Kenyah Radio DJ victimised without basis, says NGO

Letter from Peter Kalang, chairman of Save Rivers Sarawak Network.

I am sad and disgusted to learn that Mr. Jude Juda Anye (JJ) a Kenyah Discs Jockey (DJ) at Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) Miri is being unjustly accused and penalized. I think that it is an unwarranted penalty which is made in a haste; it is a coldhearted and reckless reaction spurred by a simple, one minute phone call which I made to the RTM Kenyah telephone called-in radio programme. From that call JJ was accused of collaborating with my campaign which is against the construction of mega dams in Sarawak. JJ is never a part of my campaign team nor has he ever collaborated with my team in our campaign in any way. We in the SAVE Rivers network respect the position and role of the civil service and thus never invite any civil servant to work with us.

JJ was on duty on the the 20^th of March 2012. He was taking phone calls for the programme as usual, when I made my call. Like all others that day, I asked permission while on the air to be allowed to give my message. JJ allowed me to do so. My message on the radio was simple and short, inviting all those from the Baram District to an open discussion. Since I did not give any details of the discussion, there was no way that the DJ could tell what the discussion was about. The invitation was very short, just three sentences. JJ did not have an interview with me as claimed by those who made the accusation. I can get listeners to testify to all what I said on the air that day.

Even though it is very clear from the above mentioned, the administrative authority of the RTM in Kuching and Miri were pressured to take disciplinary action against JJ. The pressure came from politicians joining forces with a senior officer from the State Secretariat.  Knowing the nature of the broadcast and to avoid drastic and permanently damaging action the RTM authority took some measures, which are as follows:

(1)   Taking JJ off the air from the Kenyah section while he could still serve as DJ in the Malay section in RTM Miri.

(2)   Direct phone call-in broadcast on the air for Kenyah section in Miri is now stopped. Messages are now given to and read out by a Kenyah DJ. (Take note that this service is critical for the communities who live in areas without other means of communication.)

However, these measures which are already taken do not seem to be enough to satisfy the rage of one politician and the senior officer from the State Secretariat. Now they pressured the RTM administration to transfer JJ to another town, Bintulu, where there is no Kenyah radio service. He is told to report for duty in Bintulu almost immediately.

JJ is a very popular DJ and much talked about by those who listen to him on the air in the Kenayh broadcast and the Malay service. He is also a popular Master of Ceremony and announcer at functions in and around Miri. He was the pioneer who started the Kenyah Radio Program for RTM. RTM Miri is the first to have a scheduled Kenyah language broadcast ever and anywhere. At the moment RTM has only one other permanent staff serving in the Kenyah section. JJ’s transfer will be a lost for the Kenyah community as a whole, particularly those in the rural areas. JJ’s signature slogan now popular throughout the Miri Division is “Bichem Bichem”.

It is so sad that the politicians and the officer from the State Secretariat who put the pressure on the RTM administration are of Orang Ulu ethnics. The Kenyahs who with JJ are losing out due to this are also of the Orang Ulu group. The zeal of the people concerned for the so called disciplinary action is a clear case of abuse of power; it is done without the required procedure. On behalf of JJ and our Kenyah community I would like to request the politicians and civil servants to act with caution and be more humanely in their work. Above all, politicians should not interfere with the administration of government just like the government servants should not be involved with active politics. If the politicians have the wellbeing of the people in their hearts they should withdraw all the actions taken against JJ, which affect the Kenyah community as a whole and Miri RTM radio listeners in general.

Villagers put up barricades to protest against encroachment by oil palm plantation

The villagers of Kampung Stenggang with a huge banner denouncing the encroachment by the company.

Bau, May 3, 2012: Over 300 villagers from Kampung Stenggang in Lundu district have erected barricade against an oil palm company for what they considered as encroaching into their native customary rights (NCR) land.

They erected the barricade yesterday afternoon after failing to get the help of the Lands and Survey to stop the Peninsular Malaysia-based company from pulling back their machineries.

Speaking to reporters today, the village’s assistant head Carolus Jeim Langie said he and other village elders had approached the Lands and Surveys director Julaihi Abdullah about the encroachment three weeks ago.

“He agreed to look into the matter and to stop the company from further encroaching into our NCR land, but sad to say, the company’s workers are still damaging our land,” he said.

He also showed to reporters a letter signed by a former director of the Lands and Surveys, Datuk Sudarsono Osman, that the government recognised the existence of their NCR land within the area issued under Privisional Leases (PLs) to the oil palm company.

He said the letter stated that the department would investigate and demarcate the NCR land with a view to exclude from the PLs issued.

The letter, dated April 12, 2011, stated that the PL holders would not be allowed to carry out any development within the PL until the matter on NCR land had been resolved.

“Despite the letter, the company is still carrying out development work in our NCR land.,” Carolus said. By Sematong Express

Sit-in protest in Kuching on April 28, PKR Wanita says the EC has failed

Kuching, April 24, 2012: Besides Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur, sit-in rally organised by a Coalition of Non-Govermental Organisations (Bersih 3.0) is going to be held at the Kuching Waterfront and the Old Court House carpark this Saturday.

It is scheduled to start at 2pm on April 28, 2012.

PKR Wanita vice head Voon Shiak Ni told reporters today that a lot of people are unaware that the sit-in protest to demand for electoral reforms is going to be held in Kuching.

"When we distributed the yellow pamphlets, they (people) asked us about the sit-in protest at Dataran Mederka," she said.

Voon urged more people to come to the protest at the Waterfront and the Old Court House compound.

"We expect 1,000 to turn up at the sit-in protest," she said.

She said the democratic-minded people who want fair and clean election have every right to voice their concern at the electoral rolls.

She said it is a sham efforts to set up the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to get the feedback from the people on electoral reforms when the electoral rolls are tainted with dubious and suspicious voters.

Voon said out of the 22 proposals submitted by PSC for approval by Parliament last week, the Election Commission has failed to live up to its promise.

"The EC recommended five out of the 22 proposals to be implemented for the upcoming general election.

"The five are: (a) tempat mengundi changed to pusat mengundi, (b) membuang undi changed to mengundi, (c) political parties barred from setting up canopies near the polling centres, (d) the schedules of the polling agents and counting agents to be decided by presiding officers of the polling centres, and that the political parties need to submit the names of the polling agents and counting agents, and (e) agents of political parties are not allowed to sit or be near to the commission desk at the polling centres," Voon said.

As to the barring of political parties from setting up canopies near the polling centres and stations, Voon said the Opposition objected strongly to this ruling.

"After some argument, the commission relented but the canopies must be 100 metres away from the polling centres," she said.

Voon said the five proposals to be implemented by the commission for the upcoming elections have nothing to do with electoral reforms or clean electoral rolls.

"We are very disappointed with the commission and it is very clear that the whole exercise about pushing for electoral reforms by the commission or the BN government had deviated from the demands made by Bersih 2.0 in 2011," she said.

Voon said nothing was done to clean the electoral rolls and in fact, she observed that more had been done to add to the numbers of dubious voters and postal votes.

"For example, there are more than 240,000 postal voters created by the commission classified as the so-called volunteers of SPR.

"These numbers far exceeded the numbers of the existng postal voters from the army, and that the commission is very firm about having these 240,000 volunteers," she said.

"From the staitistics obtained from the past elections, up to 90 per cent of the ballots cast through the postal voting system were grossly in favour of the BN," she said.

Voon said that the Opposition also questioned the presence of about 400,000 dubious voters in the electoral rolls.

"These 400,000 voters, in our belief, are enough to swing 35 federal seats in favour of the Barisan Nasional," she pointed out.

Voon said the irony was that over one million Malaysians residing overseas are denied their democratic and constitutional rights to vote by the commission.

"PKR Women Wing, therefore, calls on all registered voters to come out in full force to cast their votes in the upcoming election," she said.

She said the Opposition needed al the votes if there is going to be a change in the government. By Sematong Express.

Respect our rights, Penans appeal to Sarawak Energy Berhad boss

Penan ask Norwegian manager to respect their rights 

(SARAWAK, MALAYSIA) The six Penan communities of Long Lutin, Long Pakan, Long Lilim, Ba Abang, Long Kawi and Long Item have sent letters to Torstein Dale Sjotveit, CEO of Sarawak Energy (SEB), the Malaysian power supplier in charge of the implementation of Sarawak’s dam projects, demanding that a stop be put to all further work on the proposed Baram mega-dam.

The people are against Torstein Dale Sjotveit’s plans for the dam, since the 1,200 MW Baram dam would flood their ancestral lands and villages, affecting a total of 20,000 natives and a rainforest area of over 400 km2.

“My husband, my children and my brothers and sisters, we will not survive if they build the Baram dam. It is better to kill us with a knife right away than to build the dam”, whispers an old woman at Long Lilim in despair.

Another villager asks: “They tell us that the dam will bring development. But how can drowning us be development?”

Torstein Dale Sjotveit is going ahead with his dam projects despite these concerns.

He seems to be prepared to violate international social and environmental standards: forcing such mega-projects through without the agreement of the affected communities runs counter to standards like the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Equator Principles, which Torstein Dale Sjotveit himself claims to comply with.

The Penan communities of Middle Baram have never been given any information about the plan to flood their lands and displace those living there, and have certainly never been consulted on the matter.

If they had had the chance to participate, Torstein Dale Sjotveit would be aware of the fact that the Penan want genuine development and not dams, as the headman of Long Pakan states:

“If they want to develop us, they should build a proper road for us, clinics and schools, this is what we want. We don’t want to be flooded.”

Ends

The Sarawak government will be held responsible for any conflict between the people of the three villages, warns DAP leader

Kuching, April 20, 2012: DAP Serian branch chairman Edward Andrew Luak today warned the government that it would be held responsible for any conflict that would arise between the people of Kampung Nangka and Kampung Entingan against the people of Kampung Pingang in Samarahan Division.

The villagers of Kampung Nangka and Kampung Entingan have accused the government of giving away their native customary rights (NCR) land to the people of Kampung Pinang.

Through a gazette notification "Swak. L. N. 49" published in the Sarawak Government Gazette Part 11 dated April 7, 2011, the NCR lands belonging to the two vllages have been declared as the Native Communal Reserve for the exclusive use by the Malay community of Kampung Pinang, Samarahan, for agriculture purposes.

The notification was signed by Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Planning and Resource Mamagement Datu Wan Alwi Dato Sri Wan Hashim on March 26, 2011.

The villagers from the two Iban kampungs are giving the government a month, from today, to degazette the notice, failing which, they will hold a demonstration in front of the Lands and Survey Department headquarters.

"They are prepared to give this extention of one month to the government to rectify the wrong they have made," Edward said in a press conference at the DAP headquarters here.

He said taking legal action against the government would be a last resort.

He said they had, on Jan 20, 2011, submitted a memorandum to the Superintendent of Land and Survey Department, Kota Samarahan, objecting the notification on NCR land described as Lot 2152 in Block 5 in the Samarahan Land District containing 242.6ha or 599 acress.

Copies of the memorandum were sent to two relevant state ministers and six other relevant government agencies.

Edward said a police report had also been lodged on the matter.

He said that the notification only came to light on Jan 4, 2012 when a villager from Kampung Nangka, Merine anak Sakking, went to the Lands and Surveys office in Kota Samarahan to check the status of his land.

"He was shocked to learn that his land which he has planted with oil palm was within Lot 2152 which was gazetted as Communal Reserve for the Malay community of Kampung Pinang.

"What was even more shocking was that hundreds of acres of NCR land of the Iban community of Kampung Entingan and Kampung Nangka were within Lot 2152," he said.

He said the villagers had claimed their the land belonged to them under NCR tenure as their forefathers and ancestors had cultivated the land for almost a century.

"Moreover, their land boundary with the Malay as well as with the Bidayuh communities were well defined and was of common knowledge to all communities for decades," Edward said.

He said the Iban, Malay and Bidayuh communities had lived as friendly neighbours in the vicinity with honour and respect as their core principles of co-existence.

He said the people of Kampung Entingan and Kampung  Nangka were totally in the dark about any perimeter survey exercise being conducted and they were never consulted regarding their land boundary.

"They were unaware of any notice on the intention to declare their land as Communal Reserve," he said.

He said the villagers had suspected that the Land and Survey Department had overlooked the need to inform the people of the survey exercise.

"It failed to take into account that the land was NCR land of the Iban community. Serious mistake on the part of the government agency could breed serious conflict among the various ethnic groups.

"The DAP sees this slip in administrative procedure as a serious matter that need to be resolved urgently. Land is so dear to the people who own it. In most cases, especially NCR land, it is the source of their livelihood," he said.

He said he was surprised that the government  and its agtencies seemed to take the matter lightly and to take no action whatsover.

"The attitude and inaction of the government agencies go to show that the slogan "Rakyat didahulukan, Pencapaian diutamakan" remains merely a slogan. - By Sematong Express.