Extracted from Malaysiakini

Press meet ‘sabotaged’
Tony Thien
Dec 3, 05 5:26pm

A group of Sarawak NGOs who were stood up by 15 foreign journalists at a 'scheduled' press conference in Kuching to listen to their woes are claiming that they were sabotaged.

Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia) secretary-general Nicholas Mujah claimed today that the state authorities had lured the 15 journalists away from the press conference scheduled for this morning.

The press conference was initially planned to brief the journalists about native customary rights (NCR) land and forestry issues.

The 15 media personnel were part of 300 international participants attending the International Media and Environment Summit (IMES) in Kuching.

At the sidelines of the summit, Alexander Thomson managing-director of the London-based News World International had initially agreed to arrange a group of at least 15 journalist from various countries to meet Sadia and other NGOs.

However, Thomson told the Borneo Resources Institute Malaysia (BRIMAS) programme director Raymond Abin that none of the journalist would be attending the press conference, as they had either gone back to their respective countries, or were required to take part in post-conference tours.

Several representatives from various NGOs told malaysiakini that they were not surprised by the no-show.

They claimed that their protest yesterday outside the hotel where the summit was held, had embarrassed the state government, and thus the alleged sabotage was a means of damage control.

Legalising illegal timber

In another development, another Sarawakian NGO has slammed the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) for allegedly allowing illegal logging.

“MTCC is legalising illegal timber logged from the forests within the NCR land area of the indigenous Penan community in upper Baram, Miri in the northern region,” said JOANGOHutan programme director Raymond Abin.

JOANGOHutan is a coalition of NGOs concerned about forestry issues and rights of indigenous people.

Abin was referring to the granting of timber certification in October 2004 to Samling Plywood (Baramas) Sdn Bhd, over a forest management unit (FMU) known as Sela'an-Linau which the Penan community there claims is NCR land.

The Penans had initiated legal action over the company and the relevant authorities. The matter is pending a court decision.

“The MTTC is in a great rush to promote its certification scheme to any timber companies in Sarawak,” he said, adding that Samling Timber Company had taken advantage of this despite the Penan’s claim over the land.

According to Abin, the European market demanding for timber imports to be certified and to be sourced from a sustainable managed forest.

“MTCC is intentionally fooling the international consumers by giving certifications to illegal logging to make it legal for the Western market,” adding that these issues were meant to be exposed during the press conference.

“Thus, the MTCC certification scheme is merely a marketing devise for Malaysia's disreputable timber industry rather than a credible effort to achieve sustainability,” alleged Abin.

Abin urged the MTCC to address the plea of the indigenous communities and NGOs to withdraw the certification scheme and abide to basic principles of forest management.