in their blood. Human exposure to PAPs had already been established by the scientists in a previous study. Researchers used the PAP concentrations previously observed in human blood together with the PAP and PFCA concentrations observed in the rats to calculate human PFOA exposure from PAP metabolism.

"We found the concentrations of PFOA from PAP metabolism to be significant and concluded that the metabolism of PAPs could be a major source of human exposure to PFOA, as well as other PFCAs," says Scott Mabury, the lead researcher and a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto.

"This discovery is important because we would like to control human chemical exposure, but this is only possible if we understand the source of this exposure. In addition, some try to locate the blame for human exposure on environmental contamination that resulted from past chemical use rather than the chemicals that are currently in production.

"In this study we clearly demonstrate that the current use of PAPs in food contact applications does result in human exposure to PFCAs, including PFOA. We cannot tell whether PAPs are the sole source of human PFOA exposure or even the most important, but we can say unequivocally that PAPs are a source and the evidence from this study suggests this could be significant."

Regulatory interest in human exposure to PAPs has been growing. Governments in Canada, the United States and Europe have signaled their intentions to begin extensive and longer-term monitoring programs for these chemicals. The results of this investigation provide valuable additional information to such regulatory bodies to inform policy regarding the use of PAPs in food contact applications.

The study was conducted by Jessica D'eon and Scott Mabury of the University of Toronto's Department of Chemistry and is published November 8 in Environmental Health Perspectives. Research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.