The Chief Minister of the Borneo state of Sarawak on his first official visit overseas in London asked NGOs to help his state preserve remaining forest and fight logging corruption. Pronouncing "cucup" (enough) he said no more timber concessions are given out and there is enough palm oil. The Minister said he values forests for their own sake and is determined to fight corruption until, "the last log is accounted for." He thus distanced himself considerably from his predecessor in office who enriched himself and his family members during his 33 years as Chief Minister. An independent investigation found that the former Chief Minister's company, CMS, gained $1.4 billion during his tenure in office. At his visit to the Malaysian High Commission, Adenam Satem was approached by the leader of the indigenous Penan delegation with a petition asking official approval of the Penan Peace Park, a nature reserve established in the interior of Borneo by indigenous people. He also welcomed a journalist who was one the fiercest critics of the previous regime.
Whether the new Minister will follow through on his public sentiments remains to be determined. He his not off to a good start. Ominously, Malaysia's Home Ministry seized a book exposing the corrupt timber industry in Sarawak. All copies of "Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian Timber Mafia" was seized at the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair on Thursday. The author, Lukas Straumann, reacted with disbelief at the seizure. His research was painstaking, and his work has already made headlines before its publication. Former Chief Minister Taib Mahmud threatened to sue Amazon and Bergli Books, Switzerland if they distributed the book. Malaysian readers will still have access to the exposé either as a e-book or by mail from Bergli in Basel.
Even more disturbing is Satem's decision to sell to Taib Mahmud's family a 50% interest in Sacofa, a state-owned telecommunications company for $50 million. Sacofa owns a twenty-year concession for communication towers in Sarawak. Opposition politicians object to the sale of one of the state's most lucrative business ventures at a bargain price.