BRIBED & BLACKMAILED! The Real Story Behind The Ending Of The 77 Day Murum Blockade |
| BRIBED & BLACKMAILED! The Real Story Behind The Ending Of The 77 Day Murum Blockade Posted: 05 Dec 2013 10:58 AM PST   Moving while they could last weekend Just days after the Chief Minister announced in the State Parliament that he would "not pay a sen more" to the Penan of Murum we can reveal how Sarawak Energy officials BRIBED the blockading families to give up their protests! At the same time they BLACKMAILED them with threats that they were going to cut off the road bridges leading to their former homes, which would have denied them the chance to move their belongings before the waters flooded over them. In an exclusive interview with Radio Free Sarawak, two of the Penan protestors admitted that they had finally agreed to give up their roadside protest on Sunday, after SEB officials arrived at the site and promised RM23,000 per family as total cash in hand, once they had moved to the barely built Metalung resettlement area. Speaking on yesterday's show, they told the station that they knew it was a miserable amount (they had asked for RM500,000) but they were desperate and exhausted after 77 days of protesting in the open air and their villages were about to be flooded by the rising waters. The Penan say they are continuing their legal action to get a fairer settlement supported by the native rights lawyer Abu Sui.  Winner of the 2013 International Press Institute's Free Media Pioneer Award, Radio Free Sarawak Blackmail The show's producers say the Penan explained that the first move had come after protestors, who had been arrested by the police for taking part in the blockade, made a court appearance to face charges of trespass (on their own ancient territories):
Bribery  77 days living by the roadside had worn down the families In their next move, according to the Penan, Sarawak Energy (SEB) resorted to bribery with a miserable cash in hand offer of RM7,500 per family over the RM15,000 handed out earlier. A further RM500 (UK£100/US$155) was paid up front per family at the time the Penan left their own homes. The only merit of the extra pay out is that it is more than the zero amount that the Chief Minister had earlier thundered they would get in the DUN Assembly. Again, according to the Penan, who were interviewed by the international award winning indigenous radio station yesterday, this cash offer was mixed with official intimidation, through the presence of armed police officers, who accompanied the SEB personnel:
The 'agreement' reached was that if the families consented to be assisted to move their things immediately from their old homes to the newly built resettlement, which is dusty and incomplete (of which more below) they could have the extra cash at the time their keys were handed to them for their replacement lodgings. Bags of cash Sure enough:
Under these shocking terms therefore the Penan were finally 'resettled' to the location provided in an abandoned Shin Yang palm plantation by the State Government.  Abandoned oil palm plantation and unfinished site – a suitable place to move Penan families? The Penan have confirmed to the RFS team that there was nothing put in writing at any stage and this appears also to relate to any compensation agreement. At no point has the State Government appointed legal or any other assistance to provide representation for the interests of the Penan in any of these 'negotiations'. The vague commitment to 'consider' the compensation request of RM500,000 (which is the rough price of a semi-detached house in Kuching built by the Taib family company CMS on land appropriated for free from the state of Sarawak) remains no more than verbal. Meanwhile, the photographers identified by the Penan clearly got to work and their efforts duly bore fruit the next day in the Borneo Post in an article with no by line, indicating it was merely a press release with photographs issued by SEB!  Smile for our photographer – and show the keys but not the money – Borneo Post photo The 'article' gushed about the happy situation the Penan are now supposedly in, but gave no indication that any Borneo Post journalist was actually there to witness the events. The article failed to mention the bribes paid to the Penan as they were handed their keys or the threats they had received about the destruction of the bridges to their old villages. Water and electricity? The article in the Borneo Post, which appears to be merely information supplied to the BN controlled paper by SEB, also referred to the Penan's apparent good fortune in now possessing:
In fact, the Penan, who spoke to Radio Free Sarawak pointed out that the only water they have available in their new premises in Metalung is rain water captured in butts! There are so far no schools, no clinics, no chapel, no kindergarten and the Penan have been complaining they are being told that the supposed RM850 will largely be given in kind (rice and oil), even though it is a below poverty line settlement and only for 4 years. Even electricity supplies are intermittent to the sites. How much better off were these people next to a fresh river where they could wash and fish as well as take clear water?  Unfinished and with no running water – built by Taib family firm Naim Cendara (owned by SEB Chair Hamed Sepawi!) One woman indicated in the article printed in the paper that they had been promised the schools and clinic before the end of the year. With the end of the year just 3 weeks away this looks set to be yet another broken promise by the Sarawak State Government to the native people of the state. More bribes planned?  CEO Torstein Sjotveit playing native. It is plain that Taib Mahmud's government will give away as little as it can get away with, but that SEB have started to realise that it looks bad to be mean to natives driven from their homes. Rumours that more of these secretive and informal bribe handouts may arrive during the Christamas season to promote 'good will' are starting to circulate. All of which brings the international reputation of the maverick Norwegian in charge of SEB into further question. SEB should not 'play Santa' in place of due process Torstein Dale Sjotveit rushed into print last week declaring his innocence after questions were raised in the Norwegian newspaper Ny Tid about his handing of contracts to the Taib family and forcing natives from their homelands:
Does Mr Sjotveit think that people back in Norway will consider his mix of blackmail and bribery and his misrepresentation of the facts as practice 'of the highest standard'? It is not. Rather, it forms a glaring abuse of a vulnerable people.  |
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