September 07, 2015

FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS–THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE

FOCUS THIS TIME WILL EXAMINE THE GROWING INSTANCES OF CRUCIAL DISCREPANCIES THAT WE HAVE COMPILED, AND ARE CONTINUING TO COMPILE AS THE CASE DEVELOPS IN REAL-TIME
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1.
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"I don’t think I’ve made any clangers so far 
on the 1MDB story."  
- Clare Rewcastle Brown - Esquire Malaysia, July 21, 2015
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CLARE'S "CLANGER" #1
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FUNDING HYPOCRISY
{i}
"Clare told 16×9 she has received no money from Malaysian politicians and that her donors are 'all non-politically motivated Europeans'." 

- Global News Canada, December 2, 2011
{ii}
 "The funding for her radio, she says, comes primarily from a single “European philanthropist” who wishes to remain anonymous; listeners also send donations through the website." 

- Foreign Policy, March 13, 2013
{iii}
"Clare said Radio Free Sarawak (RFS) is largely funded by a reputable European foundation which focuses on rainforest issues. We also receive...mainly small donations from people...through our site's donation page." 

- The Sun Daily, September 1, 2015

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RELATED (1)
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[1: 'SARAWAK REPORT ARTICLES ON PM NAJIB "VERY GOOD FICTION", SAYS FORMER JOURNALIST.' – "[Lester Melanyi] also claimed that BMF, a non-profit conservation group, paid him money, which was banked into his account by Rewcastle-Brown, to edit the articles." - The Straits Times, July 21, 2015]
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{iv}
"[PM Najib Razak] is saying that was just a donation, an anonymous donation and really Malaysians are asking: "Who donated and where did the money go?." 

- Clare Rewcastle Brown - Channel NewsAsia, August 5, 2015
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CLARE'S "CLANGER" #2
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NO OBJECTIVITY
{i}
"I believe in balance and objectivity. But if you can't have that, I believe you have to be honest about it. Yes, we are associated with the opposition." 

- Clare Rewcastle Brown
('THE TANGLED TALE OF MALAYSIA'S DIRTY BATTLEGROUND STATE.' - Foreign Policy, March 13, 2013)
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RELATED (1-2)
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[1: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS – THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "While the DAP representatives described election fraud in great detail and articulated their opposition to government corruption, they could not (or would not) tell us of their political agenda. Although we asked them several times to define their political goals, we left the meeting with the impression that the DAP has no legislative plans or detailed political priorities - other than maintenance of their seats in the next state election." - US Embassy Source–WikiLeaks,  October 2, 2006] 
[2: 'KIT SIANG PROCLAIMS PAKATAN IS DEAD.' - MalaysiaKini, June 6, 2015]
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{ii}
"You don't publish something unless you've caught someone doing something naughty; and once you do, you've got a certain amount of license to give him a hard time. That's the job. I'm not trying to be objective, but I'm honest about what I say, and I'm critical where I think it's deserved." 

- Clare Rewcastle Brown
('WHAT I'VE LEARNED–CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN' - Esquire Malaysia, July 21, 2015)

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RELATED (1-2)
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[1: FOCUS / CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN'S IGNORANCE OF HER OWN COUNTRY'S LEGAL CODES - "2– Fraud by false representation; (2) A representation is false if— (b) the person making it knows that it is, or might be, untrue or misleading." - UK FRAUD ACT 2006, August 16, 2015]
[2: EPISODES / DRAMATIS PERSONÆ–WHO'S WHO OF CLARE BROWN – "Therefore, it was only after strikingly similar financial information [from Cullen Johnson] was submitted in a court hearing related to Abu Bekir’s divorce and then printed in all the Malaysian media, that we too subsequently quoted what the Malaysian media reported had been said in court." - Clare Rewcastle Brown, January 10, 2015]
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CLARE'S "CLANGER" #3
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THE CULLEN SLIPUPS
{i}
"Worse, [Cullen Johnson] encouraged us to pay him in order to obtain what he suggested might be illegally accessed information. So, we explained that this is not our method of working. Communications ceased." 

- Clare Rewcastle Brown
('Hacked Off!' - Sarawak Report, May 8, 2013)
{ii}
"However, journalists are always willing to listen to people who claim to have information and for several months we engaged with [Cullen] Johnson (mainly via Skype messages) and waited to see where it all might lead." 

- Clare Rewcastle Brown
('A Truly Ugly Story - Theft, Hacking and Smear Tactics.' - Sarawak Report, January 10, 2015)

{ii.a}
"Here is the full story of what happened and readers should indeed prepare for a truly ugly tale, involving theft, hacking, dirty PR and smear tactics. It all began when shortly before the general election in 2013 my mobile phone was pickpocketed at night in my home street in London. On this phone were my skype and gmail messages [with Cullen Johnson/Dirk Pitt]." 

- Clare Rewcastle Brown
('A Truly Ugly Story - Theft, Hacking and Smear Tactics.' - Sarawak Report, January 10, 2015)

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CLARE'S "CLANGER" #4
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'JUST-O' NOT WHAT IT SEEMS
{i}
"I further request that Mr Justo is given all the protection due to a whistleblower 
in this situation and that proper steps are taken to investigate a grave financial fraud in which 
PetroSaudi International has played a major role." 

- Clare Rewcastle Brown - Sarawak Report, July 24, 2015
{ii}
"I am not a whistle-blower." 

 - Xavier Justo, September 3, 2015

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CLARE'S "CLANGER" #5
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'CULLEN' YOU SPEAK MORE CLEARLY? 
{i}
 "We do not know whether Cullen Johnson/Dirk Pitt is a genuine battler against high-level corruption (entirely possible) or someone hired to lure us into a trap (equally possible)." 

- Sarawak Report, May 8, 2013

{ii}
 "[Johnson and White] concocted bogus and stunningly realistic international banking information that would lead one party to believe the other had millions of dollars in assets offshore in places like the Channel Islands or the Cayman Islands. 

Over a period of time, the detectives would charge increasingly higher fees in return for more “banking information.” Often that information was presented in court as real and it took lawyers and judges years to understand it was false." 

- Toronto Star, January 17, 2014
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RELATED (1-2)
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[1: EPISODES / DRAMATIS PERSONÆ–WHO'S WHO OF CLARE BROWN – "Therefore, it was only after strikingly similar financial information [from Cullen Johnson] was submitted in a court hearing related to Abu Bekir’s divorce and then printed in all the Malaysian media, that we too subsequently quoted what the Malaysian media reported had been said in court." - Clare Rewcastle Brown - Sarawak Report, January 10, 2015]
[2: CURRENT / THE JUSTO CONFESSION ON THE STRAITS TIMES OF SINGAPORE – “Bunkum. What I have presented on 1MDB and has been clarified by The Edge and corroborated by several other official sources is a coherent explanation of events, versus the dodging, changing stories of 1MDB. - Clare Rewcastle Brown - The Straits Times, July 24, 2015]
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CLARE'S "CLANGER" #6
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FROM 1MDB OR NOT FROM 1MDB?

{i}

{ii}
"The Prime Minister has now finally had it announced through the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission that that was not anything to do with 1MDB money, which actually certainly I and I don’t know of any investigative reporters who said it was." 

- Clare Rewcastle Brown - Channel NewsAsia, August 5, 2015
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CLARE'S "CLANGER" #7
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FOR FREE OR NOT FOR FREE?
{i}
"But when it emerged they were not paying Justo, I had to deal with a lot of upset from him (Justo). I did not want to have anything to do with it but offered to try and mediate. 

It did not come to anything." 

- Clare Rewcastle Brown - Malaysia Chronicle, July 25, 2015

 {ii}
“I did pursue [Justo] doggedly to get the material. In the end he surrendered it for free." 

- Clare Rewcastle Brown - The Telegraph, August 17, 2015

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RELATED (1-2)
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[1: FOCUS / CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN'S IGNORANCE OF HER OWN COUNTRY'S LEGAL CODES -"11– Obtaining services dishonestly. (2) A person obtains services in breach of this subsection if– (a) they are made available on the basis that the payment has been, is being, or will be made for or in respect of them, (b) he obtains them without any payment having been made for or in respect of them or without payment having been made in full, and (c) when he obtains them, he knows– (i) that they are being made available on the basis described in paragraph (a), or (ii) that they might be, but intends that payment will not be made, or will not be made in full." - UK FRAUD ACT 2006,  August 16, 2015]
[2: CURRENT / JUSTO AND THE EDGE MEDIA GROUP – "Yes, we misled [Justo]. But that was the only way to get hold of the evidence to expose how a small group of Malaysians and foreigners cheated the people of Malaysia of US$1.83 billion (S$2.5 billion). All the more so when we know he will be upset with us because we will eventually not pay him what he wants." - Datuk Tong Kooi Ong and Ho Kay Tat - The Straits Times, July 24, 2015]
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CLARE'S "CLANGER" #8
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THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER?

{i}
 "After finishing university in London, [Clare Rewcastle Brown] went into journalism, spending most of her career at the BBC World Service. But she seized every opportunity to return to Sarawak, a place that never quite let her go." 

- Foreign Policy, March 13, 2013

 {ii}
"I have happy childhood memories of Sarawak. 
I didn’t return until I’d grown up and established myself in a completely different world [back in the UK], 
but I’d always followed what was happening in Borneo. 
By the time I came back in 2006—ironically because I’d been asked to take part in an environmental conference that [Tun Abdul] Taib [Mahmud] was holding at the time—" 

- Clare Rewcastle Brown - Esquire Malaysia, July 21, 2015

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2.
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RELATED: WHAT I'VE LEARNED – Clare Rewcastle Brown
REPORTED BY ESQUIRE MALAYSIA
July 21, 2015
Investigative journalist, founder of Sarawak Report and Radio Free Sarawak, 56. 
I have happy childhood memories of Sarawak. I didn’t return until I’d grown up and established myself in a completely different world [back in the UK], but I’d always followed what was happening in Borneo. By the time I came back in 2006—ironically because I’d been asked to take part in an environmental conference that [Tun Abdul] Taib [Mahmud] was holding at the time—I’d taken time out to have my two boys and it was my little window in life to say, “Well, what do I really care about doing something about?” 
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RELATED (1)
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[1: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS–THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "After finishing university in London, [Clare Rewcastle Brown] went into journalism, spending most of her career at the BBC World Service. But she seized every opportunity to return to Sarawak, a place that never quite let her go." - Foreign Policy, March 13, 2013]
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There was an attitude, you know: let’s tell the world about what’s happening in poor old Borneo. After a while, I started to think, what about the people in Borneo? If things are going to change in Borneo, it’s going to be the people in Borneo who are going to change them, so why am I talking to people back in the UK? Why not speak to those who are directly affected, instead of making urban dwellers in the west feel guilty about environmental issues that they feel a bit powerless about? 
It’s funny how people think they have a right to a reputation just because they’ve made a lot of money. 
I’ve learned that if you piss off rich Malaysians in positions of political power, they are ruthless and unscrupulous in what they are prepared to do to get their own back. I’ve had PR outfits, lawyers, computer hackers and radio-jamming professionals thrown at me, but they’ve shot themselves in the foot. They’ve made me into a character I wouldn’t have been if they hadn’t reacted so angrily and expensively. They created my Wikipedia site, for god’s sake. 
It helps if you don’t have a nefarious agenda. They’re always trying to make one out about me, but actually, I’m just a dreadful old do-gooder who’s got a bit between my teeth. 
I think [having former British prime minister Gordon Brown as a brother-in-law] has probably helped. One of the reasons I kept my identity secret for as long as I could was because I didn’t want to get him involved, particularly when he was still in office. But when he stepped down, I was bolder, and actually, he was really encouraging. When I started getting death threats, he said, “Look, you should just say who you are and what you’re doing because that’s the best way to deal with them.” 
The key thing is to be honest. I think if you’ve seen something that’s a crime you shouldn’t just report it as if you have no opinion of it. Also, as an investigative journalist, you don’t publish something unless you’ve caught somebody out doing something naughty; and once you do, you’ve got a certain amount of licence to give him a hard time. That’s the job. I’m not trying to be objective, but I’m honest about what I say, and I’m critical where I think it’s deserved. 
With the BBC, you’re going to get a more determined attempt at very objective journalism because they’re state-funded. They’re always being accused by either side of being biased, but I worked for the BBC World Service, and if you’ve got everyone accusing you of being biased, then you know you’re getting it right because you’re annoying everybody equally. 
I get a lot of whistleblowing elements now that I’m more established, but secret cameras are a thing of the past for me. When I was a TV journalist, I had a secret camera from every lapel, and in my bag. I don’t bother with that anymore because now I’m just writing. 
The corruption in Malaysia is blatant. You don’t have to do that much research to see it. They got lazy and weren’t bothering to cover it up. They’re trying harder now, but you know, there was 30 years of fairly blatant corruption that I just started covering, and I guess nobody else was.
I grew up during the ’60s and ’70s and have a bit of an old-fashioned, flower-power attitude, you know: don’t mess with me, I’ve got rights. I see that eroding in the younger generation, in the UK too, and it troubles me. We shouldn’t be too deferential. We should get up sometimes and wave our banners and go marching. When I was at university, there was a march every bloody weekend. Liberties have to be fought for and defended; otherwise, bullies will sneak in and nick ’em. 
It would be interesting if I could get another interview with Mahathir. I’d say, Look, you ran Malaysia with an iron first. Looking back, do you accept that you probably over-concentrated power and that you gave a very dangerous piece of machinery to whoever might succeed? I think he’s having some second thoughts, I think he’s genuinely furious at what’s happened. The 1MDB debacle is not only a fairly blatant heist on public funds, but also not very well done—and, you know, I think Mahathir is probably annoyed on both fronts. [laughs] 
I made a retraction on Sarawak Report. I cocked it up and put a wrong name to a report. That was about four years ago. They still refer to it sometimes when they’re trying to have a good, old round-up about my sins. 
It’s what any investigative journalist lives in dread of: getting it wrong. You try to get it right on the big things, but you can often get it wrong on the little things. It’s also easier to make mistakes in an environment like Malaysia, where there’s so little transparency. You’re often dealing with little bits of information that you’re trying to piece together because you’re not getting the information you should. But touch wood, I don’t think I’ve made any clangers so far on the 1MDB story. 
The greatest gift you can give your country is to be an honest and well-intentioned governor. 
Interviewed by Emily Ding on June 6, 2015. Photography by Ronald Leong. This article originally appears in the July 2015 Meaning of Life Issue.
('What I've learned–Clare Rewcastle Brown.' - Esquire Malaysia, August 11, 2015)
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3.
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 RELATED: 16x9–FAMILY TREES 
REPORTED BY GLOBAL NEWS CANADA
The Malaysian state of Sarawak is a lush, tropical paradise…or at least it used to be. Sarawak has one of the world’s most important rainforests but that rainforest is disappearing at an astonishing rate. Some say Sarawak’s Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmoud [sic.] is to blame and they accuse him of profiting from the destruction. 
Clare Rewcastle-Brown is a native of Sarawak now living and working as an investigative journalist in London. She writes about the environment in Sarawak and what she sees as political connections to the destruction of the land, on her blog, The Sarawak Report.
“What has happened in Sarawak is a catastrophe, an environmental and human rights catastrophe. The entire forest in the country has been mowed down,” she says. 
“The plans the Chief Minister Taib has for that area is to continue with that devastation and turn that whole area into a vast palm oil plantation which will just cement the disaster.” 
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RELATED (1)
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[1: CURRENT / CLARE AND CULLEN–THE DO-SI-DO – "This information booklet is jointly compiled by Forest Department Sarawak, Sarawak Forestry Corporation, Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation and Harwood Timber Sdn Bhd under the auspices of the Ministry of Resource Planning and Environment. It serves to explain the legality verification of logs as currently conducted in Sarawak in terms of the tracking and traceability of log movement along the chain of custody from the forest to the mill or export point. The prescribed verification activities are based on the Inter-Agency Standard Operating Procedures for Performance of Forestry Function that has been adopted in 2010 by the then Ministry of Planning and Resource Management. In line with the desire for continuous improvement, the verification activities and associated procedures described herein are subject to periodic revision or enhancement." - Sarawak Forestry Department, October 2012]
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But it’s not only the forest that’s in danger. One of the last nomadic tribes in the world lives in Sarawak’s rainforest. World famous anthropologist, Wade Davis has studied the Penan and told 16×9, “Within a single generation a way of life, morally inspired and inherently right, was being crushed just as the forest in which they were born was being crushed.” Davis went to say, “There was something so incredibly unjust about that.” 
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RELATED (1-4)
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[1: EPISODES / CLARE AND CULLEN–THE DO-SI-DO – "But [sago] still doesn’t provide enough calories to support a large population. This jungle around us, you might think it’s a cornucopia, but it isn’t. Most of these trees in the jungle don’t yield, don’t give us anything edible. If you want to feed a lot of people, you’ve got to find a different food supply, you’ve got to find a really productive environment, and it’s not going to be a sago swamp." - Jared Diamond - PBS , 2005]
~
[2: 'THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL OF THE ROMA PEOPLE: EUROPE'S MOST HATED' - ViceNews, July 24, 2014]
~
[3: 'THE SECRET LIVES OF BRITAIN'S CHILD BEGGARS' - BBC Panorama, October 19, 2011]
~
[4: 'SWITZERLAND THREATENS TO CLOSE ITALIAN BORDER TO MIGRANTS' - Newsweek, June 22, 2015]

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But, according to Rewcastle-Brown, Abdul Taib Mahmoud [sic.] is doing more than just cutting down the forest. She says he’s lining his own pockets with profits from environmental destruction in Sarawak and investing that money outside Malaysia. She says she’s been following a paper trail of Taib’s investments. 
“I’ve seen that most of the companies that have received the lands have been companies owned by his siblings and his children and political allies that he needs to keep sweet…mainly, his own family,” she says. 
“I’ve painstakingly researched what I can of many of these contracts,” and says she’s been able to see that land contracts have gone straight from the Chief Minister to his family, and how they’ve profited.
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RELATED (1-7)
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[1: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS–THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE –"I believe in balance and objectivity. But if you can't have that, I believe you have to be honest about it. Yes, we are associated with the opposition." - Clare Rewcastle Brown - Foreign Policy, March 13, 2013]
~
[2: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS–THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "You don't publish something unless you've caught someone doing something naughty; and once you do, you've got a certain amount of license to give him a hard time. That's the job. I'm not trying to be objective, but I'm honest about what I say, and I'm critical where I think it's deserved." - Clare Rewcastle Brown - Esquire Malaysia, July 21, 2015]
~
[3: FOCUS / CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN'S IGNORANCE OF HER OWN COUNTRY'S LEGAL CODES - "2– Fraud by false representation; (2) A representation is false if— (b) the person making it knows that it is, or might be, untrue or misleading." - UK FRAUD ACT 2006, August 16, 2015]
~
[4: MAHMUD TAIB: EXAGGERATED WEALTH NOT REAL, BUT FORGERIES MASQUERADING AS HACKS – “It saddens me that my divorce, which is painful enough for all, should have been hijacked by politicians and activists, and used to disseminate falsehoods under the cover of this respected court.” - Dato Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib - BlogTakes, August 17, 2015]
~
[5: EPISODES / DRAMATIS PERSONÆ–WHO'S WHO OF CLARE BROWN – "Therefore, it was only after strikingly similar financial information [from Cullen Johnson] was submitted in a court hearing related to Abu Bekir’s divorce and then printed in all the Malaysian media, that we too subsequently quoted what the Malaysian media reported had been said in court." - Clare Rewcastle Brown - Sarawak Report, January 10, 2015]
~
[6: CURRENT / CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN'S INTERVIEW ON CHANNEL NEWSASIA REGARDING THE WARRANT FOR HER ARREST – "The Prime Minister has now finally had it announced through the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission that that was not anything to do with 1MDB money, which actually certainly I and I don’t know of any investigative reporters who said it was." - Clare Rewcastle Brown - Channel NewsAsia, August 5, 2015]
~
[7: 'SENSATIONAL FINDINGS! PRIME MINISTER NAJIB RAZAK’S PERSONAL ACCOUNTS LINKED TO 1MDB MONEY TRAIL - MALAYSIA EXCLUSIVE' - Sarawak Report, July 2, 2015]
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One of Taib’s family members is Jamilah Taib-Murray, the Chief Minister’s daughter. She is the co-founder and remains a director of Sakto, a real estate development company headquartered in Ottawa. Sakto’s properties are said to be worth more than $100 million. Several major corporations rent office space in its commercial buildings and, it turns out, so does the Ontario government for a total cost of $4.9 million. Rewcastle-Brown believes there’s a link between Taib’s profits in Sarawak to Jamilah’s initial business investments in the early 80s. “It’s been possible for me, sitting in London, to go through the company records online and to trace how this money has gone from Sarawak in the early 1980s to Canada,” she says. 
16×9 asked Jamilah Taib-Murray and her husband, Sean Murray for an interview, but they declined. In a letter from Jamilah’s lawyer to 16×9, it states, “at no stage did her (Jamilah’s) father have economic benefit from or any direction of, the business – directly or indirectly". It also says Jamilah’s investment in Malaysia is “passive” and that Sakto and Sean Murray have none. 
16×9 obtained a letter from Sean Murray to Clare Rewcastle-Brown that states she has acknowledged that she’s received funding by “wealthy entities” who oppose the Chief Minister in “upcoming elections”. Another legal letter sent to 16×9 says Clare has a “declared political interest” and they are “running a political campaign against the current Sarawak government”. Clare told 16×9 she has received no money from Malaysian politicians and that her donors are “all non-politically motivated Europeans”. 
Sean Murray wrote to 16×9 saying, “Jamilah and I find these statements about ourselves and our business false, highly defamatory and very damaging.” 
In “Family Trees”, reporter, Sean O’Shea investigates the alleged money trail between Sarawak’s Chief Minister and his family in Canada. 
- Hannah James and Megan Rowney 
('16x9–Family Trees.' - Global News Canada, December 2, 2011)
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4.
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 RELATED: THE TANGLED TALE OF MALAYSIA'S DIRTY BATTLEGROUND STATE
REPORTED BY FOREIGN POLICY
How an ex-British prime minister’s sister-in-law, a headhunter’s grandson, dodgy PR firms, and a Malaysian kingpin are colliding in a fight over the future of democracy.
Clare Rewcastle-Brown could be doing a lot of other things with her retirement. She could be spending her days watching TV, tending her investments, or socializing. But instead she’s operating a private shortwave radio service from a cramped office in downtown London. Her listeners are on the other side of the world, 6,500 miles away, in a place called Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo.

 “At least they can hear people being defiant,” she says. “At least they can hear someone else saying what they’ve always thought.”
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RELATED (1)
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[1: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS - THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "Chong and Yong stated that during the run-up to the May 20 election, while the English-language media acted almost entirely as a mouthpiece for the state's long-governing National Front constituent parties, the Chinese-language media "provided a surprising amount of coverage" for opposition candidates." - US Embassy Source–Wikileaks, October 2, 2006]
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Sarawak (pop. 2.5 million) is home to what were once some of the world’s richest rain forests — forests that are under threat, Rewcastle-Brown says, from the political and business interests that dominate the state. The head of the Sarawak state government, 76-year-old Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, has been in office since 1981. According to Bloomberg, at least four of the major companies that have received contracts or concessions from the government (thus allowing them to reap profits from the area’s vast natural resources) are linked to his family. The Bruno Manser Fund, a Swiss-based charity devoted to the memory of an environmental activist who disappeared in Sarawak in 2000 while investigating illegal logging, asserts that Taib presides over a fortune of some $21 billion, which would make him the richest man in Asia. (He is, however, notably absent from the Forbes list of global billionaires.) A 2006 U.S. State Department cable published by WikiLeaks contains this sentence about Taib: “Embassy sources outside the government uniformly characterize him as highly corrupt."
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RELATED (1-7)
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[1: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS - THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "Chong and Yong stated that...", "They claimed...", "Chong said...", "...he claimed...", "...he stated...", "Chong and Yong said...", "They said...", "The DAP politicians told us...", "...the DAP representatives said...", "...widely thought to...", "Comments from the DAP politicians and Suhakam reinforce what we have heard...", "By these accounts..." - US Embassy Source–WikiLeaks, October 2, 2006]
~
[2: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS – THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "While the DAP representatives described election fraud in great detail and articulated their opposition to government corruption, they could not (or would not) tell us of their political agenda. Although we asked them several times to define their political goals, we left the meeting with the impression that the DAP has no legislative plans or detailed political priorities - other than maintenance of their seats in the next state election." - US Embassy Source–WikiLeaks,  October 2, 2006]
~
[3: 'KIT SIANG PROCLAIMS PAKATAN IS DEAD.' - MalaysiaKini, June 6, 2015]
~
[4: EPISODES / CLARE AND CULLEN–THE DO-SI-DO – "But [sago] still doesn’t provide enough calories to support a large population. This jungle around us, you might think it’s a cornucopia, but it isn’t. Most of these trees in the jungle don’t yield, don’t give us anything edible. If you want to feed a lot of people, you’ve got to find a different food supply, you’ve got to find a really productive environment, and it’s not going to be a sago swamp." - Jared Diamond - PBS , 2005]
~
[5: EPISODES / CLARE AND CULLEN–THE DO-SI-DO "...the basis of such claims have been repeatedly and authoritatively disputed, regardless of how much BMF and associates would prefer to ignore that fact by persistently reproducing such falsities in their overwhelmingly and notoriously anti-factual book, which also heavily cites the confirmed fabricator, Dato Ting Check Sii." - The NINE QUESTIONS Panel, September 1, 2015]
~
[6: EPISODES / CLARE AND CULLEN–THE DO-SI-DO – "3. Sources used for this report...this report draws specifically on the following sources:- Sarawak Report, a campaign website run by British journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown.- Court depositions by former Taib family employees and business partners:- Ross J. Boyert: former Vice President of Taib family-owned Sakti International Corporation in California, US12- Ting Check Sii: former owner [sic.] of now Taib family-controlled Sanyan Sdn. Bhd in Malaysia.- Farok Majeed: former business associate of Onn Mahmud in Singapore and Australia." - Bruno Manser Fonds, 2014]
[6A: EPISODES / CLARE AND CULLEN–THE DO-SI-DO – "The Boyerts believed that this was intimidation sanctioned by the Taibs, however the [US] police failed to be convinced by their ‘bizarre’ allegations."- Sarawak Report, October 13, 2010]
~
[7: EPISODES / CLARE AND CULLEN–THE DO-SI-DO – "[I] will not retract a single word as the book has been “meticulously researched and is strictly fact-based.” - Lukas Straumann - Bruno Manser Fonds, November 3, 2014]
[RELATED: EPISODES / DRAMATIS PERSONÆ–WHO'S WHO OF CLARE BROWN – "Tanaka is in substance, Dato Ting [Check Sii]’s mouthpiece...I completely reject Tanaka’s contention on the Oral Agreements. There is simply no credible evidence to substantiate the existence of the oral agreements at all material times...I need only outline a few broad reasons here...Tanaka’s case was originally premised on the purported directors’ resolutions of 1993 and 1994, which I find to be fabricated." - Justice Edmund Leow of The High Court of Singapore for 'Suit No 783 of 2012', June 29, 2015]
– - –
One of the pillars of BN’s hold over Malaysia’s institutions has been Taib’s political machine in Sarawak, which has reliably delivered a solid bloc of pro-government votes in parliamentary elections. Over the past few years the gradually emboldened opposition has chipped away at the government’s majority elsewhere in Malaysia. But Anwar’s forces have made little headway in Sarawak, where Taib’s grip over the local media has proved nearly impossible to crack.
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RELATED (1)
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[1: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS - THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "Chong and Yong stated that during the run-up to the May 20 election, while the English-language media acted almost entirely as a mouthpiece for the state's long-governing National Front constituent parties, the Chinese-language media "provided a surprising amount of coverage" for opposition candidates." - US Embassy Source–Wikileaks, October 2, 2006]
– - –
That’s where Rewcastle-Brown (the second part of her last name derives from her marriage to ex-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s younger brother) comes in. She was actually born in Sarawak at the beginning of the 1960s, when it was still part of the British Empire. There’s a long history of Brits in this slice of Southeast Asia. (Before it became a British possession in 1946, Sarawak was famous as the kingdom of the “White Rajahs,” founded by Victorian adventurer James Brooke, who was given control over the place by the Sultan of Brunei in the mid-nineteenth century in return for his efforts to pacify its notorious pirates.) She left Sarawak at age eight, when her parents returned to England. After finishing university in London, she went into journalism, spending most of her career at the BBC World Service. But she seized every opportunity to return to Sarawak, a place that never quite let her go.
In 2010, partly at the urging of friends from Sarawak, Rewcastle-Brown started a blog, dubbed “Sarawak Report,” that aimed to publicize Taib-sponsored destruction of the environment and the alleged culture of cronyism that supports it. She then upped the ante by creating her own radio station, which broadcasts under the name “Radio Free Sarawak” in the local languages of Malay and Iban. She doesn’t know either language, but that’s where her heavily tattooed colleague, known by his pseudonym as “Papa Orang Utan,” comes in. (He’s described by one British journalist as the “proud grandson of a Dayak headhunter.”)
The Malaysian government didn’t take long to retaliate. It quickly moved to finance a series of dubious PR efforts to discredit her, as part of its larger campaign aimed at the opposition movement led by Anwar’s opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition. One company hired Texas-based conservative blogger Josh Trevino and a group of other American writers to come up with content designed to blacken the opposition. (Trevino heatedly denied working for the Malaysians when challenged on the same point back in 2011; a few weeks ago, he was compelled to retract his denial when paperwork emerged showing that he had indeed taken money from the Malaysian government.)
One product of the government PR effort was a sock-puppet website called “Sarawak Reports” (only that terminal “s” distinguishing it from Rewcastle-Brown’s website), that featured content supporting Taib and attacked Rewcastle-Brown. (For his part Trevino denies any connection with the site. “The reality is that I didn’t run Sarawak Reports,” he says, noting that it wasn’t among the sites for which he claimed responsibility in the papers he recently filed with the U.S. government for his other PR work for the Malaysian government.)
Taking on the powers-that-be in Sarawak requires a certain degree of grit. Rewcastle-Brown’s website has had to cope with frequent denial-of-service attacks, while her radio broadcasts, if past practice is any indication, can expect to be heavily jammed come election time. Radio Free Sarawak’s listeners, who call in from their mobile phones (sometimes climbing hills in the jungle to get proper reception), complain frequently of intimidation when they dare to protest government policies or resist illegal logging operations by well-connected local companies. One of Rewcastle-Brown’s best sources, a former financial adviser to Taib named Ross Boyert, turned up dead under mysterious circumstances after spilling the beans on some of Taib’s North American assets. (Officially the death was deemed a suicide.)
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RELATED (1)
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[1: EPISODES / CLARE AND CULLEN–THE DO-SI-DO – "The Boyerts believed that this was intimidation sanctioned by the Taibs, however the [US] police failed to be convinced by their ‘bizarre’ allegations."- Sarawak Report, October 13, 2010]
– - –
Rewcastle-Brown, who strews her stories with exclamation marks, admits that she’s biased against a government she describes as a “soft dictatorship.” “I believe in balance and objectivity,” she says. “But if you can’t have that, I believe you have to be honest about it. Yes, we are associated with the opposition. We’d love to be able to interview the government, but they won’t come on. We’ve got lots of questions we could ask them.” Though she expresses sympathy for Anwar’s movement, she disavows any organizational links with it. The funding for her radio, she says, comes primarily from a single “European philanthropist” who wishes to remain anonymous; listeners also send donations through the website.
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RELATED (1-4)
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[1: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS – THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "While the DAP representatives described election fraud in great detail and articulated their opposition to government corruption, they could not (or would not) tell us of their political agenda. Although we asked them several times to define their political goals, we left the meeting with the impression that the DAP has no legislative plans or detailed political priorities - other than maintenance of their seats in the next state election." - US Embassy Source–WikiLeaks,  October 2, 2006]
[1A: 'KIT SIANG PROCLAIMS PAKATAN IS DEAD.' - MalaysiaKini, June 6, 2015]
~
[2: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS – THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "Clare told 16×9 she has received no money from Malaysian politicians and that her donors are 'all non-politically motivated Europeans'." - Global News Canada, December 2, 2011]
[2A: CURRENT / CLARE'S FACELESS DONORS–MORE DOUBLE STANDARDS – "Clare said Radio Free Sarawak (RFS) is largely funded by a reputable European foundation which focuses on rainforest issues. We also receive...mainly small donations from people...through our site's donation page." - The Sun Daily, September 1, 2015]
[2B: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS–THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "[Lester Melanyi] also claimed that BMF, a non-profit conservation group, paid him money, which was banked into his account by Rewcastle-Brown, to edit the articles." - The Straits Times, July 21, 2015]
~
[3: CURRENT / CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN'S INTERVIEW ON CHANNEL NEWSASIA REGARDING THE WARRANT FOR HER ARREST – "The Prime Minister has now finally had it announced through the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission that that was not anything to do with 1MDB money, which actually certainly I and I don’t know of any investigative reporters who said it was." - Clare Rewcastle Brown - Channel NewsAsia, August 5, 2015]
[3A: SENSATIONAL FINDINGS! PRIME MINISTER NAJIB RAZAK’S PERSONAL ACCOUNTS LINKED TO 1MDB MONEY TRAIL - MALAYSIA EXCLUSIVE - Sarawak Report, July 2, 2015]
~
[RELATED: CURRENT / CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN'S INTERVIEW ON CHANNEL NEWSASIA REGARDING THE WARRANT FOR HER ARREST – "[PM Najib Razak] is saying that was just a donation, an anonymous donation and really Malaysians are asking: "Who donated and where did the money go?." - Clare Rewcastle Brown - Channel NewsAsia, August 5, 2015]
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She believes that her radio station played a part in the losses suffered by Taib’s party in the last Sarawak state election two years ago, when the opposition managed to win over a significant number of urban voters. The opposition certainly seems to think so: As the country gears up for the potentially epochal election, activists are busily handing out radios to people in the hard-to-reach Sarawak countryside. The people in villages already equipped with radios have taken to organizing their evenings around the broadcasts from London. (The photo above shows Iban tribesmen in the Sarawak village of Menyang, who count themselves among Radio Free Sarawak’s biggest fans.)
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RELATED (1)
– - –
[RELATED: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS - THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "Chong and Yong stated that during the run-up to the May 20 election, while the English-language media acted almost entirely as a mouthpiece for the state's long-governing National Front constituent parties, the Chinese-language media "provided a surprising amount of coverage" for opposition candidates." - US Embassy Source–Wikileaks, October 2, 2006]
– - –
The fight over an obscure patch of jungle might seem bemusing to many far-away readers. But it shouldn’t be. As we are now painfully aware, the ecological impact of events in places in Sarawak can affect us all. At the same time, the story of Malaysia’s approaching election (and Sarawak’s role in it) is also worth watching. If the government loses, it will be a milestone for democracy in Southeast Asia and beyond. This is the country, after all, whose long-time prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, spent years assuring anyone who would listen that “Asian values” were incompatible with pluralism and democracy, which he dismissed as culturally specific Western exports. A defeat for the brand of Malaysian authoritarianism that Mahathir so long championed promises a refreshing renewal. And a new lease on life for the Sarawak rain forest wouldn’t be a bad thing either.
– - –
RELATED (1-2)
– - –
[1: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS – THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "...if I could get another interview with Mahathir. I’d say, Look, you ran Malaysia with an iron first. Looking back, do you accept that you probably over-concentrated power and that you gave a very dangerous piece of machinery to whoever might succeed?" - Clare Rewcastle Brown - Esquire Malaysia, July 21, 2015]
~
[2: FOCUS / CLARE'S CONTRADICTIONS – THE FORKING OF THE TONGUE – "While the DAP representatives described election fraud in great detail and articulated their opposition to government corruption, they could not (or would not) tell us of their political agenda. Although we asked them several times to define their political goals, we left the meeting with the impression that the DAP has no legislative plans or detailed political priorities - other than maintenance of their seats in the next state election." - US Embassy Source–WikiLeaks,  October 2, 2006]
– - –
This aricle has been updated to reflect Joshua Trevino’s denial of involvement with the Sarawak Reports website.
('The tangled Tale of Malaysia's Battleground State.' - Foreign Policy, March 13, 2013)
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5.
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 RELATED: CABLE 06KUALALUMPUR1935, SARAWAK: OPPOSITION ADRIFT; INDIGENOUS PEOPLE LACK SERVICES; POLICE REJECTS CRITICISMS
Reference ID | Created | Classification | Origin
––––– ––––– –––––
VZCZCXRO8268
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHKL #1935/01 2860935
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 130935Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7770
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 0049
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUALA LUMPUR 001935

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS AND DS/IP/ITA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/11/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KDEM KISL MY
SUBJECT: SARAWAK: OPPOSITION ADRIFT; INDIGENOUS PEOPLE LACK
SERVICES; POLICE REJECT CRITICISM

REF: A. KUALA LUMPUR 942

¶B. 05 KUALA LUMPUR 1955

Classified By: Political Section Chief Mark D. Clark for reasons 1.4 b, d.
Summary
––––––––
¶1. (C) We met with political opposition leaders, human rights advocates and police during an October 2 visit to Sarawak's state capitol of Kuching. While the nationally active ethnic Chinese opposition party DAP performed well in the May 20 state assembly election, we found the party has not yet articulated its political priorities or legislative goals in Sarawak. Through a combination of the governing coalition's media ownership and control, political and financial patronage, and the DAP's apparent lack of a coherent political agenda, the Barisan Nasional-affiliated governing coalition will likely remain in firm control of Sarawak. With regard to protecting the rights of the state's most vulnerable citizens, one of the 16 commissioners from Malaysia's government-funded national human rights commission (Suhakam) condemned the state's "insufficient support" for impoverished, rural, indigenous persons. Echoing comments we have heard from other Suhakam commissioners, he said the government largely ignores Suhakam's recommendations. The state's second highest ranking cop told us that police leaders remain vehemently opposed to the contents of last year's police commission report, and they see no need for establishment of an independent oversight body. He said the government has heavily criticized the police without providing the funding necessary to build a more effective police force. End Summary.

The Drifting Chinese Opposition
––––– ––––– –––––
¶2. (C) In Sarawak's May 20 state assembly election, the ethnic Chinese party DAP increased its representation from one seat to six, thereby establishing itself as the main opposition party in the state's 71 seat assembly (ref A). We met with two of those DAP representatives, lawyers Chong Chieng Jen and Violet Yong. Chong and Yong stated that during the run-up to the May 20 election, while the English-language media acted almost entirely as a mouthpiece for the state's long-governing National Front constituent parties, the Chinese-language media "provided a surprising amount of coverage" for opposition candidates. They claimed the primary campaign issue among their constituents was "corruption by Chief Minister Taib and his cronies." Chong said over 1,500 postal votes were recorded in his district by military men posted outside Sarawak, and he claimed "about 99% of them voted against me." When asked why the National Front coalition didn't simply increase the number of postal voters to ensure victory for its candidate, he stated, "They only have a limited total number of postal votes to apportion to the various electoral districts, and they simply misallocated."
¶3. (C) Chong and Yong said the Sarawak state assembly meets for only 16 days per year. They questioned the state government's ongoing RM300 million ($82 million) construction project to build a 27-storey state assembly building. The new structure will remain largely empty during the 349 days when the assembly is not in session. They said Sarawak's Chief Minister Taib Mahmud ensured the construction contract was awarded to Cahaya Mata, a large holding company that is majority-owned by Taib's family. Upon being awarded the construction contract for RM300 million, Cahaya Mata hired a subcontracting firm to complete the construction for RM220 million; Cahaya Mata (and the Taib family) pocketed the RM80 million ($22 million) difference. The DAP politicians told us Taib, whose liver cancer was reportedly brought into remission earlier in 2006, "will likely die in office." While the DAP representatives described election fraud in great detail and articulated their opposition to government corruption, they could not (or would not) tell us of their political agenda. Although we asked them several times to define their political goals, we left the meeting with the impression that the DAP has no legislative plans or detailed political priorities - other than maintenance of their seats in the next state election.

Enfeebled Suhakam Fights Losing Battle
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¶4. (C) Dr. Mohammad Herman Ritom Abdullah, Suhakam

 KUALA LUMP 00001935 002 OF 003

 Commissioner for the state of Sarawak, told us that most of Suhakam's work in the state focuses on the rights of indigenous persons. He said no specific state ministry looks after their affairs, and state assistance is provided on an "irregular, ad hoc basis." He described a recent visit to villages of the Penan tribe near Brunei. Abdullah stated that approximately 15,000 Penan tribe members there lack electricity, water treatment and schools. He criticized the federal and state governments for not fulfilling their promises to provide access to primary education for all citizens. For many Penan children, Abdullah said the nearest school is more than two hours away by foot or boat. To provide basic services on a centralized, more efficient basis for the Penan and other indigenous peoples, the government has established several "service centers" that attempt to draw rural indigenous families from remote villages. Abdullah criticized these efforts as ineffective, saying the service centers "are not vibrant and self-supporting." He said, "All the young people end up leaving, as there are no jobs, and only elderly residents remain."

 ¶5. (C) Indigenous persons account for over half of Sarawak's population, but they lack political power. Abdullah explained, "There are plenty of indigenous leaders in the state government, but they can't do anything without the consent of the Chief Minister." He said Taib appoints "compliant local leaders" from various tribes into "financially rewarding" government positions as a means to stifle potential opposition. Taib belongs to the Melanau indigenous tribe and has been in power for the past 25 years. Embassy sources outside the government uniformly characterize him as highly corrupt. Abdullah said Taib has done little to assist the state's indigenous peoples as they attempt to establish legal ownership of their ancestral lands and defend themselves against encroachment by logging companies. Taib and his relatives are widely thought to extract a percentage from most major commercial contracts - including those for logging - awarded in the state. Abdullah's efforts to represent the concerns of Sabah's impoverished indigenous peoples have fallen on deaf ears. He stated flatly, "The government doesn't listen to us or act on our advice."

 All Stick and No Carrot for Police
––––– ––––– –––––

 ¶6. (C) Sarawak's Deputy Police Commissioner, Kuik Alias Harris, told us on October 2 in Kuching that the federal government "has done little for us other than to criticize our work." We discussed the government-sponsored police commission report published in May 2005 that was highly critical of police corruption, incompetence and prisoner abuse (ref B). Waving his finger in the air and leaning forward for emphasis, he said police leaders "are 101 percent against (the report's) findings." National police leaders have been highly critical, both privately and publicly, of efforts to establish an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) that would investigate reports of police abuse, use of deadly force during apprehension of suspects, deaths in police custody and the generally high level of corruption that pervades the force. While Harris welcomed public comments by government officials that salaries, living quarters and equipment for police must be improved, he said little had been done thus far by the government in these areas.

 ¶7. (C) The head of Sarawak's Special Branch, Khariri Jaafar, added, "The country's police stations are falling apart." He criticized the lack of funding for police facilities and equipment, calling the situation "demoralizing." He told us to visit the police station in Dang Wangi that handles the center of Kuala Lumpur. He said, "I wouldn't spend one day working there." Harris concluded, "It's hard for us to do our jobs. The current situation is frustrating."

  Comment
 ––––– –––––– –––––

 ¶8. (C) Comments from the DAP politicians and Suhakam reinforce what we have heard from other Sarawak state leaders and national politicians. By these accounts, the Sarawak state government remains highly corrupt and firmly in the hands of its chief minister. The $82 million state assembly building now under construction serves as perhaps the most obvious and extreme example of the self-enrichment of the state's chief minister and other senior government officials. Through a combination of financial and political patronage, media ownership and control, and a seemingly unfocused

 KUALA LUMP 00001935 003 OF 003

 opposition party, no serious challenge exists to the governing coalition's longstanding grip on political power in the state. The deputy police commissioner's strong negative reaction to the police commission report mirrors comments from the national police leadership in Kuala Lumpur. Despite the prime minister's earlier publicly stated support for an independent oversight body, the police have thus far won the stand-off.
SHEAR

('Cable Viewer–06KUALALUMPUR1935' - WikiLeaks, October 2, 2006)
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The NINE QUESTIONS Blog will return with more facts.
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