Malaysia

Malaysian logging companies have recently expanded to a large number of Southern countries. Even if Malaysian authorities have publicly urged their home-based companies to operate within the law and to be sensitive to environmental issues in their activities abroad, this expansion -that has been promoted by the government itself- has proved detrimental to the people and the forests in host countries' remaining rainforests. Countries in different continents, like Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Guyana, Belize, Cameroon and Cambodia have witnessed the way these companies work.

On a group of Melanesian islands in the South Pacific, a tragic plunder is taking place. Logging by mainly Malaysian companies has escalated in the last five years to more than 3 times the estimated sustainable yield. In other words the forests are being logged at more than three times faster than they are growing. In less than ten years all the productive lowland forests will be logged. The forests are rich tropical rainforests with thousands of unique plants and animals. As well, a diversity of cultures and people who customarily own and rely on the forests are under threat.

Runaway logging in the Malaysian state of Sarawak has been a major concern for environmentalists since the mid-1980s. The issue gained international prominence in 1987, when indigenous Dayaks, their patience exhausted after decades fruitlessly demanding recognition of their land rights, erected barricades across logging company roads to halt the destruction of their forests.

The case of Sarawak is probably one of the best ones to show the importance of definitions. Tree plantations have been defined by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as "planted forests" and the entire forestry profession -the "experts"- is totally unwilling to revisit such definition. The reason is that it serves their purposes -including their image and budgets- very well.

The Selangor dam project is being strongly resisted by local communities, indigenous peoples and environmental NGOs, since it means the destruction of 600 hectares of rainforest, the eviction of the native Temuan from their ancestral homelands, and the destruction of the green sanctuary of Pertak in Ulu Selangor. It is also feared that the wetlands near Kuala Selangor, as well as the montane forest of Pertak will be adversely affected. Additionally, safety matters regarding the dam structure have not been adequately addressed.

Several NGOs -among them the Borneo Resources Institute (BRIMAS), Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth), SACCESS, Keruan Association Sarawak, Centre for Orang Asli Concerned (COAC) and EPSM/CETDEM- took part at the first consultative meeting of the Malaysian National Timber Certification Council (NTCC) which took place from 18-21 October, 1999, in Kuala Lumpur.

  For years the Bakun Dam Project has aroused great concern among environmental and social NGOs and indigenous peoples' organizations in Sarawak and worldwide, which have opposed this megaproject since it is detrimental to Sarawak's remaining primary forests that lie in the catchment area and to the indigenous people that inhabit them (see WRM Bulletins 2, 9 and 24).

Two weeks ago, nineteen persons, including a 17-year old, all Iban, from two long-houses in the Niah area, were provisionally charged with murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code. The charge carries a mandatory death sentence if convicted.

Plans for setting up an industrial acacia tree plantation in the native customary right (NCR) land of Dayak Ibans people at the Balingian area is being strongly resisted. The plantation will affect the customary land of 23 longhouses. The problem started in 1997, when the State government granted Borneo Pulp Plantation (BPP) provisional leases over two lots in that area -comprising about 300,000 hectares- without the knowledge and the informed consent of the affected people.

Massive logging and the development of large scale tree monocultures for the production of fiber and palm oil, together with dams and tourism megaprojects are the main activities that threaten the environment and the rights over resources of indigenous peoples in Sarawak, in the northwest region of Borneo Island in Malaysia. Nearly half of its population is composed by different ethnic groups, known as Dayaks, who live on agriculture, fishing, hunting and gathering.

A joint-venture between the KTS group and Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corp (STIDC) was announced to establish over 260,000 hectares of tree plantations in Bintulu and Baram areas. The project will involve the development of plantations on 15, 25 and 35-year cycle. The KTS group has expertise in tree plantations, as it has a 57,000 hectares project in Sabah, and also in agricultural plantations of cacao during the decade of 1970.

The Bakun Hydroelectric Dam Project has aroused widespread concern among environmental and social NGOs and indigenous peoples' organizations in Sarawak, which have been opposing this megaproject considered unnecessary -since the present and future energy demand of the country are adequately covered with the electricity produced nowadays- and negative from an environmental and social point of view because one third of Sarawak's remaining primary forest lie in the area to be affected by the dam, thus forcing the migration of indigenous peoples from the catchment area.