LONG LAMAI (SARAWAK, MALAYSIA) / ADELAIDE (SOUTH AUSTRALIA) Indigenous leaders from Malaysian Borneo are urging Adelaide University to pay back AUD $ 400,000 in donations received between 1987 and 2006 from Taib Mahmud (“Taib”), a former Chief Minister of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. In a letter to Vice-Chancellor Warren Bebbington, eleven Penan headmen demand […]

Miri – SAVE Rivers, a Sarawak based movement, have won a Malaysian nationwide accolade for civil society organizations. The four years old organization which has been actively campaigning against the construction of mega dams in Sarawak was one of the three winners for 2015 Malaysian award. Speaking at the award giving ceremony, Mr. Yap Swee

KUCHING – About 500 representatives of the Indigenous Peoples and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are gathered in Kuching today to observe Human Rights Day, which falls on 10 December each year and are calling the State and Federal Government to respect and improve the Human Rights situation in the country. A few events are organise

Miri – The recent vicious attack on Tuai Rumah Jambai Anak Jali by a group of men in Miri is one of a series of uncivilised acts against the Tuai Rumah and his villagers these last two years. The villagers want an immediate stop to this constant harassment and appeal to the government for the immediate

(ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA) A painting by Australian artist John Olsen with an estimated worth of up to AUD$ 100,000 has been donated to the Art Gallery of South Australia by the family of Taib Mahmud, the Governor and former Chief Minister of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. This has been confirmed by the Art Gallery’s director,

While the people of Baram welcome the announcement by Chief Minister Adenan Hj. Satem, that the proposed “Baram dam project is halted indefinitely”, the majority of them still demand a total stop of the project before they are convinced that the government is honestly listening to their plea. A number of feedback-meetings had been organized

(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) The International Tropical Timber Organisation has banned the Swiss rainforest advocacy NGO, the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), from attending its annual conference, which is being held in Kuala Lumpur from 16 to 20 November 2015. BMF delegate Johanna Michel (picture), who attended the conference on behalf of the Swiss organisation, has today been

(KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA) It came as a bad surprise for civil society today that the Malaysian government is attempting to ban the Bruno Manser Fund from yet another tropical timber conference after it succeeded in keeping us away from last year’s 50th International Tropical Timber Council session in Yokohama. During the opening proceedings of the

ADELAIDE (SOUTH AUSTRALIA) An oil painting by the Australian artist John Olsen has been donated to the Art Gallery of South Australia by a company linked to Taib Mahmud, a Malaysian politician accused of grand corruption and money-laundering. The painting “Meandering Murray and wattles” was donated in 2013 by Sitehost Pty Ltd (“Sitehost”) through an

London, 2nd November 2015: Robert Guimaraes Vasquez, a leader of the Shipibo-Konibo indigenous people in Peru’s Amazon has travelled to a global forum in London on business, deforestation and human rights to highlight the destruction of his people’s traditional lands by an international agribusiness group and member of the RSPO (Round Table for Sustainable Palm

Press Release: SAVE Rivers, JOAS, BRIMAS, The Borneo Project, and Bruno Manser Fund   (BARAM / SARAWAK / MALAYSIA) On October 23rd 2015 indigenous communities from around the world gathered on the banks of the Baram River in Sarawak, Malaysia in the context of the second year anniversary of the indigenous-led blockades against the proposed

Miri – Celebrating the second year anniversary of the blockade against Baram-1 dam and the moratorium of works on the project, the indigenous people are organizing an international event. The event, named, “World Indigenous Summit on Environment and Rivers” (WISER Baram 2015), is a five days program. Some of those who participate include indigenous peoples

After two years of blocking all work on the proposed Baram Dam in Malaysia, the indigenous peoples have scored a major victory: the state government has announced a moratorium on the controversial dam and an evaluation of small-scale energy alternatives. (KUCHING / SARAWAK / MALAYSIA) The Chief Minister of Sarawak, a Malaysian state on Borneo,

MIRI –The people of Baram gave a cautious welcome to the announcement about the moratorium of the proposed Baram-1 Hydroelectric (HEP) Dam. While the affected villagers acknowledge that the measure taken by the government is welcomed, but at the same time they highlight that there are a number of outstanding issues related to the proposed dams

Statement 07/09/2015: The New Straits Times allege they contacted me for a response to their latest attack – there is no evidence they sent a single email or made a single call. If the New Straits Times have been reading my Whatsapp messages to Xavier Justo they will know quite a lot of things, but