Sarawak Report : Canada Is A Magnet For Dirty Money And A Safe Haven For Abdul Taib Mahmud Says BMF

Canada Is A Magnet For Dirty Money And A Safe Haven For Abdul Taib Mahmud Says BMF 31 March 2017 Weak regulation and poor transparency have turned Canada into a money-launderer’s paradise, asserts Switzerland’s Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), which today launched a detailed report on Sarawak’s Taib family’s properties in Ottawa. Numerous regulatory ‘Red Flags’ have been ignored over the years by banks and overseers, according to their research, which has allowed this politically connected family to acquire hundreds of millions of dollars worth of assets in Canada and to raise several enormous commercial loans. BMF also provides compelling evidence that the family representatives who manage the Sarawak Governor’s wealth in Canada, namely his daughter Jamilah and her husband Sean Murray, are using their extensive political and financial influence to fend off investigations by the authorities. BMF’s report Their report titled “Safe Haven Canada” consists of a detailed overview of known properties owned by the Taib-connected Sakto Group of companies in Canada, which they say are conservatively valued at a minimum of $200 million. It charts the history of Sakto Development Corporation and its related companies, which were set up by Taib Mahmud’s brother Onn Mahmud in 1983, shortly after Taib because Chief Minister, together with Taib’s daughter Jamilah and son Abu Bekir (mere college students at the time). Taib has later admitted that the original investment in Sakto had come from him, describing it as a “small gratuity” received on his retirement as a minister in the Federal Government (a payment that has not been fully explained nor the amount disclosed). In fact, within a year $4.5 million had been invested by its shareholders in the purchase of 400 properties, according to research by Sarawak Report and financial records for the next ten years obtained by BMF showed that tens of millions were invested during those early years, establishing the likely pattern over following decades. On one occasion a $20 million loan was extended through the controversial Ridgefold Limited in Hong Kong, which was linked to the Japanese shipping kickback scandal extensively covered by Sarawak Report, which unearthed documents that rebut Taib’s later attempts to deny money was paid to his companies by Japanese timber exporters. BMF revealed that the loan was extended by a collection of family members, including Taib’s now deceased wife Jamilah as well as two Taib companies, Richfold in Hongkong (a sister company of the timber kickback company Regent Star) and Sogo Holding, based in Jersey. Sakto shareholders are the Taib family  Frontmen – Sean (Hisham) Murray and wife Jamilah Taib The report points out that journalists have now established what the Sakto Group’s directors (namely Jamilah and her husband Sean Murray) have sought to disguise for many years, which is that Sakto’s original and present shareholders are all members of the Taib family, from the time when Jamilah was a mere student. According to a statement sent by Sean Murray to a Canadian newspaper last year the shareholders are Jamilah and three other Taib family members including Onn Mahmud, Taib’s younger brother, who handled all his family business dealings while his children were still too young to front such operations. This confirms that Sakto and its related entities were always Taib family companies, rather than a Murray family companies as managers attempted to suggest before being exposed by Sarawak Report. Chris Murray, Sean’s cousin in charge of the London branch, Ridgeford Properties, attempted to paint the group as Murray family enterprise When Sarawak Report interviewed Chris Murray he repeated that lie (although he subsequently removed the above Wikipedia entry) Straight lies from the Murrays who claimed they started and owned Sakti (to cover for the Taibs) Lawyers acting jointly for Taib and for Sean Murray even attempted to intimidate Sarawak Report and BMF saying they should retract their remarks, since no money had ever gone from Taib into Sakto: False claim made by Taib’s lawyers Mishcon de Reya Sarawak Report did not withdraw the claim and Mishcon de Reya failed to carry out its threat to “sue without further notice”. Later, Taib’s acknowledgement he had in fact put up ‘small gratuity’ to start up Sakto’s multi-million dollar ventures proved that the above legal threats had been based on lies. BMF documents how Jamilah likewise herself has attempted to deceive people over the origins of the company’s investments, by implying to journalists during the 1980s that there had been around 10 -12 shareholders from different parts of the Pacific region, not just family members as has now been admitted. It means that the Taibs and Murrays have persistently lied over the years in order to attempt to disguise the fact that the money coming into this major Canadian property company originated with the Taib family in Sarawak – a politically exposed group of people who had no legitimate means of acquiring such sums. Shame on Canada World class kleptocrat – Taib cut down the Borneo Jungle and kept most of the cash Despite this extensive research and the clear proof now available, however, BMF says it has become outraged over the continued failure by the Canadian authorities to act in setting up criminal investigations into money laundering concerns by Sakto. Neither have the major Canadian lending institutions, such as Manulife (which opened an office in Sarawak during the period Taib was Chief Minister) and Royal Bank of Canada  operated mandatory Red Flag proceedures in the course of lending to these politically connected companies associated with a known corrupt third world leader. In the case of one lending institution, BMF was advised to report the matter to the police and not to bother the lender. There is concern that the Taib/Murrays, who are major political donors, have achieved undue political influence in Ottawa, Canada where they now rank as one of the country’s largest property developers thanks to the huge injections of illegal cash from Sarawak’s Taib Mahmud. An example of undue political influence was the cancellation last month of a draft OECD report in Canada relating to the Sakto Group, which had been prompted by BMF’s concerns. In October 2016 the Canadian National Contact Point on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises issued a draft report on the concerns raised by BMF about Sakto’s lack of transparency over its finances and shareholders. Mysterious change of tune from Canada’s representatives to the OECD This extensive and detailed  11 page document upheld each and every one of BMF’s concerns and denied counter-arguments put forward by Sakto lawyers during the negotiating process. Its recommendation was that the OECD should proceed to a full review of the Sakto Group and the complaints relating to its shortcomings, referring in the process to OECD guidelines supported by the Government of Canada. This would have resulted in a major reputational set-back for this Taib/Murray enterprise and BMF eventually became aware of a considerable delay in proceeding to the review.  When the NGO enquired about the delay the OECD officials explained in November of 2011: “The NCP has received extensive commentary from Sakto’s legal counsel, which we are now in the process of reviewing. We thank you for your understanding. Please be assured that the NCP is doing its best to move this process forward as quickly as possible.” Six months later, however, instead of proceeding to the review, the Canadian OECD Contact Point completely reversed its original recommendations, without providing a single explanation why! A new Draft Assessment was created, which consisted of a mere one and a half pages, simply dismissing the complaint, without any of the detailed breakdown provided by the original document that had supported the BMF concerns. In a brief letter, the Chairman of the Canadian National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD explained merely: ‘The NCP regrets that the process has taken longer than usual. The NCP has duly considered the submissions from the parties and conducted its due diligence in the most expeditious manner as was possible…..” Lukas Straumann, Director of BMF, has expressed his outrage at the clear interference by Sakto and the lack of transparency over the Canadian officials’ own volte-farce, for which they have offered no credible explanation whatsoever” “The Canadian NCP of the OECD produced an extensive initial draft assessment that was highly detailed and closely argued, according to the legal position and guidelines on OECD policy. This initial assessment accepted BMF’s position on each and every point and rejected Sakto’s own submissions. It made clear that the Taib family’s Sakto group is indeed in breach of the OECD’s disclosure standards for multinational enterprises. That process had taken over a year. Then, suddenly, a last minute heavy intervention by Sakto’s lawyers was allowed to delay the entire process and the NCP went completely silent about what new representations were being made or what other interferences were taking place.  The outcome has been a total reversal of their original closely explained findings, which has been replaced by a one page rejection of our submissions, without analysis or explanation. Where is the supposed transparency required by the OECD’s own guidelines, which the Government of Canada is supposed to adhere to? This is a hugely shameful episode for the Government of Canda and exposes its institutions as being unduly subject to pressure from secretive corporations like Sakto, which is now known to be entirely run and owned by a notorious political family in Malaysia, which is a country presently under the international corruption and money-laundering spotlight owing to the massive 1MDB scandal” BMF has launched an open demonstration in Ottawa today, pointing out that it is Canada’s unusual lack of transparency over corporate public information that has made it a magnet for kleptocrats like Taib Mahmud, along with other persons of dubious wealth. Shareholders of companies are allowed to remain secret in Canada. Neither do corporate annual accounts have to be made publicly available. This means there is far less information available to explain the ownership and value of companies in Canada than, for example, in Australia, the UK and most states in America. The message to Canada is clean up your act, before your image is further tarnished. You can read the report by accessing the Bruno Manser Fund online site.

Taib Mahmud : How rich is he?

Gambar Rumah Mewah & Istana Kerabat Tan Sri Taib Mahmud di Sarawak : 27 Gambar EKSLUSIF!

Inilah gambar kerabat keluarga besar Ketua Menteri Sarawak Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud bersama isteri pertamanya dahulu sebelum digantikan dengan Ragad Waleed Al-Kurdi. Jikalau sebelum ini, kita telah melihat gambar rumah deretan rumah mewah milik pemimpin-pemimpin & VVIP daripada sebelah Semenanjung Malaysia DI SINI & DI SINI.

Kali ini kita saksikan rumah-rumah besar milik kerabat Taib Mahmud & rakan-rakan terdekat Taib Mahmud yang  merupakan salah satu isu-isu yang tidak terjawab di Sarawak.

Orang yang kaya-raya tidak dilarang meminta untuk dipilih sebagai calon menteri. tetapi yang menjadi persoalan sekarang ini, tidak seorang pun yang harus dibenarkan menyalahgunakan kuasa politiknya untuk menjadi kaya. Ianya suatu bentuk rasuah boleh memusnahkan sesebuah negara

Jadi Berita Semasa, adakah dini rumah kerabat Taib Mahmud yang dimaksudkan itu? Oooh…bukan. Ini bukan, kerana ini hanya rumah rakyat Sarawak. Kalau nak lihat koleksi rumah mewah kerabat Taib Mahmud, sebentar sahaja lagi…

Memandangkan limpahan kekayaan yang Tuhan telah kurniakan di Sarawak seperti kemewahan emas hitam (petroleum), gas asli, balak dan tanah yang subur bagi penanaman kelapa sawit, mungkin inilah yang dikatakan penanda aras kemajuan & kesemarataan limpahan kekayaan di Sarawak. Dan…..sesuailah juga dengan kekayaan negeri Sarawak kini melihat keadaan dan rupabentuk rumah mewah & istana kalangan pemimpin dan kerabat Ketua Menteri Sarawak.

Antaranya rumah-rumah pemimpin di Sarawak yang berjaya dirakam ialah :

Gambar Rumah James Jemut Masing

James Jemut Masing merupakan Menteri Pembangunan Tanah Sarawak. Beliau merupakan Presiden Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS). PRS merupakan parti komponen Barisan Nasional dan James Jemut Masing Adun kawasan Balleh.

James Jemut Masing sekeluarga kini tinggal di rumah di atas sebidang harta seluas dua ekar bertentangan dengan Jalan Ong Tiang Sui. Hebat….hebat. Dengan pendapatan sekitar RM8,000 sebulan membolehkannya yang juga merupakan seorang Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak mampu membina dan mendiami kediaman sedemikian yang bernilai RM2 juta? Ya….mungkin inilah yang dikatakan usaha tangga kejayaan.

Gambar Rumah Kerabat Taib Mahmud

Gambar Kawasan Rumah George Chan + Padang Golf

Gambar Rumah Arip Bin Mahmud

• Tarikh Lahir : 28 Januari 1957
• Nombor kad pengenalan : 570128-13-5225
• Pasangan : (Pertama) Azerina Arip @ Gertie Chong Soke Hoon, (Kedua) Norieda Goh Abdullah @ Kelly Goh Siok Ling, (Ketiga) Liyana Abdullah @ Lily Teo

Arip Bin Mahmud merupakan pengarah dan pemegang utama saham syarikat hartanah yang berpangkalan di California, Sakti International Corporation. Antara adik-beradik yang paling dipercayai & merupakan rakan kongsi utama.

• Pernah menjadi pengarah syarikat “gergasi” pembalakan di Malaysia, kumpulan Rimbunan Hijau. Syarikat konglomerat ini menjadikan sasaran hutan hujan tropika di Malaysia, Indonesia ke Gabon, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand dan Rusia sebagai sasaran mereka

Gambar Rumah Chris Chung

Merupakan rakan kongsi perniaganaan dengan anak lelaki Taib Mahmud, Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib.

Gambar Rumah Mohd Tufail Bin Mahmud

• Tarikh Lahir : 28 September 1952
• No Kad Pengenalan : 520928-13-5025
• Pasangan : Suhing Bujang

Rumah ini ada 27 buah bilik

Tufail merupakan pemegang saham utama yang mengawal dan memilki KUmpulan Sanyan yang merupakan salah satu syarikat yang terbesar di Sarawak bernilai USD400 juta yang aktif dalam perniagaan kayu. Beribu pejabat di Wisma Syanyan, Sibu di bangunan yang tertinggi Sarawak.

Gambar Rumah Datuk Haji Hamden

Datuk Haji Hamden merupakan Pengurus Urusan bagi menerajui Kumpulan Syarikat Sarawak Plantation Berhad yang telah mencatatkan keuntungan sekitar RM105 juta pada tahun 2011

Gambar Rumah Aisah Zainab Mahmud

• Tarikh lahir :  5 Januari 1947
• Nombor Kad Pengenalan : 470105-13-5320
• Pasangan : Ruhanie Ahmad

Adik perempuan Taib Mahmud ini, Zainab, merupakan pengarah di 5 buah syarikat dan pemegang saham di 9 buah syarikat yang lain.

Gambar Rumah Ibrahim Mahmud

• Tarikh Lahir : 1 Mac 1943
• Nombor Kad Pengenalan : 430301-13-5487
• Pasangan : Datin Seri Hajijah Abdullah

Adik lelaki Taib Mahmud, Ibrahim Mahmud menjadi pengarah di 16 buah syarikat dan merupakan pemegang saham 6 buah syarikat yang lain.

Gambar Rumah Raziah Taib Mahmud

Tarikh Lahir :  24 November 1955
No Kad Pengenalan : 551124-13-5080
Pasangan : Robert Geneid

Raziah merupakan adik perempuan Taib Mahmud menjadi pengarah di 20 buah syarikat & pemegang saham di 16 buah syarikat yang lain

Gambar Rumah Jamilah Mahmud

Anak perempuan Taib Mahmud dengan isteri pertamanya dahulu, Jamilah merupakan pengarah di 4 buah syarikat dan menjadi pemegang saham di sekurang-kurangnya 86 syarikat yang lain.

• Di Australia : Pemegang saham utama Sitehost Pty Ltd yang beroperasi milik keluarga Taib
• Di Kanada: Pengarah dan dianggap pemegang saham yang mengawal syarikat yang berpengakalan di Ottawa iaitu Kumpulan Sakto (Sakto Corporation, Sakto Development Corporation, City Gate International Corporation dan syarikat-syarikat berkaitan). Laman web : (www.sakto.com)
• Di United Kingdom: Pemegang saham yang mengawalsyarikat Citygate International Corporation, syarikat induk Ridgeford Hartanah (www.ridgeford.com)
• Pengarah asal dan kini masih pemegang saham bagi syarikat pembangunan hartanah, Sakti International Corporation di US
• Memiliki saham di Royal Mulu Resort, syarikat pembalakan gergasi WTK dan Samling Global
• Pemegang saham utama syarikat terbesar di Sarawak, Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad.

Gambar Rumah Hanifah Hajar Taib Mahmud

• Tarikh Lahir : 28 Ogos 1972
• No Kad Pengenalan- 720828-14-5126
• Nama Pasangan : Syed Ahmad Alwee Alsree

Anak bongsu Taib Mahmud ini merupakan pengarah di 16 buah syarikat dan pemegang saham di 90 buah syarikat lain di Malaysia. Kalau di Australia, Hanifah Hajar adalah pemegang saham utama Sitehost Pty Ltd yang memiliki hotel bertaraf lima bintang seperti hotel “Adelaide Hilton”.

Suami Hanifah Hajar yang dahulu bekas peguam ari Singapura telah diangkat menjadi :

• Pengarah Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad sejak 2006 & pemegang saham utama syarikat tersebut
• Timbalan pengerusi di UBG Berhad
• Timbalan pengerusi Loh dan Loh Corporation Berhad sejak 2008
• Pengarah K & N Kenanga Holdings Berhad pada tahun 2009
• Pengarah dan pemegang saham stesen radio swasta di Sarawak, CATS FM
• Seorang pengarah akhbar New Sarawak Tribune akhbar, yang dimiliki oleh sepupu Taib Mahmud, Hamed Sepawi
• Pengarah Premier Cottage Sdn. Bhd yang membuat usahasama CMS untuk membangunkan “Isthmus Kuching”, salah satu daripada pembangunan hartanah yang paling “bernilai” & menguntungkan di Sarawak.
• Bertanggungjawab dengan kontrak pembinaan Pusat Konvensyen Borneo yang bernilai RM195 juta Ringgit (USD 64 juta)

Gambar Rumah Alfred Jabu Anak Numpang

Gambar Rumah Awang Tengah Ali Hassan

Datuk Amar Haji Awang Tengah bin Ali Hassan merupakan Menteri Perancangan Sumber dan Alam Sekitar kedua yang juga bertanggungjawab mengenai hal-hal berkaitan tanah di Sarawak. Gambar rumah Awang Tengah ini berjaya dirakam ketika dalam pembinaan lagi.

Gambar Rumah Naroodeen Majais

Naroden Majais merupakan Timbalan Menteri Pembangunan Usahawan di Sarawak.

Rumah Amar Hajar Fredahanum Mahmud (Fredahanum) + Aziz Hussein

• Tarikh Lahir : 25 Disember 1953
• Nombor Kad pengenalan : 531225-13-5380

Adik Taib Mahmud ini merupakan pengarah bagi enam buah syarikat dan pemegang saham utama bagi 4 lagi syarikat lain. Antaranya ialah Fredahanum Mahmud merupakan seorang pengarah syarikat Achi Jaya Transportation Sdn. Bhd. (Dahulunya dikenali sebagai Archipelago  Shipping  and CMS Transportation), yang mengawal eksport perkapalan di negeri Sarawak.

Suami Fredahanum Mahmud sekarang ini  Datuk Amar Hj Abdul Aziz bin Haji Husain merupakan Setiausaha kerajaan negeri Sarawak dan juga bekas Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif  Sarawak Energy Berhad. Sekarang ini, YB Datuk Amar Hj Abdul Aziz bin Haji Husain merupakan pengarah Eksons Corporation Berhad sejak tahun 2007 dan merupakan pemegang saham utama syarikat itu bersama-sama anak saudara Taib Mahmud.  Syarikat Eksons adalah “pengeluar terbesar papan lapis di rantau Asia Pasifik. Abdul Aziz juga pengarah syarikat perisian MLabs Berhad dan Borneo Housing Mortgage Finance Berhad.

Gambar Rumah Ali Mahmud

• Tarikh lahir : 21 Disember 1950
• Nombor Kad Pengenalan : 501221-13-5343

Datuk Seri Mohamad Ali Mahmud merupakan pemimpin Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) dan juga merupakan Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri bagi Muara Tuang. Mohamad Ali Mahmud telah diberikan 5,000 hektar tanah di Sri Aman atas nama syarikat Tabaruk Abadi Sdn. Bhd. bagi penanaman kelapa sawit atas kelulusan abangnya sendiri. Siapa abangnya? Tan Sri Taib Mahmud. Siapa Taib Mahmud? Ketua Menteri Sarawak. Tahniah!

Gambar Rumah Datuk Abdul Rahman

Datuk Haji Daud Abdul Rahman merupakan Menteri Muda Hal Ehwal Islam / Menteri Muda Pembangunan Infrastruktur yang juga merupakan Adun Tupong.

Gambar Istana Taib Mahmud Di Sarawak

Dan…akhirnya istana milik pemimpin No.1 di Sarawak. Tan Sri Taib Mahmud. Berjaya memerintah Sarawak selama 30 tahun lamanya.

Kadang-kadang kami terfikir sendirian, SPRM sedar atau tidak tidak pelbagai laporan yang keluar mengenai Ketua Menteri Sarawak ini, Tan Sri Taib Mahmud dan kerabat keluarganya yang sering diusahakan kalangan rakyat Sarawak sendiri dan juga melalui laporan berita Sarawak Report selama ini?

Adakah dalam satu kolam yang besar seluas negari yang dinamakan Sarawak ini, yang terdapat ikan kecil dan juga ikan jerung yang sudah “dijangkiti kuman dan penyakit”, malangnya hanya kebanyakan ikan kecil sahaja yang mendapat perhatian & ditangkap untuk siasatan SPRM, bagaimana pula jerung-jerung yang berskala besar ini?

Bukan kami minta untuk mengatakan kalangan mereka-mereka ini bersalah atau tidak, kerana yang menentukannya hanya mahkamah, tetapi siasatlah. Tetapi kalau siasatan pun seperti hidup segan mati tidak mahu, bagaimana? Terlalu jelas menampakkan perbezaan siasatan di antara ikan jerung dan ikan bilis. Ini yang rakyat perhatikan sebenarnya. Untuk pemimpin lain di Semenanjung Malaysia kami masih boleh “tahan” lagi, tetapi untuk apa yang berlaku di Sarawak sekarang. Kami sama sekali tidak boleh terima. Minta sekali lagi perhatian daripada pihak SPRM.

Apa kata anda terutamanya rakyat Sarawak di sini?

Taib Mahmud

Family Trees

The Malaysian state of Sarawak is a lush, tropical paradise…or at least it used to be. Sarawak has one of the world’s most important rainforests but that rainforest is disappearing at an astonishing rate. Some say Sarawak’s Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmoud is to blame and they accuse him of profiting from the destruction.

Clare Rewcastle-Brown is a native of Sarawak now living and working as an investigative journalist in London. She writes about the environment in Sarawak and what she sees as political connections to the destruction of the land, on her blog, The Sarawak Report.

“What has happened in Sarawak is a catastrophe, an environmental and human rights catastrophe. The entire forest in the country has been mowed down,” she says. “The plans the Chief Minister Taib has for that area is to continue with that devastation and turn that whole area into a vast palm oil plantation which will just cement the disaster.”

But it’s not only the forest that’s in danger. One of the last nomadic tribes in the world lives in Sarawak’s rainforest. World famous anthropologist, Wade Davis has studied the Penan and told 16x9, “Within a single generation a way of life, morally inspired and inherently right, was being crushed just as the forest in which they were born was being crushed.” Davis went to say, “There was something so incredibly unjust about that.”

But, according to Rewcastle-Brown, Abdul Taib Mahmoud is doing more than just cutting down the forest. She says he’s lining his own pockets with profits from environmental destruction in Sarawak and investing that money outside Malaysia. She says she’s been following a paper trail of Taib’s investments. “I’ve seen that most of the companies that have received the lands have been companies owned by his siblings and his children and political allies that he needs to keep sweet...mainly, his own family,” she says. “I’ve painstakingly researched what I can of many of these contracts,” and says she’s been able to see that land contracts have gone straight from the Chief Minister to his family, and how they’ve profited.

One of Taib’s family members is Jamilah Taib-Murray, the Chief Minister’s daughter. She is the co-founder and remains a director of Sakto, a real estate development company headquartered in Ottawa. Sakto’s properties are said to be worth more than $100 million. Several major corporations rent office space in its commercial buildings and, it turns out, so does the Ontario government for a total cost of $4.9 million.

Rewcastle-Brown believes there’s a link between Taib’s profits in Sarawak to Jamilah’s initial business investments in the early 80s. “It’s been possible for me, sitting in London, to go through the company records online and to trace how this money has gone from Sarawak in the early 1980s to Canada,” she says.

16x9 asked Jamilah Taib-Murray and her husband, Sean Murray for an interview, but they declined. In a letter from Jamilah’s lawyer to 16x9, it states, “at no stage did her (Jamilah’s) father have economic benefit from or any direction of, the business – directly or indirectly. It also says Jamilah’s investment in Malaysia is “passive” and that Sakto and Sean Murray have none.

16x9 obtained a letter from Sean Murray to Clare Rewcastle-Brown that states she has acknowledged that she’s received funding by “wealthy entities” who oppose the Chief Minister in “upcoming elections”. Another legal letter sent to 16x9 says Clare has a “declared political interest” and they are “running a political campaign against the current Sarawak government”. Clare told 16x9 she has received no money from Malaysian politicians and that her donors are “all non-politically motivated Europeans”.

Sean Murray wrote to 16x9 saying, “Jamilah and I find these statements about ourselves and our business false, highly defamatory and very damaging.”

In “Family Trees”, reporter, Sean O’Shea investigates the alleged money trail between Sarawak’s Chief Minister and his family in Canada.

© Shaw Media Inc., 2011. All rights reserved.

Taib Mahmud: Rogue Politician.

Politics can lay claim to being the second oldest profession known to men….and women too! Being a close second to the oldest profession does not make it a less honourable profession though many would dispute that premise given the goings on within our long suffering country.

Politics in Malaysia is a business of volatile change. The question of what is inappropriate behaviour, the culture of how people behave, the judgement of what constitutes criminality is no longer the purview of the public or common sense. It is decided by those in power to serve their own interest. Politicians no longer stab each other in the back. They now stand face to face and stab each other in the chest - in media circuses that is all hype and where no one takes responsibility for what they say or do.

Among the things that differentiate politics in Malaysia from politics in Australia is the level of “spin” that Malaysian politicians seems to relish doing without bothering to understand the Rakyat’s capacity to think for themself.

“Spin” is a form of propaganda, achieved through providing an interpretation of an event to persuade public opinion in favor or against a certain issue, part or public figure.

We see this everyday in the utterances of these people who see themselves as “leaders” in politics or as leaders of whatever calling they chose to champion. If you look hard enough you will be able to find even a group championing “Ibrahim Ali for ALL Malaysian!.” I myself can find at least two supporters who will insists that I am eminently qualified to be a politician – despite my aversion to being one! We need to accept is that we are all the same because we are all different. The potential for greatness lies in all of us but the truth is that for most it will simply not happen….not even the fifteen minutes of fame that Warhol promised us! But being different does not mean that we cannot act together in getting rid of these rogue politicians from Barisan Nasional!   

So where did we go wrong? How are we today cursed with these rogue politicians? Leaders who have failed us? A Prime Minister who seems to think that he has become Prime minister of this country by “an act of God”? It has to be an act of God because there are already multiple chances to stop someone like Najib to become Prime Minister of our country – and yet he IS Prime Minister of this country!

Have all these “fail safe” mechanism to stop these rogue politicians from taking office failed? Why has UMNO been allowed to rule for over 50 years while compounding every cascading failure upon the people of this country? Why has Taib Mahmud been able to rape and pillage the wealth of Sarawak for himself and his cronies?

Elections are designed to give us respite from failed leaders and corrupt politicians and anything else that could go wrong in a democracy. It did not happen in Malaysia. The votes that the Rakyat had to cast at these elections to effect this change did not happen. After the general elections when it became obvious that no change came despite promises made, the Rakyat again failed to ensure that the by-elections would reflect their contempt for these corrupt rogue politicians.

It will take time to figure out why all these multiple chances to stop corrupt and arrogant leaders from taking office failed the Malaysia Rakyat time and time again. No wonder we now have these Barisan Leaders claiming their “right” to continue in office because it is “an act of God”.

We will leave the post mortem to another time. For now we have more pressing concerns in Sarawak. Until we can figure out a way to have responsible and decent leaders to govern us, we need to stop Taib Mahmud from doing any more harm to Sarawak. All that Taib Mahmud now has to offer Sarawak is nothing more then greed! Greed for power and greed for money.

So far all that the people of Sarawak has tried to do to rid themselves of this rogue Chief Minister has failed leaving the people with only two options. One slow and unproven and the other fast, effective and sure.

The first one is to believe what Najib and Taib himself have promised: That Taib will leave. This is as good as saying that Najib too will leave politics – a self-fulfilling prophecy true even of Mahathir when he first took office in 16^th July 1981. It came true 22 years later!

The second is fast, effective and sure. The people of Sarawak must cast their vote to get Taib Mahmud out NOW!     

Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud :

Watch these two videos and work out for yourself where Sarawak is heading to under this Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud. These politicians live in their own world of make believe.....there is no more unlimited resources and unlimited time to complete useless projects that are of no use to our people....
  

50km logjam on the Rajang river

(The Star) 

SIBU: Logs and debris, stretching for 50km on the Rajang river, reached Sibu town at about 10am yesterday leaving many people shocked by the scale of what is turning out to be an environmental disaster.

“This is unprecedented and beyond imagination,” Environment and Public Health Minister Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh said after assessing the situation at the Express Passenger Boat Terminal in the morning.

According to a statement from the Natural Resources and Environment Board, the source of these logs and debris were from the Baleh River and its tributaries above Kapit.

Several days of heavy rain earlier this week in Putai and Nu ngun in upper Baleh had caused a massive landslide which brought down the logs and debris into the rivers. The high water level and swift current in Baleh River and its tributaries also washed the logs and debris along their banks.

Passage hindered: An express passenger boat trying to weave its way through the logs in the Rajang river as it leaves Sibu.

Wong said it was a serious natural disaster which had caught both the public and government off guard.

“We haven’t started to calculate the amount of losses and the damage caused,” he said, adding that once the logs and debris had made their way out of Sibu, the authorities would start to check the foundation of the Durin and Lanang bridges.

It was estimated by a sawmill manager that the volume of the logs and debris would be more than 300,000m3.

The situation was worse around noon when the whole area at the confluence of the Rajang and Igan rivers was completely logjammed. Most of the logs and debris flowed down the Rajang while some of them flowed to the Igan.

The map explains the events leading up to the logjam.

The Malay villages which were built on stilts on the right bank of the Igan were fortunate to escape calamity as the logs and debris flowed near the opposite bank.

Meanwhile, Land Development Minister Datuk Seri James Masing blamed unscrupulous timber companies for the disaster. He travelled up the river to Kapit yesterday and was disturbed by what he saw.

“There is still a lot of debris, making travel unsafe. There are also dead fish in the river. It’s an ecological disaster,” Masing, the Baleh assemblyman, told The Star.

He said that this was the third time in three years – the first was in 2008 at Sungai Gat and the second in Sungai Tunoh last year – that such an incident had happened and he feared that it would have far-reaching implications on the state, particularly on the timber industry.

He said the state government had laid down rules for logging but what was happening clearly showed that the rules were not being followed.

“I have gone around the world telling people that we are doing logging correctly. Now this happens. What will people think of us? We must take action against these unscrupulous timber companies.”

He said the authorities concerned must take their job more seriously and enforce the laws stringentl