Global campaign launched to save Malaysian Borneo’s last primary rainforests – Sarawak Premier Abang Johari under fire over ties to Malaysian timber tycoon
(Miri, Sarawak) A newly released video by Swiss NGO Bruno Manser Fonds reveals alarming deforestation in the heart of Malaysia’s tropical rainforest. Filmed in Sarawak’s Upper Baram region, the footage provides rare insight into highly damaging logging operations threatening one of Malaysian Borneo’s last remaining primary rainforests.
The video tells the story of Indigenous Penan villagers from Baram who are desperately trying to save their livelihoods in the forest. However, loggers are threatening to evict them and remove over 4000 tons of timber worth USD 2 million from their forest every month.
Sarawak Premier Abang Johari is criticized for his government’s lack of transparency and failure to properly address the social and environmental consequences of logging.
His government granted a 170,000-hectare concession to Borneoland Timber Resources (“Borneoland”) whose owner appears in the video with the Sarawak Premier. The multi-million-dollar timber licence was granted without public tender and has since been kept under wraps.
The video entitled “Hutan Borneo dalam bahaya!” (“Borneo’s rainforest in danger”) went viral on social media within hours after its release. It comes at a critical moment for the Sarawak Premier who has recently toured Europe to attract investors depicting himself as a green economy leader.
The Bruno Manser Fonds calls on the Sarawak government to revoke the Borneoland timber licence and take over the responsibility for the Baram road from the logging companies.
For more information: www.savebaramforest.org
Watch the video in Bahasa Malaysia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flj3oBghmEA
Watch the video in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2_QRA80a04