By Luke
Hunt of The Diplomat
As the insurgency in Sabah continues,
the leadership in neighboring Sarawak has been stung again by charges of
corruption that add to the mounting problems faced by Malaysian Prime Minister
Najib Razak who must call an election soon.
Voters in the two East Malaysian
states could swing the election and cause the United Malaysian National
Organization (UMNO) to lose its cherished grip on power, which it has held
since Britain left its former colony in 1957.
Allegations of corruption have dogged Abdul Taib Mahmud, Chief
Minister of Sarawak since 1981, whose family has amassed a fortune worth
billions of dollars. He is under investigation by the authorities in
Switzerland.
Global Witness
has concluded its investigation of Mahmud and his family and produced a powerful video that features members of
Mahmud’s family allegedly offering detailed advice on how to do business in the
Malaysian state.
Tom Picken, Forest Campaign Leader
at Global Witness, explained that after decades of industrial logging and
plantation development just five percent of Sarawak’s forests remain intact.
Yet, he added that the state still exports more tropical logs than South
America and Africa combined.
“Mahmud has ruled the state for over
three decades and controls all land allocation and forestry licensing,” Picken
told The Diplomat. “He is widely understood to abuse this power to
enrich his family and associates.”
Picken continued, “This film proves
for the first time what has long been suspected – that the small elite around
Chief Minister Taib are systematically abusing the region’s people and natural
resources to line their own pockets. It shows exactly how they do it and it
shows the utter contempt they hold for Malaysia’s laws, people and
environment.”
From Cambodia to Congo,
non-governmental organization Global Witness has run campaigns against
corruption associated with environmental damage and human rights abuses in the
region for the last 19 years.
To create the film, a Global Witness
staff member posed as a foreign investor looking to buy land for oil palm
plantations. The investigator approached Regional Corridor Development
Authority (RECODA), Sarawak’s government body charged with receiving foreign
investment.
“An official at RECODA during a
meeting in March 2012 directed our investigator to certain members of Taib’s
family looking to sell their company licensed to log and clear land for
plantations,” Picken said.
The video that resulted is
potentially explosive and could not be released at a worse time for Najib,
whose government has struggled to cope with an insurgency staged by 300 rebels who
crossed the Sulu Sea from the southern Philippines in an attempt to re-stake an
ancient claim to the northeast coast of Borneo.
The possible political blowback from
these events could cost Najib dearly at the next election which must be held
between now and the end of June.
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