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.

A VEGETARIAN TIGER?

 A VEGETARIAN TIGER?

                                                         

The news headline in the Borneo Post edition of the 4th October 2020 read, ‘Have new timber policy ‘to benefit all’, says Nanta’ He went on to say,’ “Therefore, l hope that Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg would come out with a new policy that could benefit the ordinary people, and not only the rich people,  Nanta, who is also Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) secretary-general, in his welcoming address for the ‘Special PBB Convention-Central Zone at a hotel here yesterday.

https://www.theborneopost.com/2020/10/04/have-new-timber-policy-to-benefit-all-says-nanta/

If these words were to come from somebody other than Alexander Nanta Linggi it would have attracted almost no attention at all. Firstly, who is Alex Nanta Linggi? He is none other than the heir to the Linggi fortune, and thence lay claim to being the richest Iban in the world. He is also the son in law to the late Tan Sri Celestine Ujang a former Vice President of PBB. For his part in the downfall of the PH government in March 2020, Alex Linggi was appointed to the  Perikatan Nasional Cabinet under Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, and is currently the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs. Clearly he is establishment and elitist in every sense of the word. 

          

                          The family flagship company, 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, the then chief minister of Sarawak.                                                  Rajang Wood Sdn Bhd is a timber trading company incorporated in January                                              1978. It is recorded to hold 309575 hectares in concessions throughout                                                      Sarawak (Singapore totals 71,910 hectares in size) it must also be said that                                                they were never operated downstream, and basically just contracted out and                                              earn profit from there without having to do any work. The archetypical rent                                              seeker.

In short, the Linggi family has benefited and prospered for 42 long years from the timber concessions given to them. Given this clear advantage, 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 (RM628 million, and assumed RM388 million in liabilities*). 

The sale is 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” 

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

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

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

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2003/05/24/rajang-buys-additional-45-stake

Through a web of convoluted financial arrangements and off shore companies, how much wealth exactly has the Linggi family accumulated, would need a team of accountants to figure out. It would easily run into billions from a rudimentary visual inspection of the real estate they control today. Some of the visible signs are the Menara Tun Jugah in the middle of Kuching city, the Green Heights Mall in the Green Heights commercial and residential area and the Cove 55 property in Santubong.

So when Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi proposed that timber policies be revamped so as to directly benefit the rakyat, His proposal was greeted with raised eyebrows and disbelief, because for close to half a century, the timber industry benefited only a handful of Sarawak’s elite families of which the Linggi family was and still is a member. 

All things considered he is so rich, with his family owning luxurious properties, expensive yachts, and rubbing shoulders with the cream of society. Meanwhile his community, the Dayaks are suffering in poverty without basic necessities and decent education.  One would surely be forgiven for asking, is this pronouncement “A tiger declaring to be vegetarian?”

But to observers with keen eyes, the proposal may not be the saving grace that it is touted to be. Chief Minister Abang Johari, speaking after officiating at the PBB mini convention said, “What has been proposed is that we look into our logging policies … which we want to improve because what is emphasised is to replant our forest and to see whether community involvement in the industry can be considered,” If reading this statement gives one the feeling of dejavu it is because there has been other land developments in which community involvement was experimented with, SALCRA being the most obvious. Has the community, the land owners within the plantation benefited from the land schemes? Easily 90% of NCR land owners in SALCRA plantations derived on the intermittent and inconsistent dividends. In the mills serving the plantation, the land owners are given 0% stake.

Now, Alexander Nanta Linggi is talking about reforming policies which, if crystallize and implemented, will affect land which they have controlled over through the provisional leases (PL) given to them. These lands are not NCR lands so the people will have no stake at all in these lands unlike in SALCRA schemes. So it is near impossible to visualize how the local people can participate and benefit from the reforms being proposed. At most, the local people will continue to work for Linggi family and the other PL holders as laborers earning the minimum wage prescribed by the law. They will  just be helping PL holders like the Linggi family to further enrich themselves.

The key to understanding this sudden intention to reform timber policies is found in the 9th paragraph of the New Sunday Tribune news captioned “Call To Revamp Timber Industry”. The wordings of that paragraph clearly show that the announcement is to intimidate parties who are no longer aligned to them to them politically. Innocent parties who have refused to participate in the continuing “wayang kulit” to fish for votes from an unsuspecting electorate.  

This coupled with the fact that the announcement is part of a pre-election road show by Abang Jo, more or less confirm this is another one of those “air liur” pronouncements. Such pronouncements like, hydrogen buses, LRT, DBOS etc. have become part and parcel of the rheotoric of this administration.

 

Further It is also well known in PBB circles that Abang Jo’s dayak support consist of Linggi Jugah’s cabal, while Abang Jo continue to facilitate the family’s interests, including insisting on a cabinet -position for Alex Nanta Linggi within the GPS UMNO PAS federal coalition.  This marriage of convenience between the two started when the timber concessions held by Rajang Wood Sdn Bhd were not autonomically renewed by the previous CM, to prevent this and in exchange for patronage, they had agreed to side with Abang Jo within the PBB “game of thrones”. This worked nicely for Abang Jo, who needed this support within the party grassroots. The same grassroots who otherwise had always viewed him as unsophisticated & somewhat lacking and wholly unsuitable to be Chief Minister. 

Now we are here, with both of them “you scratch my back, I scratch your back” in full view of a disgusted public. Fortunately, Hot Air is not easy to conceal and when there is little effort to conceal it, it become visible immediately. 

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

Still, there is also the possibility that Alexander Nanta Linggi is suffering an attack of the conscience and is sincere in wanting to share their source of their tremendous wealth. If that is the case, we can expect an announcement from the Rajang Wood group before the next DUN sitting that they have resolved to bring in all the rural communities surrounding their oil palm plantations to become shareholders in their companies. That would be the test of their sincerity.

Sarawakians will be monitoring this.