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Extracted
From Malaysiakini
Rein in your
companies, activists tell M’sia
Fauwaz
Abdul Aziz
Dec 18,
Malaysian companies are acquiring global recognition for the wrong
reasons, said environmental groups who want the government to rein in these companies
whose operations have destroyed the environment and human communities.
Logging and palm oil companies, in particular, are the main culprits behind
violations ranging from abuse of environmental regulations to the destruction
of cultural and social systems, and even violence and other human rights abuses
against members of local communities.
This was the judgement of several regional environmental and indigenous
peoples' non-governmental organisations (NGO) when met on the sidelines of a
three-day conference in the Copthorne Orchid Hotel in
Entitled 'In Defense of Ancestral Domains', the event was jointly-organised by
the Sahabat Alam
Celcor principal lawyer Damien Ase said
the logging industry in
"In countries of origin of the logging companies -
He said that logging operations routinely destroy the food sources, water
supplies and cultural property and, thus, the livelihood of those same
communities. They also provide a breeding ground for arms smuggling, corruption
and violence across the country, he added.
Korean and Japanese companies are also involved in the logging industry in
Suits
against Rimbunan Hijau
The largest of the companies, Sarawak-based Rimbunan Hijau, holds 80 percent of
the logging concessions in Papua New Guinea and accounts for one-third of the country's
raw log exports, said Ase.
The activities of the company extend well beyond forestry and into the finance
sector, the media, information technology, property, retailing, commercial
printing, travel and shipping Ase added.
At a press conference this morning held on the matter, lawyer for
the
They range from alleged non-compliance with regulations pertaining to the
company's logging concessions as well as issues of alleged human rights
violations.
The enormous share of profits that these logging companies gain from their
ventures as well as the costs of their activities to the environment and local
communities do not tally with the economic benefits received by the local and
forest communities, said Ase.
"The entire logging industry contributes only five per cent to the
national budget," Ase pointed out.
Timber
laundering
Meanwhile, the regional trade campaigner for Indonesian anti-illegal logging
organisation Telapak - Muhd Yayat Afianto - said the group had last year
submitted to the authorities evidence of the involvement of Malaysian companies
in the laundering and export of illegal timber.
Citing evidence acquired through joint-field work with the UK-based
Environmental Investigations Agency (EIA), Yayat said they had gathered proof
of one company that was responsible for the 'green-washing' of about 50,000
square meters of logs monthly.
The company, a subsidiary of a state-owned development corporation, brings in
timber felled from Indonesian national parks across the border into
"For a fee of RM22 for every cubic meter, the timber is measure
and graded and Malaysian paperwork issued, laundering the stolen timber and
easing its eventual export," he said.
In this way, said Yayat, at least eight million cubic meters of stolen
Indonesian timber is exported through such Malaysian ports as in Melaka, Batu
Pahat, Muar and Port Klang to the US, Europe, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong,
Japan, India, and China.
Yayat also cited a list released in 2005 by the Indonesian police of 16
Malaysians wanted for their involvement in illegal logging activities who have
yet to be apprehended by the Malaysian authorities.
Though other nationals involved, Malaysians are the largest financial backers
of the illegal logging industry, said Yayat.
Causing
haze
Executive director of Walhi's Riau chapter Johny Setiawan Mundung, said
Malaysian companies were among 123 plantation companies in Riau responsible for
the haze this year that had until a few months ago had enveloped the region.
Johny said Walhi had pictures derived from field work and satellite photography
that identified five Malaysian companies on whose plantations in Riau fire hot
spots had occurred thereby contributing to the haze.
"Unfortunately, despite having forwarded the evidence to the authorities,
no action has been taken against the culprits although burning for purposes of
clearing land is illegal," said Johny.
He added that there were seven other Malaysian plantation companies in
Johny expressed regret that the only persons arrested in Riau over
the burnings were 58 local persons from the indigenous community, said Johny,
whereas their Malaysian and Indonesian superiors who had ordered the burnings
have been left alone.
In a statement endorsed by Indonesian, Papua New Guinean and Malaysian NGOs,
the government was urged to fulfill its 'moral obligation' to the people of
"The government of
"We totally support the call of the Indonesian and Papua New Guinean NGOs.
As a Malaysian, I am outraged that the government of