Complicit in Corruption – the dossier on Sarawak Energy CEO Torstein Dale Sjotveit

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 release of the damning information in a report entitled “Complicit in Corruption – Taib’s Norwegian Power Man” comes at a high profile and sensitive moment, on the eve of the International Hydropower Association’s Conference in Kuching this week.

Torstein Dale Sjotveit is a recently appointed member of the Board of this Association and BMF says that in the light of clear information that the Norwegian has favoured the Taib family with so many enormous contracts he should be removed.

With the Sarawak hosts embroiled in such an embarrassing scandal over corruption it makes for a very awkward conference for the international guests, who are also confronted by the protests of indigenous people against these plans.

Read the report “Complicit in Corruption – Taib Mahmud’s Norwegian Power Man“

BMF’s other demands

Sjotveit was brought into Sarawak on an enormous salary of over a million dollars a year to manage Taib’s grand plans for a vast industrialisation project based on 12 mega dams, possibly 50 dams in total. The NGO says he has done nothing to improve the problems with SCORE.

“In November 2009, Norwegian national Torstein Dale Sjøtveit was appointed CEO of Sarawak Energy, a state-owned Malaysian power supplier. Mr. Sjøtveit has failed to reform the corruption-ridden energy sector in the Malaysian state of Sarawak and has made himself instrumental in the implementation of SCORE, a highly controversial industrialization and hydropower scheme for which Sarawak’s indigenous peoples will have to pay a heavy price”[Complicit in Corruption, Bruno Manser Fund].

The report also points out that on taking over as COE of the state owned company he has overseen the  granting of $220million in contracts to Taib companies, namely Sarawak Cable, Naim Holdings and Cahya Mata Sarawak.

“The Bruno Manser Fund has identified 10 contracts that Torstein Sjøtveit awarded to Taib family companies, with a total value of 680 million Malaysian Ringgit (226 million USD). The beneficiaries are Sarawak Cable, Naim Holdings and Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS).

“Mr. Sjøtveit has failed to satisfactorily explain these public contracts and is refusing to disclose the finances of Sarawak Energy’s hydropower plans to the public”, the NGO states and it condemns what it describes as “the Norwegian’s supporting role for the regime of Sarawak’s Chief Minister, Taib Mahmud, one of Asia’s longest-serving and most corrupt politicians”.

BMF therefore demands the following nine action points, which includes the removal of Taib’s cousin and well-known proxy Hamed Sepawi from his post as Chairman of SEB and a proper disclosure of the accounts relating to the $30billion which have apparently been raised so far to fund this SCORE project.

Torstein Dale Sjøtveit is asked to resign from his post as CEO of Sarawak Energy.

The International Hydropower Association is asked to disassociate itself from Sarawak Energy and to remove Mr. Sjøtveit from its board of directors.

Sarawak Energy is asked to sack the Chief Minister’s cousin, Hamed Sepawi, as its chairman and to stop all business that directly or indirectly benefits the Taib family.

Sarawak Energy is asked to publish and explain all the contracts granted to private companies in Sarawak during the last five years.

Sarawak Energy is asked to disclose the detailed finances of SCORE and all its hydropower projects in Sarawak.

The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) is asked to investigate all public contracts granted by Sarawak Energy to Sarawak Cable, Naim Holdings and Cahya Mata Sarawak over the last four years.

The Malaysian Government is asked to give the MACC a free hand and full political backing in investigating the Taib family’s corrupt businesses in Sarawak.

Økokrim, Norway’s anti-corruption agency, is asked to investigate Mr. Sjøtveit’s finances during his tenure as Sarawak Energy CEO and the compliance of his conduct with the Norwegian anti-corruption legislation.

The international community is asked to shun Sarawak Energy (and SCORE) for its deep involvement and complicity in corruption.

These demands reveal a growing trend in the actions that are being initiated against Sarawak’s notorious Chief Minister, in that they seek to invoke not only Malaysia’s own federal anti-corruption agencies, but international instruments as well.

Built by Taib’s company CMS and run by sister Raziah Mahmud – the Borneo Convention Centre where delegates will be enjoying a luxurious meeting this week, while indigenous people protest outside

As a Norwegian national Mr Sjotveit is subject to his own country’s anti-corruption laws with regard to his conduct in other states, like Sarawak.

It can only put pressure on him and other ‘foreign helpers’ involved in Sarawak’s blatant graft.

Greenwash

The report says that the Norwegian has worked hard, bringing in foreign experts and joining SEB to international organisations like the Hydropower Association. However he has carried out none of the proper procedures to establish whether the destructive dam projects are necessary or desirable.

The conclusion is that his activities have constituted mere window dressing and greenwash for a series of mega-projects that are as corrupt and unjustifiable as ever.

The Sarawak Save Rivers Campaign have been protesting at the destruction of vast areas of rainforest and the planned flooding of tens of thousands of native people from their homes [see video]

This report will add to the red faces at the conference.

The poor protestors whom the well healed executives at the International Hydropower Conference should not forget this week as they plot to flood great areas of Sarawak’s native lands.

Millionaire Tostein Sjotveit poses with the kids he plans to wash out of their homes.

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 also to make sure that all the plum Sarawak Energy contracts go to Taib’s own family in the process.

Building ‘respectability’

Nevertheless Sjotveit has been working hard to build respectability for the project internationally.  He has taken to touring native communities (who have not been properly canvassed or informed or compensated in any dam project in Sarawak so far) and attempting not always successfully to pose with the people.

Having got Sarawak membership of the International Hydropower Association (IHA) back in 2010 (merely a matter of paying a membership fee) Torstein then managed to force himself onto the actual board of this supposedly eco-conscious body in just a matter of months.

Now the Association is holding its Annual Conference in Kuching, the capital of one of its newest members, next week.

Standing largely idle – Asia’s great white elephant the Bakun Dam

The lure of course is the promise of the enormous contracts that will be available to these fellow industry players from further destroying Sarawak with currently the world’s largest and most unnecessary dam-building exercise.

After all, the existing Bakun Dam has yet to define a reason for its existence and has left Sarawak over-provided with electricity for a population where many still have no access to the grid.

Neither have the correct criteria been followed in terms of environmental and human rights assessments for the Murum Dam that is currently being constructed, which leaves the ‘sustainability’ credentials so heavily promoted by the supposedly responsible and eco-conscious IHA open to considerable question.

Nevertheless, the culmination of all Mr Sjotveit’s manoeuvrings is to go ahead with the opening of the International Hydropower Association’s Conference at the Taib family run Borneo Convention Centre (BCCK) on May 20th.

Caretakers of Nature’s Advancement!  Taib’s sister Raziah is Chairman of BCCK and his son Abu Bekir a Director

This event may turn out to be highly counter-productive, however.  Since it has focused a growing number of the world’s environment organisations on the disgraceful corruption and abuse of human and native rights in Sarawak.

What has happened in Sarawak is actually no joke

The article below from the respected NGO International Rivers sums up the growing global disapproval over any organisation that does business with Taib Mahmud’s despotic regime.

The last international group to hold its conference at the Borneo Convention Centre was the World Clown Association in February.

Hydropower Association delegates may be starting at last to wonder if they are about to make clowns of themselves also, by getting involved in such a blatant and disgraceful monument to corruption as Taib’s SCORE project?

The NGO International Rivers have released this assessment of Taib’s SCORE project on the eve of the International Hydropower Association Conference in Kuching.

Malaysia: Authoritarian Leader Lures Investors With Promise of “Responsible” Dams

Thu, 05/16/2013 – 7:03am

By:

Kirk Herbertson

Photo by: SAVE Rivers Network

The Malaysian state of Sarawak is the new star of the global hydropower industry. Located on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia, Sarawak is largely unknown around the world. Five years ago, Sarawak’s ruler Mr. Abdul Taib Mahmud announced that he will “transform Sarawak into a developed state” by building 12 large dams in the state’s remote, tropical forests. He argues that the dams will produce an abundance of cheap electricity, which will attract heavy industry and create jobs. Reuters has called Taib’s scheme “staggeringly ambitious,” especially since the dams will produce 450% more electricity than Sarawak currently needs.

Mr. Taib’s scheme has caught the attention of the world’s leading hydropower companies. Next week, on May 20-25, Sarawak will host the industry’s world congress, which is organized every few years by the International Hydropower Association (IHA). The IHA’s mission is to demonstrate that large dams—which are often a source of controversy—can be built in an environmentally and socially responsible way. The IHA is now promoting Sarawak as an example of responsible dam-building that brings profit as well as local development.

Sarawak has a dark history of dam building, having completed the disastrous Bakun Dam in 2011 after five decades of delays. The project is widely criticized for displacing 10,000 indigenous people and leaving them in impoverished conditions, while much of its electricity remains unused. However, Mr. Taib says his government has learned lessons from the Bakun Dam and is committed to do a better job on the next 12 dams. IHA is advising the Sarawak government and will showcase its efforts at next week’s congress. The Sarawak government will also use the opportunity to reach out to potential investors.

Doing business in Sarawak requires buying the favor of Mr. Taib, who has ruled Sarawak since 1981. Corruption is well documented. The government carefully controls the information that reaches the public, and journalists are forbidden from scrutinizing Mr. Taib. This creates serious risks for investors who want to steer clear of corruption and human rights abuses.

The IHA has helped the Sarawak government to make modest improvements in its dams. Yet this has not been enough. To date, IHA’s efforts have been largely cosmetic and do not address the real challenges of investing in Mr. Taib’s dams.

Taib’s personal control over the dams

The developer and public face of the Sarawak dams, Sarawak Energy, is trying desperately to portray itself as an independent company that operates according to international standards. In fact, the company is 100% owned by the government and is directly accountable to Mr. Taib. Mr. Taib was actively involved in selecting the company’s current CEO, and a majority of the board members previously served as Mr. Taib’s political appointees. The chairman of the board is Mr. Taib’s cousin and one of his closest business partners. Sarawak Energy is the main implementer of Mr. Taib’s rapid development scheme, which he calls the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE). Because of these close connections, it should come as no surprise that Sarawak Energy has started providing key SCORE contracts to companies owned by Mr. Taib’s family.

This also means that the Sarawak dams are not constrained by the law. The IHA’s first project in Sarawak, the Murum Dam, is a prime example. Affected communities did not even learn about the Murum Dam until after construction started. Construction began before an environmental and social impact assessment was conducted. The impact assessment still has not been made available to the public or affected communities, although the project is nearly operational. Despite these violations of Sarawak law, the government has made no efforts to bring the project back into compliance. The IHA continues to uphold the project as a model for the industry to follow.

Corruption as a way of doing business in Sarawak

During his 30 years in power, Mr. Taib has used his position to become one of Southeast Asia’s wealthiest men. His family now controls most of the Sarawak economy and has a controlling ownership stake in many of the local companies involved in the dams and SCORE initiative, including Sarawak’s largest construction company and cement monopoly Cahya Mata Sarawak.  Mr. Taib has also used his power to distribute Sarawak lands and forests to his family members and friends, often to be exploited for timber and palm oil.

Photo by: SAVE Rivers Network

In 2012, the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission began investigating Mr. Taib and Sarawak Energy’s CEO.Swiss lawmakers have taken steps to freeze Mr. Taib’s assets, and the U.S. government has noted that Mr. Taib is “highly corrupt.” In March 2013, Global Witness released a video of an undercover investigation that recorded members of Taib’s family admitting to various corrupt practices. During the recent Malaysian national elections, investigative journalists at theSarawak Report documented hundreds of cases of bribery inside Sarawak by Mr. Taib’s colleagues. However, Mr. Taib is largely untouchable due to his strong political ties to Malaysia’s ruling party, which itself has been in power for 56 years.

The IHA has not found a way to address these corruption issues. In 2012, Australian company HydroTasmania—one of the most active IHA members and the main author of the IHA’s flagship “Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol”—came under scrutiny for its role in the Sarawak dams. In an interview on ABC Radio Australia, HydroTasmania’s CEO Roy Adair admitted that the company did not conduct any anti-corruption auditing before agreeing to work with the Sarawak government, nor did it conduct any human rights due diligence. Rather, Mr. Adair assumed there was no corruption because Sarawak Energy was a member of the IHA. Eventually, HydroTasmania was forced to announce that it would withdraw from the Sarawak dams by the end of 2013.

Long legacy of human rights violations

Over 40 indigenous groups, comprising tens of thousands of people, have lived in Sarawak’s forests for generations. Since Mr. Taib came to power, these communities have found their traditional lands taken and sold, often without their knowledge. Only 5 percent of Sarawak’s primary forests remain, much of the rest having been logged and converted to palm oil plantations. This rapid deforestation has already placed great stress on indigenous communities, who have been displaced and have lost access to many of the natural resources that they depend on.

Photo by: SAVE Rivers Network

Discrimination against indigenous peoples is pervasive. Mr. Taib’s government does not fully recognize indigenous people’s claims to their traditional lands. Many Malaysian court rulings in favor of indigenous rights are not upheld in Sarawak. Thousands of indigenous people are unable to obtain the state identity cards that allow them to gain employment and access public services. Local activists report that the government has threatened to withhold welfare services from indigenous communities if they do not support government initiatives, including the dams. In many communities, Mr. Taib has gone as far as appointing village headmen, undermining traditional structures and leaving many communities without leaders to represent their interests at the state level. With such deeply embedded problems, companies that invest in the Sarawak dams face a huge risk of becoming involved in human rights violations against Sarawak’s indigenous peoples.

IHA’s involvement in Sarawak has only helped to cover up these violations. In 2012, indigenous people blockaded the Murum Dam construction site for over one month after receiving a leaked copy of the resettlement plan. The communities considered the government’s compensation to be unfair. Sarawak Energy now claims that people’s concerns have been resolved, but in factthe affected communities have been forced to negotiate the terms of their resettlement without having access to information about the dam’s impacts and without having independent legal and technical support. Instead, Sarawak Energy appointed a committee of hand-selected community members to represent the interests of Murum Dam-affected people, which the company closely oversees. IHA has invited representatives of the Sarawak Energy-appointed committee to next week’s congress to praise Sarawak Energy’s efforts and provide a “community perspective.”

The Sarawak government has made no efforts to strengthen indigenous communities’ rights to land before seizing it for the dams. The next dam scheduled to begin construction, the Baram Dam, will displace up to 20,000 indigenous people and flood an area of 388 square kilometers. Unless reforms are made, the risk of conflict remains high.

Conclusion

By gaining the IHA’s support, Mr. Taib has succeeded in giving many investors the impression that the Sarawak dams are being developed in a responsible way. In reality, enormous challenges exist that the IHA has proved unable to manage. Companies that invest in the Sarawak dams are still exposed to the risk of becoming embroiled in corruption scandals, human rights violations, and conflict.  Unfortunately, for some investors, this is not a deterrent.

More information:

• Visit our webpage on the Sarawak dams
• Visit our webpage on the International Hydropower Association
• To learn about corruption in the Taib government, see the work of Global Witnessand Sarawak Report and Bruno Manser Fonds
• To learn about corruption in the Sarawak dams, read this report by the Bruno Manser Fonds
• To learn about discrimination against Sarawak’s indigenous people, read this report by theIndigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia (JOAS)
• Some of the international companies involved in the Sarawak dams include Sinohydro(China), Three Gorges Corporation (China), International Hydropower Association (United Kingdom), Hydro Tasmania and Entura (Australia), NorConsult (Norway), Fichtner GmbH(Germany), SMEC (Australia), MWH Global (United States), and GHD (Australia)

Date:

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Bill Oddie’s spoof video classes bankers as a particularly nasty animal, very close to humans, but who can’t understand the damaging consequences of their greedy decisions to lend to people like Taib.

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 through the destruction of the jungle over the past decades.

HSBC is specifically targeted as a major supporter of many of the most destructive companies and projects in Sarawak, including Shin Yang, Sarawak Oil Palm and Ta Ann, which are all closely associated with Taib Mahmud.

“HSBC has been lending money to companies which have been wreaking havoc in the forests of Borneo, illegally destroying habitats and causing human rights abuses” [Bankwatch Video, Bill Oddie]

In 2005 the bank advertised its eco-credentials by sponsoring Taib’s greenwashing ‘Media and Environment Conference’ in Kuching and placing orang utans on its poster campaigns.

Yet at the same time HSBC was the bank that was managing the multi-million dollar Singapore timber kickback accounts run on behalf of Musa Aman by his nominee, Michael Chia.

The true picture is forcing its way out

The destruction of Borneo – the world’s fastest rate of deforestation must stop.

Oddie’s protest is a refreshing contrast to the greenwash and spin put out by hired PR outfits, who have been paid to disguise Taib and Musa’s profiteering from the rainforest and their rampant destruction.

Another TV personality, Ben Fogle, was recently forced to apologise for having presented Sarawak as a conservation friendly state after we pointed out to him that this was nonsense.

Prince William and Kate were likewise turned into Musa Aman’s top PR weapons when they too visited Sabah last year, as part of a tour aimed at promoting British companies like the arms manufacturer BAE Systems (which is seeking to sell armoured ships and bio-fuel equipment to the state).

Both Chief Ministers have been making a torrent of ridiculous claims about their excellent eco-credentials and insisting there has been little deforestation in East Malaysia.

Bill Oddie, who is a genuine and respected environment expert on the other hand had this to say to the Independent Newspaper who also featured his video:

“Last autumn, I visited the Sabah area of Borneo …..Having experienced unspoilt forest and encountered Pygmy elephants, Proboscis monkeys, Orang-utans and several canoes full of appreciative tourists, I suddenly found myself face-to-face with a green wall of spikey fronged oil palms. Of course, I had heard of how destructive oil palm plantations are before – haven’t we all – but few things really register till you see them up close…..Despite what the palm oil lobbyists will tell you, oil palm plantations virtually wipe out the biodiversity found in rainforests. Just 20 species of birds are found in oil palm plantations, whilst other rainforests support over 200.”

Oddie, who is a well-known bird lover, also speaks about the desecration of Sarawak by Taib Mahmud’s system of ‘money politics’.  He points out:

“Deforestation is not only threatening not only the lives of those in Malaysia but also the very survival of every man, beast or banker on the planet.  In fact, he may not know it yet, but the banker is in fact the most self-destructive creature that has ever lived and he may well sow the seeds of his own extinction”

Oddie is referring, of course, to the disastrous environmental consequences for the whole planet of destroying the three remaining great jungles, of which Borneo is one.

Oddie attacks Western bankers who support the activities of people like Taib and Musa

Taib maintains one answer to such vitally important protests, which is that a thousand years ago many northern forests were already destroyed, so why shouldn’t he destroy Sarawak’s jungle now?

It is like saying Hitler killed several million, so why shouldn’t I kill everyone else?

Oddie’s film is funny, so watch it.

Sadly, however the message is very far from funny in the wake of another rigged election in Sarawak that has allowed Taib Mahmud to continue his demented destruction.

Next week’s International Hydropower Conference is also set to go ahead in Kuching, in the face of widespread and informed protests.

After this film none of its delegates will be able to pretend that they are unaware of what their host is up to or the consequences of the SCORE project to wreck Sarawak’s remaining forests and rivers with more dams.

Symbol of BN’s GE13 election ‘win’?

BN should not expect Pakatan Rakyat to take their version of GE13 lying down.

After all Pakatan represent the majority of the voters by a very substantial and convincing margin!

Even after all the jiggery pokery with the electoral register, the bus loads of phantom voters, the mysterious additional ballot boxes that arrived during re-counts, the double voting that excluded numerous rightful voters from being able to cast their ballots, Pakatan gained almost 8% more of the votes in Peninsular Malaysia.

53.29% compared to just 45.74% for BN .

Even when the despot votes from Taib and Musa Aman were chucked in from East Malaysia Najib roundly lost with only 46.8% compared to 50.8% of the electorate.

Malaysiakini’s figures from the Election Commission

So, it is quite preposterous for any police chief to suggest that they might arrest Pakatan leaders for ‘sedition’ for pointing this out.

Any such an arrest would in fact constitute the seditious act, as it would plainly undermine the wish of the popular majority of the state.

People have been threatened with ‘monitoring’ for wearing black!

Likewise, it is surely seditious for police to attempt to harass people for wearing black in protest over jerrymandering by an Electoral Commission, which was stripped of its independence by BN and now sits in the PM’s own offices with a primary duty to make sure BN wins for ever and ever and ever?

What a load of outrageous nonsense to start talking of arrests!

Protest is a democratic right

If BN want to make an expensive public show of running a civilised democracy with elections (and GE13 cost billions, if mainly in bribes) then they must needs put up with the other key trappings of democracy.

These include public demonstrations, protests, banners, free speech on public platforms and the right to wear black, yellow or what ever other form of apparel expresses the inner views of the individual.

People don’t usually give up their Saturday afternoons, unless there is something extremely important that they are concerned about, and governments are duty bound to listen if they do.

In return, the people are required to act in a restrained and non-disruptive manner that does not upset any of the rights of other fellow citizens. The orderly rally in a stadium on May 8th was a perfect example of just such a gathering.

Keep it up – BN could never get a crowd like this to support them!

There should be many more such public expressions of dissatisfaction to remind BN that they lost their legitimacy in this election and that reform of their gerrymandering devices is required immediately.  Contested seats should also be properly adjudicated.

Waste of energy?

People who are saying that more rallies and protests are a waste of time tend to be jaded observers of Malaysia’s recent past and the corruption of the country by Mahathir Mohamed.  They feel there is no point, since everything is a sham.

However, in practice they are asking people to give up on demanding their rights. And if the people do not stand up for themselves now, BN will move swiftly to oblige and with a huge sigh of relief.

If marchers stop turning out, their energy sapped by bleak cynicism, the losers in this election will go as far as they dare to try and ban any expression of the popular will by calling rallies ‘seditious’ or ‘unruly’ or whatever they like.  Some are already doing it.

Instead, BN should just get used to persistent if polite marches and rallies until they put their house in order and conduct clean and fair elections.

BN have lost their confidence, don’t let them regain it undeservedly

This decades old coalition has rightfully lost its confidence as a result of this election drubbing and the people should not permit BN to regain it or to tell themselves that they won the election after all.

BN did not win the election, they lost it fair and square and in the full glare of international publicity.

Some have fallen lamely back on talk of the US in 2000 being won by a minority vote, but that is nonsense too.  In 2000 it was sufficiently contentious that Bush was able to claim victory with .5% less of the popular vote.

In Malaysia in 2013 Najib gained 4% less of the popular vote than Anwar (after cheating) and 7.5% in Peninsular Malaysia.

Time moves on

So, giving up is not an option.

It is easy for people to become stuck in the past and to imagine that what happened before must always be.  In Europe the Berlin Wall was treated by many like a fact of life, as if it had always been there instead of just a few decades, like BN.

But in truth all empires collapse, everyone dies and nothing stays the same.  Therefore it is right that Malaysia’s young people should be active in determining a better future, rather than resigning themselves to more corruption and despotism.

Progress does happen when enough people put some effort into it.

And no one should under-estimate the sea-change that did take place in GE13, when a massive turnout swept away all BN’s efforts to manufacture the sort of wins they got away with in the past.

BN lost their legitimacy on May 5th

BN employed the full apparatus of the state into trying to ensure their win.  The media talked up their ‘victory’ unceasingly and refused to publicise Pakatan wins until they were ‘over-turned’ by numerous dubious re-counts.

The police were dragooned into escorting buses loaded with foreigners to election booths and state employees were bullied and pressured into voting for BN.

Yet, even so, to justify the figures the ballot box stuffers of the Election Commission were forced to announce an extraordinary and record breaking 80% turn out on the night, which next day they had to revise up to 85% to explain the numbers of votes that had apparently been forced into the various re-counts.

How could the turnout suddenly bounce up AFTER the election had been announced and yet other figures stay the same?

Think about it.  An 85% turnout in Malaysia?  This means that the extensively rural country with large numbers of very poor voters and around a million of its better off citizens unavailable abroad produced one of the highest turnouts in global election history!

42 seats more for BN, despite the less votes

Not even that explains the jiggery pokery behind the election commission’s figures, because even now their own figures still don’t tally.

The over all election vote, according to their separate figures was 27,403 more than the tally.

Does this mean 27,403 ‘spoilt votes’ on top of all the other outrageous jiggery poker?

Figures revised after the event!

27,403 spoilt votes is a very large number.  Especially when you look at the narrow margin of so many of BN’s wins, a good number of which over-turned original Pakatan wins after a recount.

According to our calculations, 5,827 votes represent the total majority of BN’s 10 most narrow wins!

20,067 represents the total BN majority in the most marginal 20 seats.  Another 3 seats come to 6,303 total majority, meaning that the number of spoilt votes alone exceeds the margin by which BN ‘won’ the election.

Individually, there has already been considerable evidence that in numerous seats the ‘spoiled votes’ outnumbered the BN majority by a considerable amount.

Analysis of BN’s election ‘win’ has only just begun, but the more that comes out the greater the smell

All this is virtually impossible for the shamed and embarrassed BN hierarchy to defend.  Who would want to be in their shoes day after day during the next Parliament when the majority leader (Anwar Ibrahim) challenges them on all these points and requires them to give way?

The problem BN faces is that time HAS ALREADY moved on and the crude practices that the likes of Mahathir could get away with as he sucked his country dry are no longer effective in a world of fast communications, video recorders and the internet all employed by an educated young population.

BN are already a museum piece, like North Korea.

Don’t let them re-group

Open secret – ‘hard man’ Muhyiddin has been waiting in the wings, to let the more popular Najib lead BN in the elections and then take over after blaming him for BN’s losses

The worst thing would be to allow the dreadful old has-beens of BN from the Mahathir era to think they can turn back the tide of that history and that all that is needed is a ‘crack-down’ under some kind of ‘hard chap’, like Muyhiddin Yassin.

There are people who think that by reversing what reforms have taken place in past years they can restore past ‘glories’.

Such small brains forget that the reforms were conceded under pressure in the first place and they imagine that Malaysia can return to be a backward museum of sham democracy where people like them can continue to enjoy ruling the roost.

But they need to realise that what small state dictators got away with in the Cold War era, when the eyes of the electronic age had yet to be switched on, is no longer possible.

In their hearts they admitted it when they accepted that they needed to keep the more moderate and tolerable Najib as their leader during the election, since only a small angry minority of voters prefer the aggressive Mr Muhyiddin.

The UMNO extremist hope now is to replace their front man, Najib, with their hard man Muhyiddin and then defy anyone to say they didn’t win the election fair and square!

‘Has been’ without dignity – past politicians should go and do something else useful and not try to keep meddling.

This is too crude, too public and too playground ridiculous to wash on the world stage.

This weekend the British PM meets the Russian PM to decide on how to collaborate on sorting out Syria.

This is no longer the Cold War era and no government wants to be seen openly supporting a thug and BN cannot reverse this election with a crackdown and expect it to pass unnoticed as before.

BN have got to find a more dignified way out of this mess they are in and concessions, reform and gracious acceptance of the present popular opinion is the only route forward.

It may mean they will soon be out of power for some years.  But, it gives them the chance to come back.  If they ‘crack down’, go backwards, fight and oppress the majority then they will write themselves out of Malaysia’s future and blacken their names forever in Malaysia’s history.

What really matters – the will of the people (Malaysiakini)

As hundreds of thousands rally in Malaysia to express their fury at BN’s stolen election, Sarawak Report has suffered a relatively unimportant level of theft.  Stolen emails.

In the latest ‘Black PR’ effort to try and discredit our work, it appears that hackers have been hired to attack our computers and then to maliciously distort our emails and Skype messages, which are now being selectively published.

Interestingly, the first outfit to publish these illegal, fraudulent and unsubstantiated offerings was the Sarawak Tribune, a newspaper owned by the Taib family. These were soon ‘positioned’ into supportive blogs.

Now, a further blogs have appeared, retailing similar vague but misleading material, which is reminiscent of the defamation campaigns carried out by the PR company FBC Media.

FBC Media were hired by Taib Mahmud to discredit us on a contract worth US$5 million a year, before they were exposed and went into liquidation.

Disillusioned crowd

This latest wave of defamation is also reminiscent of the alterations to our Wikipedia sites made by the PR firm Bell Pottinger, which were also paid for by the Taib family and was likewise exposed in the British media.

Election assaults

During the past few weeks Sarawak Report and its sister radio stations have continued to receive extremely expensive, malign and illegal attention from those who dislike our exposes on timber corruption and land grabs.

Perhaps we should be flattered that those who are paying for this clearly think we are having an effect, but have no direct answers to our allegations?

We have warded off massive cyber-attacks, as well as jamming against our international award winning radio station Radio Free Sarawak on two wavebands.

Click to hear some of the jamming, for example on May 1st.

Crowds on the streets protesting a theft of liberty

Now it appears the same highly paid, illegal operators have been hacking our emails and Skype accounts and are attempting to selectively release chopped-about emails to make it look as if we have bad intentions.

The blogs concerned have even accused us of their own crime of using DDOS attacks. These cost hundreds of thousands of dollars!

Do the supporters of a clique, who have just been exposed for having performed one of the most outrageous, preposterous and ill-concealed election-rigging exercises in history, really think that the hundreds of thousands who are currently rallying to demand back their stolen liberties are going to believe such nonsense as these cooked up emails?

The mysterious ‘Dirk Pitt’

There are a number of subjects on which we have been vilified in these posting so far.  The first relates to the story of the mysterious ‘Dirk Pitt’ aka (also known as) Cullen Johnson.

Mr Pitt first contacted Sarawak Report’s Editor via a text to their hand phone. It is relevant to mention that this handphone number was handed to the Sarawak police back in 2009 after an arrest at an armed road blockade.

Blockades – is it really so wrong to support these people against grabbing billionaires?

This was because the journalist had accompanied a team of international reporters recording an anti-logging blockade by native people.

It is equally relevant that on every occasion on which this handphone has subsequently been entered into Malaysia, it has been disabled after passing through airport immigration (where the Editor of Sarawak Report has always been questioned).

Mr Dirk Pitt/ Cullen Johnson purported to have information on the Taib family’s global wealth.  This is a subject Sarawak Report are aiming to expose and therefore we showed interest and a willingness to be informed.

However, disappointingly Mr Pitt/Cullen Johnson only produced information which he was unable to substantiate, either with documentation or corroborative facts.

Worse, he encouraged us to pay him in order to obtain what he suggested might be illegally accessed information. So, we explained that this is not our method of working. Communications ceased.

We do not know whether Cullen Johnson/ Dirk Pitt is a genuine battler against high-level corruption (entirely possible) or someone hired to lure us into a trap (equally possible).

But it is worth noting that he also claimed to be in touch with the wife of Abu Bekir Mahmud.  Yet, despite our encouragement and his hints, he was never able to put us in touch.

The ‘proof is in the pudding’ – we listened to him, but we never paid him and we never published what he told us.  Look at our site..

Musa Aman? We provided corroboration and evidence, which is why we ran the story and why he has never sued for libel….

Was he hired to compromise us?  If so, it will have been another disappointment.

If not, we will watch out for what happens in his case, since we have been informed by the attacking websites and Sarawak Tribune article that he has been arrested for fraud.

Alvin Chong

The next accusation is that we have received emails from the notorious tax evading lawyer Alvin Chong.

However, it is various firms connected to Taib who have been Chong’s key clients not us!

But we did indeed receive informative emails from an individual who has found it amusing to call themselves ‘Alvin Chong’ in the wake of the filmed expose by Global Witness.

We thought it was quite funny too and since their evidence was useful and could be corroborated by independent records we acted on a lot of the information they sent.

Oil and Gordon Brown

Having trawled through our messages, the worst our hackers appear to have found was a message to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown explaining that Taib Mahmud has started to give out Sarawak’s oil concessions to his cronies, as well as timber, plantation land and coal.

We sent him this link to an article in January and we asked for suggestions about possible experts, who could provide advice for free on how to campaign against this theft, at least in the hope of recommending themselves should Sarawak ever be saved for its people.

Our suggestion was that those who offered expertise ‘pro bono’ could at least hope to be regarded favourably under a TRANSPARENT system at a later stage:

“I think we need some heavy-weight advice on how to manage such a campaign if you have any thoughts? In the event of success i.e. a new government pledged to transparency and the management of the oil through a Trust Fund for the people, this could mean major opportunities for anyone who did step forward to help in the earlier stages”. [actual email, as opposed to the published distorted email]

Sadly, this plea for support was distorted in various websites to imply that we ourselves were planning to obtain major opportunities. Sarawak Report has no financial, legal or oil expertise that could advantage any of its staff in such a matter as oil exploitation under any form of transparency. Sarawak Report also happens to be voluntary, not paid.

This particular email was not in fact replied to.

Cafe Creeps?

Death of democracy? No, because the future is with the young, not the elderly godfathers of timber corruption….

So how did these hackers get into our gmail and Skype?  Most likely is the possibility that hired hands followed personnel into public cafes and sneakily logged in on communal internet providers.

Creepy paid sleuths and shadows.

Otherwise, they have sent so-called ‘Trojans’ to our computers or broken into our broadband accounts. All of this activity is illegal.

They have then published unproven, distorted and chopped about versions of our emails (putting bits of different messages, many months, apart together), which lack any factual corroboration.

By contrast, our reports on Musa Aman and Taib Mahmud have been substantiated by official records and substantiated evidence and corroborative material.

When Sarawak Report makes an investigation we take care to fulfil certain criteria.  Proof and corroboration have been the backbone of our exposes on various key players in timber corruption.

As we have built our portfolio of information, our ability to make criticisms has been extended.

So far, no one has taken up the legal route of challenging us in court.  Does that say something?

Future attack lines?

Such a bad person? Bruno Manser stood up for the people against Taib’s ‘development’

Maybe our defamers will go on to attempt to ‘associate’ us with other ‘conspirators’ who care about the environment and human rights?

If so, we say in advance that we are friendly with BMF (Bruno Manser Fund) and Global Witness and numerous other environmental and human rights campaigners.

In fact BMR and SR are currently co-writing a book about the campaign to save the Borneo Jungle and its people from the greedy depredations of a handful of corrupted timber merchants and their political allies.

We make no apologies…. and we make no money.

Can Taib Mahmud and his hired bloggers make the same claim?

So, let’s get back to what really matters and the struggle by the people of Malaysia to claim their democratic rights after a rigged election which denied the majority vote their government of choice. Bn

Story of this election – but there was so much more abuse!.

Evidence is pouring in about what happened on what is becoming known as Malaysia’s Black Sunday.

It was the day when yet another opportunity for democracy was again snatched away by gangster tactics and primitive vote buying on the part of BN.

The opposition has called for people to wear mourning black in recognition of the death of that hope of democracy.

Sadly, an 80% turn out of the people, who were determined on reform, was rewarded with base cheating by the incumbent political class, otherwise determined to keep their hands on the nation’s finances, which they have been robbing for decades.

More BN hatchet faces – caught on camera as they emerge from the Perak ‘money car’

Their ‘Crime Minister’ had the racist cheek to blame his loss of seats, despite this overwhelming fraud, on the ‘Chinese’.

Chinese majority seats had indeed managed to resist the mass vote-rigging more successfully in their heavily populated urban seats than in some other more ‘Malay’ areas.

This did not mean that many Malays were not also dedicated to reform and to blame the Chinese was an unhealthy and disuniting sentiment at such a national moment.

The Crime Minister, Najib Razak, should rather blame himself, as others in his party are already enthusiastically doing as they plan to dump him as soon as possible for a ‘harder hand’.

Caught on video

However, while BN’s politics may be primitive and 3rd World style, the technology and wit of the young Malay electorate is not.

As we warned, they have been out there recording and noting the fraud and this Crime Minister will never enjoy the mandate of an election won fairly and squarely, as his often miserable expression in the course of the voting maked plain.

Yes – we are for BN

We will keep on picking up and posting as the election media sleuths post their evidence up on the new media and the nation gets ready to make their protest heard at Bersih 4 Wednesday.

The independent NGOs have united in their disgust at the catalogue of strong arm abuses at this election as BN abused their control of the election commission, the police and armed forces and of course the nation’s economy to drive through the result they wanted in defiance of the plain wishes of the huge turnout of voters.

Large opposition majorities at several counts were suddenly turned into slim losses after lights went out, recounts were demanded and police escorted in mysterious late arriving new ballot boxes!

Bersih and Permantau give their verdict of mass election fraud

This was on top of the buses of police-escorted dubious voters (some with ink on two fingers), the huge irregularities of the electoral registers which the election commission had refused to clean up, the fact that indelible ink proved easy to wash off and the fact that the entire media was orchestrated to be BN cheer leaders instead of the bearers of responsible information.

BN have claimed ‘victory’ in this election but have convinced no one at home or abroad. Keep the evidence coming!

Time to show dismay

Election foul! – This hatchet faced BN organiser was filmed paying for votes at a car parked up by this polling station in Perak

We warned the vote buyers of BN that they were in danger of exposure this year like never before.

We said that an army of young Malaysians holding cameras, mobile phones and recorders as their weapons would be patrolling the streets ready to catch them in the act and post it on the Worldwide Web.

But, it seems they took no notice and carried out the instructions of their BN masters to try and cheat and buy up this election.

What greater crime can there be than to attempt to steal the liberty of your own people?  This crime is treachery.

Sarawak Report, like so many of the internet eyes on this election, has been watching and we present a round up of the cheating captured by the busy eyes of our team of supporters.  We will be updating it during the next hours.

RM50 ringgit – cheap for your liberty mate!

The woman at this polling station in Perak was then clearly filmed walking back to the BN polling centre with the bought ballot form to join her flag-waving party colleagues.

Handily, the camera was able to catch the number plate of the car she walked past as well… it was the car from which the money in the transaction was handed from.

The car, the woman and the BN flags…. time to call the police?

There have been numerous incidents caught on camera of BN agents up to untoward activities in this election.  This is how they have always won in the past.  Take a look at our vote buyer as she returns to base.

Back to her BN base…. the toad in her hole

Meanwhile, the citizen camera people were also picking up and posting evidence of other untoward activity in Perak, with helicopters dropping out bags marked for the Election Commission into the middle of a football field during the course of the day!

Marked for the election commission!

A horrified onlooker posted the shot on Facebook and said this:

‘”THIS is really going OVERBOARD…I hope we could get an EXPLANATION for this???  Time 3.50pm. Location Sungai siput (u), perak. Sungai buloh football field. A helicopter dropped 2 packages the SPR believed to contain ballot boxes in them. ANYBODY else saw this please CONFIRM here in CCWM Group on the thread…Thank You!”

Soon enough some relevant video footage arrived on the matter.  BN will try to front out this evidence when it comes out in court, hoping they can bludgeon through to yet another ‘victory’ and continue their gangster rule of Malaysia for another 5 years, helped no doubt by a ‘crack down’ on freedom of information about activities like this.

Washed off in a trice with soap and water!

As for indelible ink?  The whole of Malaysia is laughing about that one… and the excuse that has just come out, that the reason was it had to be ‘Halal’!  This on the basis it is ‘Hudud’ for BN not to be allowed to break the law to win?

BN’s foreign voters

The voters many who can’t sing the national anthem or speak Malay have been filmed arriving at the stations…..

And then there were of course the imported voters. The buses duly drew up at polling stations around the country, protected by obliging police…. but filmed by outraged local people.

These matters will all be filed as reports, but what would a returning BN government, staffed with proven money grabbers do about it?

More dubious bus loads of voters arriving….

Then of course there was the foreign voter who made the mistake of presenting himself to PKR’s chief crook buster Rafizi Ramli, looking for money to pay for his vote!

The chap was questioned and could not sing the anthem or give a convincing account of why he had come from Sabah to vote in the Peninsular!

His suspicious IC is now up on the internet for all to see.  Maybe he was just trying it on.

With the culture of corruption engendered by BN’s vote buyers you can hardly blame the poorer classes from trying to get rice money out of a process that has been netting ministers billions.

But, they were being identified and caught on camera all over the place.  BN should hang its head in shame for exploiting the people they have kept poor in this way.  But, it seems these vote riggers have no shame, just a sense of entitlement that allows a bunch of 3rd generation under-achievers to think they should continue to run the country.

Can you pay me for my vote please? I came over from Sabah!

Sarawak

And of course over in Sarawak, Taib’s money bags (and those of his side-kick Sgn Chee Hwa of the spurious Sarawak Workers Party) started arriving at the longhouses at midnight last night.

Poor rural voters were shown by helicoptered big wigs “who was boss” with piles of money such as they had never imagined could exist.  RM500 to each of them.

If only those people could actually see the money piled up in the bank accounts of Taib Mahmud and his henchmen, then they would realise what a small amount they have received and how short a distance it will go towards repaying the vast natural resources they have thereby allowed Taib’s men to keep their hands on.

This evening opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim expressed his fears that the cheats would stop at nothing…

They are hijacking results….

And then of course, when BN really needed to force through a ‘victory’ they had to turn off the lights and shut down the comms!

Anwar’s latest tweet

Attempt to steal Nurul’s victory

Perhaps the most brazen attempted rigging at this election was the onslaught on Nurul Izzah’s Lembah Pantai seat.  Not only was the bribery rampant, but as the count was being finalised in her favour this evening the Election Commission officials came up with an extraordinary request.

They needed everyone to clear the count, so that they could take a ‘rest’!

The 15 PKR observers refused to accept the proposal and stayed on.  Shortly after a car drew up outside the count stuffed with ballot boxes inside!  The Election Commission officials attempted to force this late entry of extra mystery votes into the count!

The car full of ballot boxes is stopped by the crowd

A human barricade prevented the ballot boxes from being illegally introduced at this late stage, which Federal Reserve Unit officers attempted to disperse.  The people refused to leave and the ballot boxes are still the in car and were not were not allowed into the count.

Ballot boxes marked 120 found in EC car boot trying to enter 121 Lembah Pantai polling station. Blocked by public.

Nurul has been officially declared the winner thanks to the actions of the people who refused to allow their rights to be violated.

If you want to win an election against BN in Malaysia you have to stay put at the counting station!

How they tricked Wong Tack

The counts were all going the way of DAP through the evening, until suddenly last minute turnarounds went in favour of BN.

Listent to what happened to Wong Tack, who has lead the Lynas protest Bentong.  He was leading by 3,000 towards the end of the count.  When suddenly the lights went out!

During this dark period a new ballot box of ‘postal ballots’ was introduced, which were then counted.  This is against election law for votes to be introduced at the last moment. After these were counted Wong Tack’s majority of 3,000 was turned around to a minority of 300.

Apparently all the postal voters were unanimous for BN, whereas the non- postal votes had been fiercely in favour of Wong Tack.  Where did these postal votes come from ?

Keeping out ‘prying eyes and public scrutiny’ at the count in Johor

Meanwwhile, the BN controlled TV stations kept up a night of saying that their party had won.  By 1230am they were claiming a win and getting ready to swear themselves in and the TV was reporting the ‘fact’!

Cheating -

Ballot box mania

Observers of the election started to wonder why the delay on declaring so many counts where PR was leading by thousands?  It soon became clear.  At count after count illegal late arrivals of ballots boxes started being sneaked in under police escort.

Take a look at what happened in Johor.

Ballot ‘re-enforcements’ to help out flagging BN in Johor

The strategy had become clear.  The media held off announcing the PR wins, while promoting the BN  wins all evening until the seat where PR had been leading had been ‘sorted’ by the late ballot box arrivals.

Anwar Ibrahim who had announced an earlier victory was forced to announce there had been massive fraud.  As dawn breaks tomorrow Malaysian will have to make up their minds if they are prepared to be fed up another pretend election charade at all this fuss and expense.

More vote buying

“SK Sri pandan this afternoon around 1.45pm” – more BN workers with no shame, handing out vouchers to voters.

The evening ended with seats bullied and wrested away by a stone faced Najib who could clearly not revel in a victory he clearly had not really won.

Next to him sat Muhyiddin Yassin, who is now wondering in how many days he can take over his job.  The PR coalition parties have not accepted this bludgeoning.  They are collecting their information from an evening of black outs and stray ballots and last minute bus loads of ‘voters’ escorted by police and they will contest Najib’s sour tasting ‘victory’.

Malays are registering their disgust at the UN…

Plenty more to come….

No we are not Bangladeshi we are Nepalese! Innocent plantation workers shipped in by RISDA and doing what they are told?

UMNO have admitted they are behind the chartered flights to bring ‘voters’ in from East Malaysia.

They have attempted to say there is nothing wrong in it.

But, stunning new footage, posted just hours before polling booths open, now indicates that some of those ‘voters’  are actually Nepalese plantation workers with foreign passports.

The footage, shot by activists, concerns a hundred workers, who arrived from Sabah into KL on a Malindo flight into in the dead of night, May 3rd.

Intriguingly the MAS Wings charters that had originally been scheduled to carry the ‘voters’ from Sabah had turned out to be completely empty, according to the clean election campaigner Haris Ibrahim of ABU (Anything But UMNO).

His team were on standby to record the arrivals. Could it be that our earlier expose had caused a change of plans?

If so, we question why?  Because, if all was above board, as BN claimed, why would these passengers have suddenly been pulled off the planes?

Transport from the airport was thanks to RISDA!

However, the activists were soon aware of a separate Malindo flight, which arrived just after, packed with foreign workers from Sabah (Malindo is 51% owned by the Defence Ministry, which Najib Razak was till recently the Minister of).

These workers were piled into vans with the rubber industry RISDA logo emblazoned on them.

RISDA has already been integral to BN’s vote-catching plans.

The organisation admitted just a few days ago in Kuching that they had been ‘directed’ to pay rubber plantation workers an election incentive of RM500, as a boost to the party’s attempts to hold on to key seats in Sarawak – payments that had to be distributed before election day, May 5th!

The activists filmed the Sabah workers queueing to get their passports back from the organisers and each being handed a mysterious packet at the same time.

Take your passport… and this packet.

Bring your mobile phones and record everything!

If these are Malay voters then their passports should be red – so what was their purpose in KL?

Opposition workers are convinced that these men were dubious voters being ferried in by BN to support marginal seats.

The bewildered travellers from Sabah apparently confessed to the pro-democracy investigators that they had no idea what they were doing coming to KL.

However, they explained they were not Bangladeshi when asked, but Nepalese, working on a plantation in Sabah [film 9.45minutes in].

Therefore, given the history of cheating by BN, RISDA should explain immediately what these workers were doing being hustled into KL in the middle of the night, just before the election at the same time as a planned ‘voter ferrying’ flight that then turned out to be empty?

Line of mini-buses

Doubtles RISDA will have some story.

However, proof of the purpose of this visit is urgently needed, because BN’s apparent attempts to alter the course of this election are looking increasingly farcical and incompetent.

Worse, these provocative antics are also in danger of stirring up huge anger in the nation, which is fearful of seeing yet another democratic election snatched by thief tactics.

The filming clearly shows the workers being handed back their green Nepalese passports (compared to the red passports that Malaysian voters are issued with) plus a mysterious packet each.

We are left to speculate if each of these packets had perhaps and ID card and some money?

Where were they then taken?  According to Haris Ibrahim, it is believed that these poor workers were then ferried directly to the school rooms where the polling stations will open in a few hours time.

Some constituencies are so marginal that a few hundred voters are believed to be crucial to swing them.  Making a large and determined turn out the only solution to this situation.

Gang entering a restaurant and setting upon a man in a PR T-shirt

Haris Ibrahim has pleaded with onlookers to work hard at the polling stations to make sure that foreign voters are not slipped into the mix and to film and photograph anything suspicious.

Use your cameras and be wary

Phantom voters are not the only trick of course.  The election ‘managers’ have a lot of tricks up their sleeves that they are clearly planning to use in order to win this election for their boss Najib Razak “at whatever cost”.

There is also growing concern at increasing violence and bullying by BN gangs sporting Blue party shirts and red ‘I love Najib” shirts.  Their plan seems to be plain intimidation as videos like this one show.

But, unlike on previous occasions, where thuggery and intimidation could be carried out secretly, there are millions of Malaysians who know exactly what is likely to have been planned and they are ready to counter it with the glaring spotlight of publicity on the world wide web

A million mobile phones, cameras and recording devices have been charged a set to the ready as voters walk out to the polls in the fervent hope that this will be a peaceful, orderly and above all clean election.

Counter-measures

Already people are being warned to get to polling stations early and not to be tricked by the standard ploys, which include people who take so long in the booth to make the others fed up and go home.

This time there is a people’s army of young photographers and mobile phone filmers, ready to record abuses and intimidation….

You can’t hide this stuff any more.  That era is over.

Time to start behaving

Violence as well as cheating is being caught on camera – this man was attacked by the men in red (they ‘Love Najib’) for wearing a yellow ‘Bersih’ T-shirt (campaign for clean elections).

So, any official planning to do Najib’s bidding when it comes to rigging votes should consider the personal cost to them of getting caught up in this form of blatant election fraud.

Such acts are tantamount no less than conspiring to undermine the will of the people…. now that is treason, sedition, fraud and a whole lot of other crimes rolled into one.

Do you think Najib will protect you if you get caught?

The security guards who carried out instructions to murder Altantuya are still in jail!

And if there is a change of government despite all this, how will your prospects look then?

Our sincere advice on your behalf is that if you have been engaged to drive a bunch of foreigners to pose as voters, or to organise them in some way, you take a sick day.

Likewise, the appalling violence against opposition voters that has been a feature of this election must stop.  There is no way to stop these antics being recorded, because the nation is fed up and filming the lot.  Then your baton wielding faces are being exposed on Facebook!

In an unprovoked attack this BN marcher ran up and smashed the camera man in the face and knocked him out. His T-shirt says ‘I Love PM’. With supporters like these Najib hardly need enemies.

Hundreds of thousands turned out in eve of election rallies for PKR – Independent

“Anwar poised for a comeback on the promise of leading ‘Malaysian Spring’”[UK Times].

“The second coming of Anwar Ibrahim. He rose to the top and then ended up in jail.  Now Malaysia’s opposition leader stands on the verge of a remarkable election victory”[UK Independent]

“Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s oppostion leader, stands tantalisingly close to seizing power from the longest continually elected governing coalition in the world in Sunday’s election”[UK Telegraph]

Articles from all sides of the UK press spectrum, the conservative Telegraph and more liberal leaning Independent and the Times, have given a resounding acknowledgement to the prospect that Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s former Deputy PM, may by tomorrow have completed a long and difficult road to become the country’s new leader.

For the latest compilation of Anwar messages click Anwar ‘James Bond’!

After all, yesterday for the first time even the mainstream polls saw Anwar creeping ahead of Najib as the most popular candidate for Prime Minister, with the final momentum turning apparently towards the opposition.

“Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian opposition leader who spent years in prison …has taken the lead in polls before tomorrow’s elections, raising the prospect of a change in government for the first time since independence from Britain”[The Times]

100,000 rally in Penang, furious at the massive attempts at vote-buying in past weeks by BN fat cat Jho Low.

This despite the huge handouts, despite the fear-mongering, despite the threats of projects being halted and promises of projects being granted made daily by BN over the past month.

Perhaps Malaysians are just fed up with being ruled by the longest running coalition government in the world?

If all other democracies have shown themselves able to stomach a change, maybe Malaysia has decided to opt for some fresh air as well?

But the Financial Times points out that the main driving factor in the growing momentum against BN is that young voters are fed up with corruption “He [young voter] plans to vote for the opposition coalition because he is disgusted by what he says is pervasive corruption and an out-of-touch leadership”, explains the FT.

The article also points out how Najib has spent the last few weeks blatantly buying votes:

“There are also worries over the fiscal health of the country. Malaysia’s public finances are among the worst in the region. Its debt-to-GDP ratio is forecast to rise to 53 per cent this year, the highest in Asia after India and Pakistan. Yet to help shore up support, Mr Najib has distributed cash to the poor, civil servants and even the 40,000 employees of Petronas… Barisan argues that this helps to stimulate the local economy by putting cash in the pockets of the less well-off, such as Amirul Nizam, a 29-year-old government employee who received M$500 ($165) in March. “I spent it on my daughter, clothes and food,” he says. While many see this as a crude form of vote-buying – Mr Nizam says he will vote for Barisan – economists worry it will only add to fiscal strain.”[Financial Times]

The common mantra of most foreign coverage about Malaysia has been that its economy has been successful.

However, few have gone deep enough to mention that BN has been relying for its resources mainly on Malaysia’s and particularly East Malaysia’s finite natural resources, rather than developing a more modern manufacturing economy.

Worryingly, BN’s ‘economic success’ has rested on a crony class who have been stripping through the country’s oil, timber and other natural resources at an alarming and unsustainable rate.

Are voters reflecting on what benefits this short-term exploitation has brought except to a handful of people?

 ”The IMF this week lumped Malaysia with Thailand and Indonesia as laggards in raising their living standards as South Korea and Taiwan have.

“Malaysia has always been a very rich country. Its economy used to be one of the most envied at the end of the Mahathir period, but we see that it is not doing as well as other countries that are seen as our real competitors. It’s stuck,” says Ooi Kee Beng of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Iseas) in Singapore. Malaysia’s household debt is the highest in Asia, having risen to 80.5 per cent of GDP last year from 75.8 per cent in 2011. Iseas points to another concern. It says that Malaysia’s exports are increasingly dependent on commodities such as oil, palm oil and rubber, rather than electronics. Where previously they were a mainstay of the export market”[Financial Times]

Admiration for Anwar

Telegraph – Anwar is a Malaysian Muslim, who has championed equality of treatment for all races and religions in line with modern countries across the world

Economics and voting intentions aside, the UK press seems to have united in a genuine recognition for Anwar Ibrahim, as a Malaysian leader who has the mettle of a world class figure and a man who has lasted the course.

The Independent tells his ‘remarkable’ story that has led from youthful reformist, to number two in government, to six years in jail and now to the brink of a possible election win that could bring Malaysia at last into the status of a genuine mature democracy with a peaceful change of government through an election.

“It’s such an authoritarian system. We need to transform the country into a vibrant democracy,” said Mr Ibrahim. “There is no independent media, we have racist policies. We need to have a more transparent system that recognises the value of all relationships, irrespective of race.”[Anwar, interviewed by the Independent]

The Telegraph likewise records Anwar Ibrahim’s extraordinary career, dotted with highs and lows and it is evident that the scare stories which have been circulated that a change of government would somehow cause a collapse of confidence in Malaysia abroad are not gaining much credence.

“My coalition stands for responsible governance. If we win, my first task will be to give freedom to the press, to tackle the country’s discriminatory and draconian laws and to stop the corruption that has blighted the country by addressing monopolies such as of Petronas (oil) contracts and the corrupt ministries,” he said.

“I think a win for the opposition would boost Malaysia’s standing abroad, showing that we can operate a responsible, modern democracy – I think it will help economically and boost investments. Inside the country, ending endemic corruption can help stop the crippling poverty in rural areas.

“Five more years of the same government would lead to yet more corruption and yet more discrimination.”{Anwar Ibrahim speaking in the Telegraph]

The similarities of Anwar’s story with that of Nelson Mandela of South Africa are also pointed to.  There is a recognition that Anwar Ibrahim could indeed become a world leadership figure, every bit as sympathetic to Western governments as the present one.

Dark concerns about cheating on numerous fronts as so-called ‘indelible ink’ washes off!  BN should do well to learn that ‘losing gracefully’ is an honourable thing to do for your country and shows political maturity.

However, if BN hang on in this razor tight election the world will never know.

Because, Ibrahim makes clear in his interviews with these foreign newspapers that this is the occasion that he is putting his energies into and if he loses then he will pass on to a new generation.

However, if the outcome is left in doubt with BN claiming a dubious win amid accusations of dirty tactics, the opposition leader’s position will be much more difficult.

The foreign press has also become fully aware of the apparent sculduggery besetting this election and have started widely reporting it.

BN should realise that the modern media now shines the light on such practices, which may have been possible to carry out secretly a decade ago. The BBC has also reported on fears about the integrity of the election.

Both sides would do well to play fair in this election in all respects.  BN should hold back their phantom voters and dirty practices and remember that in a mature democracy the losing party can always come back to win once more in five years time!

See also Al Jazeera - voters rush back to vote

Sydney Morning Herald – Mystery flights cast doubt on Malaysian polls

Listening in!

Today on International Press Freedom Day we are proud and delighted to proclaim that our colleagues on Radio Free Sarawak have won one of the world’s most prestigious journalism awards!

The International Press Institute, which comprises a global network of leading journalists, editors, and media executives, has selected Radio Free Sarawak as the recipient of this year’s Free Media Pioneer Award.

It is wonderful news to bring our loyal community of listeners in the longhouses of Sarawak that the wider world has taken notice of the radio station that is dedicated to supporting them and exposing their problems!

Sarawak Report also wants to take this opportunity to thank RFS’s tiny team of dedicated producers and DJs, who have sacrificed their home lives and indeed their safety to work in hiding for long hours over the past 2 and a half years to bring the Iban and Malay language programme each day to our increasingly enthusiastic audience of regular listeners.

One radio but lots of listeners! Longhouses are perfect for communal listening

It has been a combination of their talent and the spirited contributions of listeners from Sarawak’s numerous, but often isolated communities that has made Radio Free Sarawak so special to its audiences.

Despite a period of poor reception at the start of the year caused by atmospheric conditions and now the ferocious jamming during the election, the audience has stayed with us and reports indicate that the numbers are growing and growing.

Supper can wait!

RFS recently revised its start time for its two hour nightly show from 6pm to 7pm following pleas from villagers that it was hard to get back from their padi to the kampung in time for the start of the show!

We have also been forced to alter our frequency to avoid jamming and audiences have learnt to follow us, so that we have successfully kept on air during most of the election.

RFS also owes enormous tribute to all the patient staff who have helped us through these extraordinary challenges at the UK broadcaster WRN.

Over the past few days the jammers have “thrown everything at us” as a WRN spokesman has put it, including local and international jamming tactics, making it extremely hard to keep the show on air.  But, together the team has done it.

Cyber-attacks

RFS has given people courage to speak out

And of course Radio Free Sarawak and its new sister station Radio Free Malaysia (on air during the election) have both suffered cyber-attacks on their websites, as has Sarawak Report over the past weeks.

One such ‘DDOS’ attack, amounting to 130 million hits in 3 and 1/2 hours brought down all three sites for seven days.

However, the longhouse folk have never drifted from supporting our project.  Armed with mobile phones, listeners are frequently known to walk several hours to reach a reception area in order to ring into the show and to share their problems.

They have then been able to hear their contributions and the responses from other communities back home on the radio, often in isolated longhouses that are rarely visited by outsiders.

Shortwave radios have been snatched up like hotcakes from local stores and have been distributed by well-wishers and by campaigners and NGOs.

Comments to our team have included claims such as “RFS has opened our eyes”, “RFS has given us hope”, “RFS has saved our lives” and “Where is RFS tonight? I miss it like a second wife!”

Staff have to hide their identities to avoid harassment and accusations of ‘sedition’

And for the first time it seems that people who have long been intimidated by thugs and logging gangsters are finding the courage to speak out and share their problems.

Poisoning the minds of the people!

But, it seems that the more popular that RFS has become with local listeners the more unpopular it has become with Taib Mahmud’s BN state government and indeed the federal authorities in Malaysia.

They have been unable to stomach criticisms which have centred on the effects of logging and palm oil plantation and the land grabbing of NCR lands.

BN politicians have been particularly annoyed that RFS has exposed the dangers of the state government’s latest heavily promoted ‘perimeter survey’ initiative.

The initiative claims to be offering native communities long-awaited titles to their ancestral lands, but in fact it is being used to enable the authorities to wrest away their rights to all but a fraction of their previously recognised territories.

Many communities have started heeding the warnings and refusing to accept perimeter surveys!

It has prompted a deluge of recent threats and politically motivated police reports.  Ministers such as the ‘Land Development Minister’, James Masing have been particularly angry.

A radio brought news of the developments in their case for the Penan who blockaded for their human rights to be considered over the Murum Dam last year

“We have sent men to the moon and vehicles to Mars, so don’t tell me that we can’t even jam these radio stations”, he thundered to the Borneo Post. “We cannot allow them to continue broadcasting lies upon lies because at the end of the day many people would think that what they say is true. This is bad because both radio stations are running down the BN government.”

Radio Free Sarawak has been accused of being “illegal” and a “pirate station”, operating without a licence from the government.

However, we have pointed out that RFS is broadcasting legally out of the UK and it is the jammers who are breaking international protocols.

RFS provides the only independent voice in Sarawak when all the other ‘licensed’ media is owned either by Taib’s own family members or by his crony logging tycoons.

This has not prevented a deluge of accusations that RFS has been ‘poisoning minds’ against the government.

We reply that we are merely informing people of their rights and they seem very interested indeed to listen!

International attention

Show of support from Malaysia’s biking adventurer Syed Ahmed!

And it seems that by battling to reach the people of Sarawak RFS has also managed to catch the attention of the outside world to their problems.

A growing number of international TV, newspaper and radio reports have taken an interest in the station and, far more importantly the problems of logging, oil palm and corruption that have been afflicting our listeners.

RFS has featured on Al Jazeera, BBC and Dateline Australia as well as in numerous written articles.

We hope that the outside world will continue to follow and take note of the people of the once distant and remote longhouses of Sarawak and that their struggles will no longer be forgotten by others.

RFS will be receiving its award at the end of the month in Aman in Jordan. The International Press Institute was founded in New York in 1950 and is the world’s older press freedom advocacy organisation, based now in Vienna.

In announcing the award today IPI Deputy Director Anthony Mills noted:

“It is this dogged commitment to pursuing and reporting the news, however difficult, that led to our decision to honour Radio Free Sarawak as IPI’s 2013 Free Media Pioneer. We salute their diligent efforts to offer listeners an independent voice for unbiased news and information in Sarawak, Malaysia.” 

Once again, congratulations to the team and congratulations to our longhouse listeners!

Read all about the award at the IPI website

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