TIMBER - A WEAPON OF GPS’ ‘POLITICS OF MASS DISTRACTION’ ?

 TIMBER - A WEAPON OF GPS’ ‘POLITICS OF MASS DISTRACTION’ ?

The family flagship company of the Linggi family, Rajang Wood Sdn Bhd,is among the earliest recipients of timber concessions dished out to politically useful families by the late Tun Abdul Rahman Ya’akub, chief minister of Sarawak from July 1970 – March 1981 . Rajang Wood Sdn Bhd is a timber trading company incorporated in January 1978. 

It is recorded to hold 309575 hectares in concessions throughout Sarawak, an area almost half the size of Singapore. Singapore land area is 71,910 hectares in size. In 1976, a timber license (T/0537) was issued to Keresa Timber Corporation S/B covering a virgin forest area of approx. 49,996 ha. On 15th August 1979, another timber license (T/3024) was issued to Rajang Wood S/B covering a virgin forest area of approx. 309,575 ha. Karesa Timber is a timber-based company also controlled by the Linggi’s family.

The family also owns Keresa Plantations Sdn Bhd (Co. No. 74447-V) which controls  8,551 hectares (ha) in Labang district between Bintulu and Belaga.  A news report carried by The Star on the May 2003 revealed that Keresa Plantations Sdn Bhd was awarded the subject land lease by Sarawak Government. An apparent form of reward for the Linggi’s family loyalty to PBB.

That the Linggi family has benefited and prospered for 44 long years from the timber concessions given to them is without doubt. In recent years and with the clear advantage they have, the family has also ventured into plantations and in 2014 sold Asia Plantations Ltd which controlled a total 24,622ha comprising five wholly-owned estates within Miri and Bintulu in Sarawak to UMNO related Felda Global Ventures. The sellers reportedly pocketed a cool RM1,016,000,000.00.

In fact, long before the durian farmers in Pahang started making their money in the musang king and black thorn durians, the Linggi family was already chocking on the profits from their durian balak and durian sawit. 

The sale of the APL land is however now a subject of investigation for manipulation , a report by the Edge quoted an insider source as saying “Several things triggered the investigation, but what started the ball rolling is that another plantation company — a big one, much like FGV, and also government-linked — was offered Asian Plantations at RM20,000 per hectare … FGV ended up paying in excess of RM65,000 per hectare” 

Among the major shareholders of Asian Plantations when FGV took over was Keresa Plantations Sdn Bhd, the vehicle of Tan Sri Leonard Linggi Jugah, which had 24.9% equity interest; and Dennis Nicholas Melka and Graeme Iain Brown, who, with Linggi, controlled close to 60% of the company. 

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/newsbreak-fgv-investigating-overpriced-asian-plantations-purchase

Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), making references to investigative reports by environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like Global Witness and the Bruno Mansor Fund, noted "APL’s success and profit started with allocation of valuable forest land by the Sarawak state government, under the control of the (former) chief minister, to political allies and family members for well below market value. The giveaway of state forest land for plantations, at substantially below market value, amounts to theft of the Malaysian people’s common resources.Theft of public forest lands is not new in Sarawak. Scholars have noted how, since the 1970s, Leonard Linggi, the chairman of APL, his immediate family members, and other political leaders have acquired logging concessions in return for political favours to Sarawak’s ruling leaders – and subsequently profited from these concessions on a massive scale."

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/former-sarawak-minister-named-report-state%E2%80%99s-timber-corruption

There was a brief period, during the late Adenan Satem’s term as CM, when the Linggi’s family fell out of favor due to ‘insufficient’ contribution to Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) coffers. PBB of course is the political party largely responsible for the massive wealth (and the financial clout that comes with it). It did not take very long for the Linggi family to realise that their continuing prosperity and influence is very much at the hands of the leaders of the bumiputra faction of PBB. Amends were quickly made with the arrival of Abang Johari as the new CM. 

It therefore came as no suprise when Alexander Nanta Linggi, member of the Linggi family and current secretary general of PBB recently made a call for the government of Sarawak to revamp policies affecting the timber industry in Sarawak. To all who has the slightest interest and knowledge of the timber industry in Sarawak, the call was actually to punish the supposedly ‘ingrates and recalcitrants’ in the industry who had the nerves to support a certain political party whose leaders were once members of ruling coalition.

https://www.newsarawaktribune.com.my/call-to-revamp-timber-industry/

It was really a very perplexing statement, becoming even more perplexing when CM Abang Johari very publicly supported the call. Surely any change in policies affecting the timber will have an across the board effects on all the timber companies in Sarawak. The short-sightedness in the call, readily apparent to others was not apparent to them. Was there an intention to apply the potential changes selectively?

But then Sarawakians have grown used to no brainer comments from CM Abang Johari, like the recent statement he made about carbon credit trading and green status for Sarawak. Sigh…

The time has come for a change, a real substantive change from the era of broken promises, unrealistic ambitions and neglect to an era of pragmatic , substantive and holistic development firmly centered around the well being and happiness of all Sarawakians. Sarawakians have no other choice but to vote out BN, rebranded as GPS, in the coming PRN. If not, Sarawak will continue to languish as the state with the most poor people in it and the state most under-developed in its infrastructure.