The ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organisation) and Sarawak Forestry Department have turned a deaf ear to complaints by NGOs and native communities about illegitimate logging in the conservation zone – the Penan Peace Park in Baram – funded by international donations and supposedly sponsored by both bodies. Last week the Immigration Dept raided the logging camp that turns out to have been operated by the state government crony Hii family and found at least 10 illegal immigrants working illegally ….

YB Snowdan Lawan and his GPS colleagues must start by naming and shaming those behind the Balai Ringin disaster and opening a full open inquiry into how it was allowed to happen….

Local people are being thrown off their agricultural land in order to allegedly expand national parks while, at the same time, genuine forest pledged for conservation is still being left open to timber raiders. As ever, the Sarawak State Government is at the service of the logging tycoons whilst playing only lip service to the desperate current battle to save our human habitat…..

Is it so very surprising that the dirt poor native people, who receive so little from Sarawak’s huge investment budget in the rural areas, are starting to tear down concrete, set up blockades and stand up to plantation owners to make their point?……

Unless GPS investigates these terrifying and dangerous incidents with the severity they deserve, deter those responsible with appropriate fines, and indeed the removal of their timber licences, local people can conclude this government cares not a jot about them but only about the huge ‘donations’ that flow back into their party from these concessions…..

Reports of illegal logging are rampant in Sarawak and time and again the response of the police, the forestry department, local officials and the state government is to do precisely nothing. Take for example this ongoing destruction by foreign workers for a mystery employer in Ulu Sebauh recorded just this week…..

Timber and plantation licences were granted to crony companies on the excuse of progress. The disastrous state of the the interior and neglect of the impoverished peoples whose lands have been wreaked tells a very different story…..

Newly enriched and waging outsized ‘kingmaker’ influence, Sarawak wants more autonomy. All well and good, but first show the state is prepared to take care of its marginalised people and deal with decades of ingrained graft…..

As thousands of tons of timber have hurtled destructively down river in Kapit over the past few days, provoked by heavy rains, a troubling set of unconvincing denials and changing stories have issued from the Forestry Department. Is there a reluctance to acknowledge uncomfortable truths about logging in the vicinity of the ‘totally protected’ wildlife sanctuary up river from the site?………

Sarawak Cable’s new “White Knight partner” has been issuing legal warnings to media seeking to research the company. Serendib Capital announced a plan to inject RM250 million to ‘resuscitate’ the company which sent share prices rocketing after being rock bottom……