Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends,
As an eventful year is coming to its end, the BMF team would like to thank you for your interest in our work and your invaluable support.
In cooperation with our valued partners in Malaysia and from around the world, the Bruno Manser Fund's campaigns and projects have had considerable success. In particular, we are happy to see that the Taib government's plans for twelve new dams in Sarawak are increasingly being challenged by local opinion leaders and by the international community. The withdrawal of Rio Tinto and Hydro Tasmania from Taib's selfish plans is proof that international investors can be forced to withdraw from projects that are neither transparent, necessary nor sustainable. In the new year, we will increase public pressure on the remaining foreign players, particularly Sarawak Energy's Norwegian CEO, Torstein Sjøtveit, and the International Hydropower Association that is planning to hold its annual 2013 congress in Kuching. - If you haven't written to Mr. Sjøtveit yet, there is still time to do it (under tds@sarawakenergy.com). It is a sign of his nervousness that he personally rebuts all critical e-mails sent to him while refusing to acknowledge that he is just Taib's highly-paid helper.
In Switzerland, our criminal complaint against UBS over the laundering of over 90 million USD of timber corruption funds from Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman has prompted the Attorney General to open a crimnial investigation, which is currently under way. We have no doubt that UBS will be heavily fined and hope that the case will cause them to overhaul their due diligence procedures for customers form the timber and plantation sector.
We are also proud that the last year has seen improvements for our Penan partners at the community level which we are happy to continue supporting. We would like to wish you all the best and salute you with a picture message from Long Benali, a community that has successfully kept Samling's loggers at bay and sends regards from their well-preserved primary rainforests across the world.
We wish you wholeheartedly a Merry Christmas, a happy holiday season and all the best for the New Year.
Your BMF team
No comments:
Post a Comment