Extracted from Malaysiakini

Why the ROS is no friend of SAM

Keruah Usit | Dec 30, 09 11:43am

Registrar of Societies (ROS) Mohd Alias Kalil stirred up nationwide contempt when he threatened Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), an environmental protection NGO, with deregistration on Monday.

Mohd Alias said the NGO could be penalised if he had proof it was acting “against the nation’s interests”. However, he conceded that he had never received a single official complaint against SAM.

His remarks drew angry taunts that his office was allowing itself to be used as a tool of the ruling political elite, and was attempting to intimidate SAM and other NGOs into obsequious silence.

In fact, according to Section 13 of the Societies Act 1966, the ROS does not need any complaint to act against a registered body. He may cancel the registration of any society if the home minister orders him to, or if (among other reasons) the ROS “is satisfied that the society may be used for unlawful purposes or for purposes prejudicial to or incompatible with peace, welfare, good order or morality in Malaysia”.

Putting aside the trite observation that most racially-based Malaysian political parties ought to be deregistered based on this clause, the statute is certainly vague enough for SAM to be worried.

Essentially, the ROS may do as he pleases, as long as the minister backs him up.

Friends of the Rich

SAM, or Friends of the Earth Malaysia, was established in 1977 to stimulate a fledgling Malaysian interest in protecting our natural environment. SAM’s efforts have inevitably drawn the NGO into conflict with vested interests in timber, dam construction and oil palm plantation industries in Sarawak.

Sarawak is the epicentre of conflicts between the natives who depend on the forests, and those companies who intend to destroy it to make a quick fortune. The ROS made his pointed statements in Miri, not far from the flashpoints of Baram (where logging and plantation companies are bitterly opposed by local natives) and Belaga (where the new Murum mega-dam is displacing thousands of Penan villagers).

These industries devour forests and farmland, displacing the native Dayaks. The companies rely on the patronage of wealthy political leaders, and return the favour by funding these politicians to stay in power. These companies certainly resemble ‘Friends of the Rich’ far more closely than ‘Friends of the Earth’.

The resulting vicious cycle of the degradation of the environment, and the pollution of political life, has led to the creation of internal refugees and the loss of primeval rainforests, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak.

The imposition of Sarawak’s ‘Dasar Baru’ or ‘New Policy’ in oil palm, for example, has led to native landowners losing their Native Customary Rights (NCR) land to private plantation companies. Both ‘Dasar Baru’, and the more traditional invasion of forests by so-called ‘licensed’ logging companies have provoked blockades by natives across the companies’ access roads.

The money at stake is enormous, and well-worth shaking a big stick at. Oil palm exports earned a record RM65.2 billion for Malaysia in 2008. Timber and wood products brought in RM22.5 billion in the same year.

Global condemnation

SAM and other environmental NGOs have played a prominent role in bringing these conflicts to the attention of the global community. These NGOs have formed a bridge between local native communities under duress and concerned international NGOs. Worldwide condemnation has resulted.

Indeed, one trigger for the threatened crackdown on NGOs may be the recent reports splashed across the BBC’s webpages, highlighting the plight of Kayan farmers in Sarawak. The Kayan people say they have lost their farms and cocoa trees to the giant IOI oil palm plantation group.

Another red flag may have been the recent ban of a Malaysia Palm Oil television advertisement in the UK. The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority binned the advertisement, calling it “misleading”, following protests from Friends of the Earth International.

The voice-over in the advertisement claims palm oil is “a gift from nature, a gift for life”, while the text at the end reads “Malaysia Palm Oil Sustainably Produced Since 1917”. These platitudes sit uneasily beside reports of widespread deprivation, leading to the filing of over 100 NCR land rights court cases in Sarawak alone.

Malaysia’s authorities may now be taking out their frustrations on Friends of the Earth’s ‘little brother’ SAM.

Political bullying

Will the threats and intimidation prove to be effective? Malaysia’s civil society has endured vicious reprisals in the past, notably during the ‘Operation Lallang’ ISA arrests in 1987, and yet it continues to bloom.

Malaysia’s population as a whole has grown too. We have gained information and improved awareness of omnipresent corruption. We have come to recognise the perversion of using national institutions, such as our judiciary, the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), to stymie dissent.

The new political awareness among Malaysians of all ethnic groups, fed by the emergence of the digital media and new political parties, will make the task of silencing NGOs far more difficult than it was in 1987.

The outburst by the ROS may, in fact, serve only to galvanise NGOs to overcome their notorious internal bickering, and unite against a common threat: the overbearing state.

This shameful episode will also serve to highlight those institutions and statutes sorely in need of gutting and revamping, if ever a two-party system comes into being. The office of the Registrar of Societies and Section 13 of the Societies Act 1966 both stand out as examples long overdue for reform.

In conclusion, it is likely to matter little whether such threats are thinly veiled, or even stark naked. Civil society will stand up for themselves, against political bullying.

The crucial question is: Will the Malaysian public stand up for NGOs and civil society?
 

KERUAH USIT is a human rights activist - ‘anak Sarawak, bangsa Malaysia’. This weekly column is an effort to provide a voice for marginalised Malaysians. He can be contacted at keruah_usit@yahoo.com.