4 Nov. 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contacts: Peter Kallang, Chair, SAVE Rivers | Tel: +60-13-8331104| Email: [email protected] Sze Ning, Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia | Tel: +60-12-606-1592 | Email: [email protected] Serene Lim, SUARAM | Tel: +60-12-547-7989 | Email: [email protected] Tanya Lee, International Rivers| Tel: +60-19-438-0539 |E-mail: [email protected] Kuala Lumpur – Malaysian and international human rights organizations are uniting to publicly denounce the actions taken by police to […]

3 November 2014  MIRI – 13 members of the Sarawak People’s Movement or Gerakan Anak Sarawak (GASAK) lodge separate reports to the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the alleged corruption and abuse of power of the current Sarawak Governor Abdul Taib Mahmud during his tenure as Sarawak’s Chief Minister and Minister for

(YOKOHAMA, JAPAN). Malaysia’s delegation to the International Tropical Timber Organisation, ITTO, has orders „from the highest levels of government in Kuala Lumpur“ to stop the presentation of a book by Lukas Straumann, the executive director of the Bruno Manser Fund. This was confirmed tonight to the Bruno Manser Fund, a Swiss NGO, by Rob Busink,

BMF director Lukas Straumann’s new book on corruption in the Malaysian state of Sarawak was warmly received and widely covered by the press on the occasion of a surprise meeting in Kuching on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Sarawak Governor Abdul Taib Mahmud has instructed his London lawyer, Mishcon de Reya, to stop the international launch of Money

30 October 2014 MIRI – Save Sarawak Rivers Network (SAVE Rivers) view the actions of the Sarawak Forestry Corporation enforcement officers (SAPU) together with the police to collude with a company doing illegal logging to dismantle the blockade at KM15 Long Kesseh, Baram as plain disgraceful. What is more shocking is that the one of

29 October 2014 – for immediate release Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian Timber Mafia by Lukas Straumann is available where books are sold from 3 November 2014 (Bergli Books; 320 pages; ISBN 978-3905252682; approximately EUR 24.70, USD 32.60, CAD 35.40, GBP 19.65, MYR 105). For international orders (free shipping):www.money-logging.org (KUCHING, MALAYSIA). Swiss author and human

This year’s Communication for Social Change Award from the University of Queensland recognises the work of Radio Free Sarawak. Radio Free Sarawak founder Clare Rewcastle and colleague Peter John Jaban spoke at the symposium yesterday.  Ms Rewcastle said Radio Free Sarawak gave a radio and internet voice to isolated rural indigenous communities affected by illegal logging and land grabs in

For Immediate Release Malaysia: End Political Case Against Anwar Sodomy Prosecution of Opposition Leader Violates Rights (New York, October 24, 2014) – Malaysian authorities should end their politically motivated prosecution of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, Human Rights Watch said today. On October 28, 2014, the Federal Court – the country’s highest court – will hear Anwar’s appeal of his March conviction for

23 October 2014 – for immediate release While indigenous peoples are celebrating the one-year anniversary of their blockades against the proposed Baram Dam, the government is sending a troublemaker and the police to eliminate the resistance. (BARAM /SARAWAK / MALAYSIA) Today, the peaceful blockades against the proposed Baram Dam in Sarawak, Malaysia, are celebrating their

23 October 2014 Government and Companies Complicit in Violating Freedom of Assembly and Land Rights Kuala Lumpur – Malaysian and international human rights organizations have united to publicly condemn the actions taken by authorities and logging company representatives to intimidate Indigenous Peoples in Sarawak at the proposed site of the Baram Dam. On 21 October,

22/23 October 2014 (BASEL, SWITZERLAND / YOKOHAMA, JAPAN). On 3 November, a 300-page non-fiction paperback on Borneo logging will be launched on the occasion of the 50th session of the International Tropical Timber Council in Yokohama, Japan. The book, entitled Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian Timber Mafia, reads like a thriller and is authored

BARAM: The Baram Dam blockade which was erected nearly a year ago by the indigenous communities who are against the proposed Baram Hydroelectric Power (HEP) Dam Project at KM15 Jalan Samling, Baram was dismantled by the police, Forestry Department officers and loggers this morning. However, the loggers access to the site was short-lived as the

Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem again shocked the public when he announced on 9 October that ‘there would be no more issuance of logging licence’ until the problem of illegal logging is stopped. While Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) welcomes what would appear to be Tan Sri Adenan’s resolve to curb the scourge of

Manila, Philippines / Sarawak, Malaysia – Environmental and human rights groups from Malaysia and internationally are calling on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to shelve a proposal to loan up to US$45 million for building the “Trans-Borneo Power Grid” (transmission lines) in Sarawak, Malaysia. This week, 40 organizations issued a letter to the President of

Press Statement 8 October 2014 Thousands of oil palm smallholders in Sarawak are severely impacted by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board’s (MPOB) directive prohibiting traders from purchasing fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) of ‘suspicious’ origins. The directive came into effect since 1 July, 2014. It has come to Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM)’s knowledge that at least