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Extracted from Malaysiakini
Police accused of defending Taib family's interests
Keruah Usit
Jun 23, 10,
Raziah Mahmud (right), sister to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, sits on the board of directors of Lee Ling's parent company, Quality Concrete.
According
to indigenous rights advocate, the Bruno Manser
Foundation (BMF), Lee Ling drove three plainclothes police officers, in company
vehicles, to the site of the makeshift blockades across Lee Ling's
timber track near Long Sebayang
on Sunday.
![](http://brimas.www1.50megs.com/malaysiakini_23Jun10_files/image003.jpg")
The police officers, one
reportedly armed with a pistol, ordered the indigenous villagers manning the
blockade to dismantle the obstruction and allow Lee Ling to continue
extraction. One of the two blockades was taken down. According to locals, Lee
Ling intends to log the area and convert the land into a plantation.
The Lun Bawang, Penan and Tabun villagers from neighbouring villages had erected the peaceful blockades in
a desperate attempt to urge Lee Ling to negotiate with them over their
customary land rights. Such timber blockades have sprung up
all over
Violence at blockade site
Taib's government does not recognise Native Customary Rights (
The
Aking Anung, a Penan villager
from Long Keneng, made a
police report in Limbang, stating he had been
attacked at the timber blockade by a manager at the Lee Ling timber camp named
“Ah New”, on the day of the police visit. Aking alleged the manager threatened him with a 'parang' (machete).
Bita Pelisi, a villager standing at the blockade, gave an
account of a second violent assault. He reported that “Ah New” struck him on
the face and left him bleeding from the nose, after the police left. The Lee
Ling worker then threatened the villagers, saying he would bring in “more
gangsters to the blockade site”.
“Our communities need support and we ask you to spread this news worldwide,” appealed a community spokesperson, according to the BMF.
The BMF has called on Lee
Ling to stop violence against the villagers, and “respect the communities'
legitimate demands”. The NGO has urged the police to “investigate these
incidents and stop colluding with Lee Ling Timber”.
Lee Ling is controlled by timber tycoon Tiang
Chiin Yew. The company,
based in Kuching, is a subsidiary of conglomerate
Quality Concrete, listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. Raziah Mahmud
is an independent non-executive director of Quality Concrete.
Neither Lee Ling nor Limbang police have been willing
to provide any comment on the Long Sebayang
incidents.
Business empire all in Taib's family
This latest news has added to recent scrutiny of the domination of 
Taib and his brother Onn Mahmud were implicated
in the Regent Star scandal in 2007, involving allegations of kickbacks of RM32 million from Japanese timber
importers. Taib's family
has also been reported to own the Hilton Hotel
in
But the embattled chief minister remains confident of holding on to power in
the upcoming state assembly elections, due by next May. Taib has not announced the date of the state
elections yet, but has already started his appeal to rural voters.
“The bumiputeras are
humble. They know they are poor and in difficulty. So they place high hopes in
the government to help them out,” Taib
said, according to Bernama.
He said the Malays, Ibans, Melanaus and other natives voted
mainly for Taib's Barisan Nasional in the May 16 Sibu by-election, and had
been “humble enough to recognise that they still
depend on a working government for their fate”.
Sarawak PKR chief
“It is his own admission after being the chief minister for the last 29 years
that the 'bumi' are still
poor, a reflection of his own failure, notwithstanding his so-called 'politics
of development'. Obviously it was his 'politics 
of development' for his
own political benefit.”
Personal liability
Taib is painfully aware that he is a personal liability
in election campaigns in urban seats. Urban voters' sentiment has grown firmly
set against him. The
“In the coming election, we have no choice but to move on the ground and tell
the people all the ills and injustices brought about by the state government
headed by Taib...
“We are pleading and asking all right-thinking Sarawakians to move together with us to bring the
message of hope and reformation to the ordinary people, in particular those
from the Dayak, Malay, Melanau communities,” he said.
The
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