Today, the Baram villagers, resisting the proposed Baram dam, mark the 500th days since the blockades were launched. On the 23rd October 2013, villagers from 30 settlements in the Baram district set up blockades in Long Lama and Long Keseh to foil works on the Baram dam project. The blockaders evicted workers who were carrying […]

3 March 2015 Indigenous Representatives at Asian Development Bank Headquarters Call for Cancellation of Loan to Sarawak Energy Fact-finding mission reveals Sarawak Energy failed to consult meaningfully with communities affected by Trans-Borneo transmission line and has yet to payfair compensation – ADB asked to withdraw as a potential financier   Kuala Lumpur – Indigenous peoples’ representatives are en-route from Sarawak, Malaysia to the headquarters

Both Jho Low and 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) have at best been extremely economical with the truth. Will the Prime Minister tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? In a shocking expose published by the New York Times[1] yesterday, it was reported that Jho Low “is regularly consulted on its actions, according to three

Miri – Landowners from Baram collectively denounce the plans to extinguish their property rights to pave the way for the Baram Dam reservoir area. They assert that they have never given consent for the Baram Dam to advance, and that extinguishment of their land rights is in contravention of the Malaysian Constitution. In a government

We, the above stated organizations are responding to the CEO of Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) Datuk Torstein’s statements (published in the Borneo Post on 1st Feb. 2015). In the article referred Torstein was defending the flooding of hundreds of square kilometres of forests and the homesteads of thousands of people in order to generate electricity for the heavy

MIRI – On 24 December 2014, at the blockade site in Sungai Bekelit, Sibuti, approximately 60 kilometres from Miri, the  Miri District Police Chief, ACP Gan Tian Kee led a force of 80 police personnel consisting of Light Strike Force (LSF), General Operations Force (GOF) and ordinary police to confront the Iban community of Sungai

NGOs are asking Norges Bank to blacklist Cahya Mata Sarawak due to the company’s involvement in major corruption. (OSLO, NORWAY) In a joint letter to Norges Bank, the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) and FIVAS, a Norwegian NGO, recommend the exclusion of Sarawak’s largest infrastructure company Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) from the investment universe of Norway’s

“We don’t want to be dependent, we just want our livelihoods back,” says flood-affected Orang Asli. The disastrous damage to houses, sources of clean water and access roads in the recent flooding has been felt most strongly by the Orang Asli of Kelantan. It is estimated that about 30 villages remain as “difficult to reach” areas due to

Kuching – On the occasion of International Energy Week (IEW), people representing diverse communities from across Sarawak are gathering to discuss the socio-economics of power development. They will be considering alternative perspectives on the opportunities for ensuring socio-economic development, including of the power sector, will serve the long term energy needs of ordinary Malaysians.   The all day

Bruno Manser Fund demands a Royal Commission of Enquiry to investigate the takeover of Sarawak’s largest state enterprise by former Chief Minister’s family (KUCHING, MALAYSIA) An explosive new research report by the Swiss Bruno Manser Fund discloses that Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) (MYX: 2852), a Kuching-based infrastructure company, received over USD 1.4 billion (MYR 4.9

Five years after Sarawak Report first exposed Taib Mahmud’s questionable links with Adelaide University, the university’s Vice-Chancellor has recognised that there are problems with association with Sarawak’s ruling elite. Australian and International campaigners in solidarity with the indigenous people of Sarawak are calling for swift action from the University and Australian and Tasmanian Governments. In

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad Miri, Malaysia 22nd January 2015 Re: small-scale energy Dear Tun, With great interest we have learnt that you will give a keynote speech at the International Energy Week in Kuching upcoming this 27 to 29 January. We would like to use this occasion to call your attention to the findings of

(LONDON, UK / SEATTLE, USA) Mishcon de Reya, a British lawfirm acting on behalf of Sarawak Governor Abdul Taib Mahmud („Taib“), has confirmed that „members of Abdul Taib Mahmud’s family“ secretly acquired a 9,000 square foot mansion from the son of one of Sarawak’s wealthiest timber tycoons, Samling founder Yaw Teck Seng. The mansion appraised

The unprecedented onslaught of rain brought widespread devastation, catching everyone off guard. Not forsaken were the Orang Asli who, already making up for disproportionately high incidences of hardcore poverty in Malaysia, were severely effected as flood water ravaged their subsistence farm plots and cash crops. “Our members were sending Whatsapp photos of their roads cut

MIRI – Baram villagers are appalled by the government’s acquisition of their 38,322 hectares (or more) of their Native Customary Rights land (NCR) for the Baram Hydroelectric dam development of reservoir site. Notification of the gazette dated the 22nd December 2014 was published in Borneo Post on the 8th of January 2015.    Based on the gazette notification,