Sarawak Energy adopted a familiar tactic towards the renewal of the blockade at Murum by the indigenous Penan people at the weekend. They patronised them, by complaining that they had been “instigated” by un-named NGOs. Over the past days there have been reports that scores of the indigenous tribes people have again brought the construction […]
Over and again Chief Minister Taib Mahmud pulls arbitrary figures from his imagination to deny his destruction of Sarawak. Flunkeys line up to agree with him. For example, not so long ago the dotty old dictator pronounced that 70% of Sarawak remains untouched virgin jungle and that most of the rest of the state is
Following information passed to Sarawak’s DAP by Sarawak Report, the party is considering reporting Torstein Sjotveit, the Norwegian CEO of Sarawak Energy, to Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). For some months already the party has raised concerns about Sarawak Energy (SEB)’s suspicious preferences towards the company Sarawak Cable Bhd when awarding contracts. Sarawak Energy (SEB) is
As the flood waters prepare to rise at Sarawak’s latest dam site in Murum, highly disturbing evidence has been passed to Sarawak Report concerning the use of indentured labour (a form of illegal slavery) on the project. Thousands of Chinese, Burmese, Bagladeshi and Pakistani workers were imported to build the dam, in what was pristine
Just days after an election marred by bribery and ballot rigging, Sarawak’s Chief Minister made his first move to set the tone of his conduct as BN’s ‘kingmaker’. He tripled the salaries for state YBs and ministers. The effect was to bump up his own salary as Chief Minister from RM13,000 a month to RM39,000.
Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud clearly thinks it is his human right to do exactly what he likes. To question or oppose him or refuse to comply is simply an outrageous violation of his right to do as he pleases. He has taken vast territories, destroyed the world’s most precious forests and rivers and presumably
This past month saw Taib Mahmud’s 50th anniversary of uninterrupted public office. Thirty three of those years have been spent as Chief Minister of the State of Sarawak. He has chosen this symbolic moment to make various remarks acknowledging the ‘lack of progress’ achieved by the Dayak people during that time. Yet, cheekily, he suggests
Concerns have been mounting over the millions of dollars being paid out by the Australian government to the company Ta Ann, owned by the fabulously wealthy cousin and business proxy of the Chief Minister, Hamed Sepawi. The amount paid out so far in incentives first to locate in Tasmania; then to surrender previously agreed logging
Polling stations in known opposition areas were slammed shut mid-morning across Baram on the day of the Federal Election, it has been revealed, leaving queues of outraged voters unable to cast their votes. This was just one of the methods by which officials gained a wafer thin majority for BN in a region that has
All religions are intended to civilise us, which makes it all the more of an affront when people do the most uncivilised things in the name of religion, like attacking other people or indeed attempting to deny them their legitimate rights to their own form of faith. For these reasons that minority of aggressive people,
Last Week Taib Mahmud issued a notice to gazette the remaining 18 islands in the Bakun reservoir lake as a National Park. He will probably be putting himself up for an environmental award for doing so. But what a pity he did not gazette the region back in 1998, before the company Pacific Chemicals comprehensively logged
If you take a huge salary and brag a lot about your “Power to Grow” Sarawak, then you ought not to make multi-million dollar cock-ups. Which is why last week’s state-wide power black out has surely left the credibility of Sarawak Energy’s Torstein Sjotveit damaged beyond resuscitation? It has become clear that the power supply from
This weekend the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) made clear that there is a huge amount of information pointing to the fact that it is Taib who is extremely “naughty and dishonest”. These are, of course, the words he famously used to describe the commission itself, when he was questioned about its investigations into his blatant
The State of Sarawak is just recovering from hours plunged in darkness, a situation that threatened countless lives. Sarawak Electricity boss Torstein Dale Sjotveit has now issued a personal apology, admitting the blackout was triggered by the new Bakun Dam hydro-electric plant, which is supposed to be powering through a dramatic modernisation programme. Since he is
As predicted, the great palm oil agri-businesses were quick to blame small-holders for the smog that has engulfed the region in past days. Doubtless, we can expect several small farmers to be rounded up and severely punished over the coming period. On this site the very first comment to our story on the smoky problem
In a surprise development the Taib family company Ta Ann has accepted a multi-million dollar settlement from the Australian Government, in order to give up major timber supplies in the state of Tasmania. The move is a stunning vindication for environmental campaigners in the state, who have suffered vilification and arrests for protesting against the logging
The tragedy of South East Asia’s wanton forest destruction has once again caught the attention of the rest of the world, mainly because it is inconveniencing the citizens of Singapore. Singapore smog is getting headlines in the UK and US, reminding all of the dreadful truth concealed behind the expensive branding of “Malaysia Truly Asia”.
In a shocking departure from normal practice one of BN’s top business cronies, Ananda Krishnan, has secured direct control of a series of Sarawak’s off-shore oil fields. It makes his private company Pexco “one of the largest acreage holders in Malaysia”, according to its own CEO. The astonishing development has placed the multi-billionaire (known for
Sarawak Report is flattered to note that the Chief Minister regards our occasional observations on his management of the State of Sarawak as tantamount to a significant threat. So much so, that he chose his post election speech to the State Assembly as a platform to rail against us and denounce this and our sister
In case readers of Sarawak Report failed to pick up on the assessment of Sarawak by one of the world’s top news agencies, Agence France Press, we reprint (below) how it was presented in the South China Morning Post. Taib had better accept that the international perception of his regime has finally wised up and
The US$1,700 entrance fee to Taib’s showcase dam building conference, which opened at the Borneo Convention Centre today, is well beyond the means of all the poor folk who stand to be affected by his catastrophic plans to swamp Sarawak. However, they gathered in protest outside and made their voices heard and their presence felt
An investigation by the Swiss NGO the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) has revealed that Sarawak Energy’s Nowegian Chief Executive has handed more than US$220 million worth of contracts to companies controlled by the Taib family. BMF therefore slams Torstein Dale Sjotveit as being “complicit” in Sarawak’s political corruption and has demanded he be sacked. The
The Chief Executive of Taib’s closely controlled Sarawak Energy Board, the Norwegian Torstein Dale Sjotveit, has been working hard to merit his extraordinary four million dollar a year salary. His principle job is to push through SCORE, which is the Chief Minister’s monstrous plan to build up to 50 dams in the state. It is
One of Britain’s most popular TV personalities, the bird expert Bill Oddie, has released a video condemning the disastrous logging of the Borneo Jungle in Sarawak and Sabah. In the video he singles out the international banking system for supporting individuals like Taib Mahmud and Musa Aman, who have been the prime forces in driving
If you were a respected leader of your Dayak community and a cheat came and asked you to betray your people in return for becoming a millionaire several times over, would you do it? Think about it. Put yourself in their shoes. Maybe you don’t blame the Linggi family or the Jabu family, because maybe
