November 13, 1992 CONTACT:
Yoichi Kuroda, IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jonathan Holliman or Pamela Wellner,
(03) 3770-6308 or (03) 3760-5387
MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT CONFISCATES PASSPORT OF INDIGENOUS FOREST
DWELLER
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INDIGENOUS REPRESENTATIVE FROM SARAWAK PREVENTED FROM ATTENDING
INTERNATIONAL
TROPICAL TIMBER ORGANIZATION MEETING
On Tuesday, November 10 Malaysian immigration authorities
confiscated the passport of Thomas Jalong, Kenya native of
Sarawak, Malaysia at the Subang International Airport in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia.
Mr. Jalong was on his way to Japan to attend the meeting of the
International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and a seminar of
indigenous people from Asia and Latin America. Mr. Jalong a
representative of the environmental organization Friends of the
Earth, Malaysia is a non-governmental observer to the ITTO meeting
and has attended previous ITTO meetings held in Japan.
No reasons have been given by the immigration authorities, who
merely informed Mr. Jalong that he was not allowed to leave the
country. Japan is not a restricted country as far as Malaysians
are concerned. "We see no reason for this action against Mr.
Jalong and will be contacting the immigration authorities.", said
Friends of the Earth, Malaysia, President, S.M. Mohd. Idris.
"We suspect that Mr. Jalong was kept from attending the ITTO
meeting because Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Taib Mahmud of
Sarawak will be the keynote speaker at the opening session of the
ITTO on November 16. Mr. Jalong, a Kenya native, is an outspoken
critic of Sarawak's logging industry which is devastating the
tropical forest homelands of many native cultures. Indigenous
people of Sarawak have been trying to defend their customary land
but have met much resistance from the Sarawak government. Many
native people have blockaded logging roads in last ditch attempts
to save the forest which they depend upon for their survival."
said Jonathan Holliman of Friends of the Earth Japan.
After the recommendation by the ITTO, the Sarawak delegation at
last year's ITTO meeting stated that Sarawak would reduce its
timber yield by 1.5 million cubic meters. However, in August of
this year timber production in Sarawak had already reached 15
million cubic meters. Last year's reported timber production
reached 18 million cubic meters, this figure does not include
illegal timber production. Chief Minister Taib has stated that
some 10% of Sarawak timber operations are violating regulations by
over cutting the timber concession areas.
A recent United Nations report placed Malaysia tenth on its list
of major tropical rainforest destroyers with 360,000 hectares of
forest lost annually. According to Friends of the Earth, Malaysia
if Sarawak continues to log its forests at the rate of 18 million
cubic meters per year, many people will suffer the consequences
of eroded land, heavily silted rivers, denuded forest resources
and loss of timber industry jobs.
Forest dependent cultures such as the Kenya have already been
affected by this high rate of forest loss. Thomas Jalong has been
actively alerting the ITTO to this situation which leads some
environmentalists to speculate that his detainment in Malaysia was
connected to Taib's keynote address at this year's ITTO meeting.
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