Next week, Swiss human rights and environmental NGO, Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF), will face a powerful Malaysian heiress in a defamation lawsuit. Jamilah Taib Murray, daughter of the Governor of Sarawak, Malaysia, her husband Sean Murray, and her corporation Sakto Group, are suing BMF in the Civil Court of Basel-Stadt,...
The Penan of Ba Jawi reject logging and forest certification and want to continue their lives as nomads (BA JAWI / BARAM / SARAWAK) In a letter to Samling sent today, the remote Penan community of Ba Jawi in the upper reaches of the Baram river adamantly reject logging: “As...
Amid new official reports that confirm community claims, civil society calls for SIRIM to cancel timber giant Samling’s MTCS certificate for the Gerenai Forest Management Unit in Baram (MIRI / BARAM / SARAWAK) This week, five civil society and community organisations called on SIRIM QAS International Sdn to revoke the...
In 2018, the Minister of Primary Industries of Malaysia Teresa Kok made a pledge that no forest would be cleared for new palm oil production in the country. In 2023, Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah reiterated the same commitment in response to a new EU law that aims to ban the...
Representatives of the Penan people from Sarawak (Borneo) and other leading experts will come to Basel, Switzerland in August for an event to bear witness to the destruction of Borneo’s forests: The Rainforest Tribunal. The aim of the Tribunal is to take stock after decades of deforestation and ruthless exploitation of the rainforest: What are the...
SAVE Rivers shocked as timber company uses its chairman’s name on webpage about community engagement in apparent attempt to enhance its image (MIRI / BARAM / SARAWAK) Local civil society organization SAVE Rivers was shocked to see their chairman’s name on Samling’s website in a description apparently intended to strengthen...
Dear Friends, I’ve just returned back to California from Malaysian Borneo, where Fi and I (the two-person staff of The Borneo Project) spent several weeks helping our partners, SAVE Rivers, prepare for a long-awaited trial against timber giant Samling. A few days before the trial was scheduled to start, we...
The Penan villages of Long Lamai and Ba Lai refuse to participate in the ongoing forest certification process and ask timber giant Samling to respect their territories (LONG LAMAI & BA LAI / BARAM / SARAWAK) The Penan communities of Long Lamai and Ba Lai have expressed their complete rejection...
As Malaysian timber giant Samling’s SLAPP suit against SAVE Rivers is adjourned for a fourth time, communities continue their fight against the logging company. Last week on the steps of High Court, in Miri, Sarawak, we witnessed a peaceful protest from community members from the Baram region of Sarawak, Malaysia....
Indigenous communities hold peaceful demonstration and global civil society stands in solidarity with SAVE Rivers as they face a defamation lawsuit (MIRI/SARAWAK/MALAYSIA) Today, timber giant Samling and Indigenous grassroots organisation SAVE Rivers were scheduled to face off at the Miri High Court in Sarawak. Last week, however, the judge adjourned...
