Fighting Corruption: "The Borneo Case" – by Nero

Fighting Corruption: "The Borneo Case" – by Nero

Imagine you get expropriated. Right now. Without warning. Without resettlement or any other kind of compensation. From one day to the next you become a refugee within your own country.

Normally when we think of refugees we only think about those who actually reach our borders but seem to forget the ones that don't even leave their county. Most of the time they're referred to as 'Internally Displaced People' (IDP), matching the definition of a refugee perfectly except for one thing: they didn't cross an international border. And why would they. There are many reasons to stay in your homeland, especially when the reason for your persecution is political activism with the goal of making your home a better place. Help from outside can't be expected in a world captured in a thinking pattern of national borders and states, which makes it is easy for the international community and politicians in general to ignore their responsibilities towards IDPs. On the other hand it is a lot harder to act over national borders without causing conflict or losing voters who are generally more concerned about local problems.

A good example is Mutang Urud, a native from northern Borneo in Malaysia who tried to get help from the international community, even speaking in front of the UN. Despite the outrageous human rights violations happening in his homeland, no one really cared. The makers of the documentary 'The Borneo Case' accompanied him through the struggles and dangers he faced by opposing the government. But more importantly it outlines the possibilities and the success people can have when they take a closer look and make an effort.

Deforestation in Borneo

Deforestation of the rain forest is a quite lucrative business. Interpol's estimates for annual money laundering by the wood industry alone go up to 30 billion dollars.

No wonder Taib Mahmud, from 1981 to 2014 the chief minister of Sarawak - a Malaysian state in western Borneo covered in rain forest - was able to accumulate assets worth over 15 billion dollars. All legal of course, as he states in an interview in 2011: 
"My family and I are doing well, it is nothing to do with exploitation, taking anything out of this country… my children are well educated, since early days they have gone .. to participate in business outside, I had to do business outside more than 30 years ago – simple reason is I don’t want conflict of interest to haunt me all the time."

The plumpness with which he denies any wrongdoing is astounding and make it seem like he doesn't even try to defuse any arguments.

Meanwhile the population of Sarawak which consists of more than 40% indigenous people were displaced by the 10 000s due to deforestation and the building of dams for hydroelectric power plants that cause flooding in huge areas. The Iban which are by far the biggest indigenous group started to protest and build barriers to stop wood workers. Certainly a display of opinion though at best a delay for the future palm oil plantation owners. The typical fight of David and Goliath just without the chance of winning.

When in 2000 the Swiss environmental activist and friend of the Iban Bruno Manser disappeared in Sarawak, Mutang Urud and two other Iban started a one year tour around the world in order to raise awareness and stop the destruction. They spoke in dozens of countries and in front of the General Assembly of the United Nations, but listening to someones problems and actually helping them are two diffrent things.

But the tide started to turn when Clare Rewcastle Brown, a British journalist born in Sarawak, decided to visit her place of birth. Devastated by the environmental destruction and controlled media, she started the radio station "Radio free Sarawak" from a London apartment in which environmental and political issues were and still are discussed without censorship. She also identified the Taib family as the main culprit for the devastation of the forest and the on going corruption.

After analyzing Taibs businesses and tracing his financial movements around the world with the help of Lukas Straumann and documents provided by Taibs former US aid Ross Boyert, Clare published several articles on her blog. The attention given by the public and media was enormous and eventually forced Taib Mahmud to resign. His successor Adenan immediately stopped deforestation and prohibited palm oil plantations.

Admittedly this is only a small step in the right direction. Especially because for most of those who played a bigger role in the protests and didn't leave the country, the fear of persecution by the Malaysian government is still too great to speak out in the public. Therefore the documentary was only published after cutting out many scenes and being closely inspected by lawyers. But even leaving the country doesn't necessarily provide safety from attacks. As a quick look at the articles about Clare Rewcastle Brown published by Malaysia Today, with titles like "Claire Brown is a Liar", shows. It is one of the most common and effective ways for governments to get rid of opponents: defamation. In other words: there is still a long way to go. But despite all the imperfections of the story, in the end it shows that peaceful protest, education and striving for transparency are driving factors in the fight for a world in which everybody has access to human rights.

You want to know more about the on going conflicts and scandals in Sarawak?

Check out http://www.sarawakreport.org

References:

https://www.nzz.ch/ein-provinzfuerst-als-koenigsmacher-1.18170007
http://www.sarawakreport.org
https://radiofreesarawak.org

https://www.theborneocase.ch/de/der-film/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YK8KGX7E4A&t=3s