Sarawak Forestry Department Silences
Bruno Manser Fonds and The Borneo Project
- The Forestry Department of Sarawak has canceled a project with NGOs due to a problem with transparency according to the Bruno Manser Fonds and The Borneo Project
- As the largest state on Malaysian Borneo with a sprawling 12.4 million hectares, Sarawak is home to diverse demography of twenty seven ethnicities. Its conservation efforts are supported by international bodies including the United Nations Development Program
- Most notable among Malaysian states is Sarawak's semi-autonomous stature which was likened by Pieter E Stek at the Asia School of Business as “a similar position as those of Scottish members at Westminster.”
Penan community in Data Bila rejects involvement of NGOs, Dayak Daily
It is this autonomy that has enabled Sarawak to use its natural resources to leapfrog other Malaysian states and indeed, other countries in the region to become a clean energy powerhouse.
"Two Asian countries where hydrogen is seen as crucial to the green transition have already set their sights on Sarawak as a key provider of the fuel.
South Korea’s private sector has pledged to pour billions of dollars into creating a value chain for the clean fuel, while Japan, which created the world’s first hydrogen strategy in 2017, said in the latest update in June that it aims to increase consumption of the fuel to 20 million tons by 2050 from about 2 million tons now."
Sarawak’s ambition to become a clean energy provider is however challenged by a need for skilled educated Sarawakians to work in the energy industry. To raise the required number of skilled workers for the state’s renewable energy sector, Sarawak’s federal lawmaker Doris Sophia Brodi has urged its diaspora to return home.
This report by Lu Wei Hoong for highlights a long standing but lesser known strategy by the Sarawak government to ensure that Sarawakians get first dibs on the best jobs.
“There are currently 52,000 Sarawak intellectuals and talents spread across Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. Our government is building a new platform for you,” she said in a speech at the town hall meeting. “When you finish your studies, please come back. We experienced a brain drain, but we need to achieve a brain gain by 2030.”
Once seen in the backdrop of Sarawak’s cooperation with foreign governmental bodies like the UNDP and USAID for sustainable development, the work of Bruno Manser Funds, The Borneo Project and Save Rivers becomes questionable.
"Two Asian countries where hydrogen is seen as crucial to the green transition have already set their sights on Sarawak as a key provider of the fuel.
South Korea’s private sector has pledged to pour billions of dollars into creating a value chain for the clean fuel, while Japan, which created the world’s first hydrogen strategy in 2017, said in the latest update in June that it aims to increase consumption of the fuel to 20 million tons by 2050 from about 2 million tons now."
Sarawak’s ambition to become a clean energy provider is however challenged by a need for skilled educated Sarawakians to work in the energy industry. To raise the required number of skilled workers for the state’s renewable energy sector, Sarawak’s federal lawmaker Doris Sophia Brodi has urged its diaspora to return home.
This report by Lu Wei Hoong for highlights a long standing but lesser known strategy by the Sarawak government to ensure that Sarawakians get first dibs on the best jobs.
“There are currently 52,000 Sarawak intellectuals and talents spread across Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. Our government is building a new platform for you,” she said in a speech at the town hall meeting. “When you finish your studies, please come back. We experienced a brain drain, but we need to achieve a brain gain by 2030.”
Once seen in the backdrop of Sarawak’s cooperation with foreign governmental bodies like the UNDP and USAID for sustainable development, the work of Bruno Manser Funds, The Borneo Project and Save Rivers becomes questionable.
Who do these groups serve? What are their interests in Sarawak? According to an email subscriber to The Borneo Project:
"The Borneo Project is a one person American researcher working in Ulu Baram. She get a funding from a Company in US who matches private funding up to US$20k. I subscribe to the Borneo Project mailing but I just dont see anything. It is just scamming well-meaning donors.
I know the Save Rivers guy very well. You can meet him serving holy communion in Lutong Catholic Church. He is doing a good work with Save Rivers, but to me his work is taken out of context and generalised for the whole of Sarawak."
Jettie Word from The Borneo Project is probably the "one American" working in Ulu Baram based on the email pleas for donations to pay her staff. One has to wonder what increasing demands on the ground exist that The Borneo Project wants to hire more Americans to represent indigenous voices in Sarawak.
It's bad enough that folks like her ask money from indigenous Sarawakians to speak on their behalf as if they could not speak for themselves. Groups like Save Rivers, The Borneo Project and Bruno Manser Funds make it worse when their media campaigns present their work as if they represented all of Sarawak’s indigenous peoples.
"The Borneo Project is a one person American researcher working in Ulu Baram. She get a funding from a Company in US who matches private funding up to US$20k. I subscribe to the Borneo Project mailing but I just dont see anything. It is just scamming well-meaning donors.
I know the Save Rivers guy very well. You can meet him serving holy communion in Lutong Catholic Church. He is doing a good work with Save Rivers, but to me his work is taken out of context and generalised for the whole of Sarawak."
Jettie Word from The Borneo Project is probably the "one American" working in Ulu Baram based on the email pleas for donations to pay her staff. One has to wonder what increasing demands on the ground exist that The Borneo Project wants to hire more Americans to represent indigenous voices in Sarawak.
It's bad enough that folks like her ask money from indigenous Sarawakians to speak on their behalf as if they could not speak for themselves. Groups like Save Rivers, The Borneo Project and Bruno Manser Funds make it worse when their media campaigns present their work as if they represented all of Sarawak’s indigenous peoples.
Our interest in Sarawak's indigenous peoples is in Dayak oil palm smallholders who have been formally organized by the Dayak Oil Palm Planters Association (DOPPA) to defend their rights.
As Sarawak looks to find its path in a sustainable future, the palm oil industry remains a key economic activity for indigenous communities to improve their own lot while making a contribution to state revenues. Any threats to the livelihoods of Dayak farmers in Sarawak has been challenged by DOPPA even if it means taking on the European Union and its Deforestation Regulations.
The most recent media work of foreign groups which threatened the livelihoods of DOPPA members by calling on the EU to black list palm oil production in Sarawak received a stern rebuke from DOPPA.
Strong arming Sarawak with Token Penans Does Not Work
The Penan tribe of Sarawak provides rich hunting grounds for NGOs looking to make a buck for themselves. This whole brouhaha over the UBFA is not a cancellation of the project. What it is, is the removal of participants like Bruno Manser Funds and the local NGOs in its payroll from distorting what Sarawak needs to do for the Upper Baram region.
Self serving declarations from Bruno Manser Funds of being “stunned last Thursday when, minutes prior to the start of a project meeting in Miri, Malaysia, they learned that the Sarawak Forest Department had called off a flagship US$1.4 million project for which they had flown in from across the world” makes a joke of what indigenous peoples in Sarawak need.
The ITTO published Sarawak’s intention to cancel the project the UBFA project with Bruno Manser Funds involvement on Oct 10, 2024. Bruno Manser Fund should have been aware of this unless they were too busy packing personal effects for a trip to Sarawak.
This is typical of foreign NGOs who imagine their dinner table scraps can feed entire communities of impoverished Penans. The FDS is justified in removing these groups who contributed a pittance but demanded the whole cake with a simple question:
Where are the roads and facilities?
FDS’s question addresses The Borneo Project’s report earlier that massive logging was happening close to the Penan settlement of Ba Data Bila and quoted Komeok Joe, CEO of Penan empowerment organisation KERUAN, as saying:
“We NGOs have brought development such as water pipes, roofing, bridges, education and health services to communities. But we insist that people get development without having to sell off their forest and their heritage. People want a road, but shouldn’t need to see their forest destroyed in return. It is the government’s duty to provide basic infrastructure, not the company’s.”
This is a weird demand from Komeok Joe and the Penans he claims to represent. The thing is, government revenue to provide basic infrastructure has to come from somewhere unless the Sarawak government owns a money printing machine. With Sarawak state revenues being so dependent on industries that rely on its natural resources, why should Komeok Joe expect revenue from land use in other districts to build roads for Ba Data Bila?
It may have something to do with mass confusion on the ground. According to this report on the matter from Radio Free Sarawak Nick Kelesau as a spokesperson for KERUAN said:
"The Penan people who are affected by the anti-BMF campaign, SAVE RIVERS AND THE Penan Keruan Organization forbid these NGOs to speak or give their views.
They erected a banner that said bmf and supporters were not allowed to interfere with the ongoing project in the Ba Data Bila area. BMF and their supporters have no rights in the Ba Data Bila area and we Ba Data Bila residents fully support the efforts of the Premier of Sarawak and the Balak company to make projects in our area.
The intended project is to build a road from Ba Data Bila to Long Lelang and all over the land and build houses for four penan communities in Ba Data Bila, Ba Mubui, Ba Sebatou and Ba Pengaran Kelian.
Nick insisted that Penan did not prevent development but the way the mentioned projects were done was wrong.
Just by building roads, our logs are cut down greedily.
The logging company wants to build a road to Long Lelang while cutting logs in the area it passes through.
All this is not allowed in the original plan of UBFA.
Even the original UBFA plan also included the development of infrastructure for the penan community.
With transparent funds from the Japanese and Korean governments as well as donations from NGOs such as BMF. Why do penan groups led by Pemanca Uning Bong and Penghulu Daud anger the BMF and other parties over penan poverty. These two Penan leaders should have angered GPS because the Penan people's forest has been looted but they have still failed to build a basic infrastructure for the Penan people."
Nick should have asked Komeok Joe exactly where KERUAN has brought “development such as water pipes, roofing, bridges, education and health services to communities.”
Penans Do Not Represent All Indigenous Peoples in Sarawak
Tribal claims to Sarawak’s forests is a complicated matter due to the existence of numerous indigenous tribes. A hundred years of British governance starting with the Brooke family did little to sort out tribal claims.
But particular to the situation today, the Penans that roamed around the Upper Baram region were seen as more of an opportunistic tribe whose nomadic ways of walking from one place to another in search of sustenance was detested by other tribes like the Kelabits. The issue here is the Sarawak government’s recognition of land claims looks at lands cleared for settlements or farms. The Kelabits did this well with farming as a traditional means of survival while the Penans roamed about.
Unfortunately for the Kelabits, the Penans of Sarawak are the darlings of foreign interests from extreme groups like Survival International to popular media like the BBC,
In stark comparison, Sarawak’s biggest indigenous tribe in the Ibans rarely get a mention in foreign media despite their enormous contribution to the early development of Sarawak as coolies and laborers. Is this the source of government revenue that Komeok Joe expects to pay for infrastructure and homes for the Penans? On the backs of Ibans?
The problem with The Borneo Project and groups like Bruno Manser Fonds is their work is too narrow in focus. According to another response we received from Sarawak.
"The representation of the Penan community is not comprehensive. The focus on Upper Baram does not represent Sarawak. What about other indigenous communities? Why is it not supported if they want to help improve their socioeconomic status and preserve the forest? What are their financial commitments to help them."
There is no readily available answer for this. The Borneo Project and Bruno Manser Fonds are not very transparent with where their funding comes from or how much of their funding is used to help local communities with socio-economic activities.
A close up look into The Borneo Project shows it is only one of many projects funded by Earth Island in the US. No financials were readily available for public review. The same lack of transparency applies to Bruno Manser Fonds as the Company Information and Legal Disclosure showed no information on their financials.
This is all very weird coming from groups who complained about the lack of transparency in how the Forestry Department of Sarawak planned to use funding from international donors.
Published November 2024-CSPO Watch
As Sarawak looks to find its path in a sustainable future, the palm oil industry remains a key economic activity for indigenous communities to improve their own lot while making a contribution to state revenues. Any threats to the livelihoods of Dayak farmers in Sarawak has been challenged by DOPPA even if it means taking on the European Union and its Deforestation Regulations.
The most recent media work of foreign groups which threatened the livelihoods of DOPPA members by calling on the EU to black list palm oil production in Sarawak received a stern rebuke from DOPPA.
Strong arming Sarawak with Token Penans Does Not Work
The Penan tribe of Sarawak provides rich hunting grounds for NGOs looking to make a buck for themselves. This whole brouhaha over the UBFA is not a cancellation of the project. What it is, is the removal of participants like Bruno Manser Funds and the local NGOs in its payroll from distorting what Sarawak needs to do for the Upper Baram region.
Self serving declarations from Bruno Manser Funds of being “stunned last Thursday when, minutes prior to the start of a project meeting in Miri, Malaysia, they learned that the Sarawak Forest Department had called off a flagship US$1.4 million project for which they had flown in from across the world” makes a joke of what indigenous peoples in Sarawak need.
The ITTO published Sarawak’s intention to cancel the project the UBFA project with Bruno Manser Funds involvement on Oct 10, 2024. Bruno Manser Fund should have been aware of this unless they were too busy packing personal effects for a trip to Sarawak.
This is typical of foreign NGOs who imagine their dinner table scraps can feed entire communities of impoverished Penans. The FDS is justified in removing these groups who contributed a pittance but demanded the whole cake with a simple question:
Where are the roads and facilities?
FDS’s question addresses The Borneo Project’s report earlier that massive logging was happening close to the Penan settlement of Ba Data Bila and quoted Komeok Joe, CEO of Penan empowerment organisation KERUAN, as saying:
“We NGOs have brought development such as water pipes, roofing, bridges, education and health services to communities. But we insist that people get development without having to sell off their forest and their heritage. People want a road, but shouldn’t need to see their forest destroyed in return. It is the government’s duty to provide basic infrastructure, not the company’s.”
This is a weird demand from Komeok Joe and the Penans he claims to represent. The thing is, government revenue to provide basic infrastructure has to come from somewhere unless the Sarawak government owns a money printing machine. With Sarawak state revenues being so dependent on industries that rely on its natural resources, why should Komeok Joe expect revenue from land use in other districts to build roads for Ba Data Bila?
It may have something to do with mass confusion on the ground. According to this report on the matter from Radio Free Sarawak Nick Kelesau as a spokesperson for KERUAN said:
"The Penan people who are affected by the anti-BMF campaign, SAVE RIVERS AND THE Penan Keruan Organization forbid these NGOs to speak or give their views.
They erected a banner that said bmf and supporters were not allowed to interfere with the ongoing project in the Ba Data Bila area. BMF and their supporters have no rights in the Ba Data Bila area and we Ba Data Bila residents fully support the efforts of the Premier of Sarawak and the Balak company to make projects in our area.
The intended project is to build a road from Ba Data Bila to Long Lelang and all over the land and build houses for four penan communities in Ba Data Bila, Ba Mubui, Ba Sebatou and Ba Pengaran Kelian.
Nick insisted that Penan did not prevent development but the way the mentioned projects were done was wrong.
Just by building roads, our logs are cut down greedily.
The logging company wants to build a road to Long Lelang while cutting logs in the area it passes through.
All this is not allowed in the original plan of UBFA.
Even the original UBFA plan also included the development of infrastructure for the penan community.
With transparent funds from the Japanese and Korean governments as well as donations from NGOs such as BMF. Why do penan groups led by Pemanca Uning Bong and Penghulu Daud anger the BMF and other parties over penan poverty. These two Penan leaders should have angered GPS because the Penan people's forest has been looted but they have still failed to build a basic infrastructure for the Penan people."
Nick should have asked Komeok Joe exactly where KERUAN has brought “development such as water pipes, roofing, bridges, education and health services to communities.”
Penans Do Not Represent All Indigenous Peoples in Sarawak
Tribal claims to Sarawak’s forests is a complicated matter due to the existence of numerous indigenous tribes. A hundred years of British governance starting with the Brooke family did little to sort out tribal claims.
But particular to the situation today, the Penans that roamed around the Upper Baram region were seen as more of an opportunistic tribe whose nomadic ways of walking from one place to another in search of sustenance was detested by other tribes like the Kelabits. The issue here is the Sarawak government’s recognition of land claims looks at lands cleared for settlements or farms. The Kelabits did this well with farming as a traditional means of survival while the Penans roamed about.
Unfortunately for the Kelabits, the Penans of Sarawak are the darlings of foreign interests from extreme groups like Survival International to popular media like the BBC,
In stark comparison, Sarawak’s biggest indigenous tribe in the Ibans rarely get a mention in foreign media despite their enormous contribution to the early development of Sarawak as coolies and laborers. Is this the source of government revenue that Komeok Joe expects to pay for infrastructure and homes for the Penans? On the backs of Ibans?
The problem with The Borneo Project and groups like Bruno Manser Fonds is their work is too narrow in focus. According to another response we received from Sarawak.
"The representation of the Penan community is not comprehensive. The focus on Upper Baram does not represent Sarawak. What about other indigenous communities? Why is it not supported if they want to help improve their socioeconomic status and preserve the forest? What are their financial commitments to help them."
There is no readily available answer for this. The Borneo Project and Bruno Manser Fonds are not very transparent with where their funding comes from or how much of their funding is used to help local communities with socio-economic activities.
A close up look into The Borneo Project shows it is only one of many projects funded by Earth Island in the US. No financials were readily available for public review. The same lack of transparency applies to Bruno Manser Fonds as the Company Information and Legal Disclosure showed no information on their financials.
This is all very weird coming from groups who complained about the lack of transparency in how the Forestry Department of Sarawak planned to use funding from international donors.
Published November 2024-CSPO Watch