UK firm paid to sanitise Wikipedia, Taib implicated

The scandal this week over the UK public relations giant Bell Pottinger tampering with Wikipedia entries has revealed Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and his son-in-law Sean Murray as clients, said whistleblower website Sarawak Report.

The firm, reportedly former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher's favourite agency, was exposed this week for editing Wikipedia entries on their clients' behalf.

According to another newspaper, The Independent's report, the company's operatives were discovered to be responsible for adding in material that smeared Sarawak Report and its founder Clare Rewcastle Brown (left) as well as Radio Free Sarawak.

"The story is splashing around UK newspapers, but is being led by The Independent and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

"After the details of 10 pseudonyms used by Bell Pottinger to alter information about their clients were released by Wikipedia a few hours ago, it emerged that one of the key users of this service was none other than Taib Mahmud and his son-in-law Sean Murray," said Sarawak Report.

Wikipedia has posted a list of all the entries that the Bell Pottinger pseudonym 'Biggleswick' had tampered with.

According to the site, the list of Wikipedia entries altered' included those on Abdul Taib Mahmud, Sean Murray, Ridgeford Properties, Christopher Murray (Sean's cousin and the director of Ridgeford Properties), Sakto (the Taib family company in Canada), Sarawak, Clare Rewcastle Brown and Radio Station Radio Free Sarawak.

For whom the Bell tolls

According to Sarawak Report, Bell Pottinger was first exposed by personnel of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism posing as potential Uzbekistan clients.

"Bell Pottinger staff were caught on camera saying they would be willing to work on improving the country's image ... They would charge a million pounds a year (RM5 million) or a 100,000 pounds a month.

"At the same time, the company was exposed for bragging that it had special access to UK Prime Minister David Cameron for clients wishing to lobby the British government, which has been hugely embarrassing for the Conservative Party," said the website.

The expose, it says, also contradicts Murray's earlier claim that he had no business links with Taib nor any interest in Sarawak.

"The unfolding Bell Pottinger affair has also highlighted the close working relationship between Taib Mahmud and his family abroad, headed by his key helper, son-in-law Sean Murray.

"It can now be seen that it was Sean Murray's Ridgeford Properties that in fact sealed the retainer with Bell Pottinger earlier this year that then led to all the changes on not only Ridgeford's Wikipedia entry, but also Taib Mahmud's, Sean Murray's, Sakto's, Chris Murray's, Sarawak's and also Clare Rewcastle Brown's websites."

This is the second public relations scandal to dog the three-decade long chief minister after the FBC Media scandal earlier this year that revealed Taib had engaged the company to whitewash his public image abroad.

Bishop Paul Tan: Peaceful Assembly Bill is vexatious

Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing described the new conditions imposed before a police permit is granted for Christmas carolling groups to visit households as making the country "very nearly a police state".

"The Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 is vexing if things have come down to this," opined the head of the Catholic Church for the Malacca-Johor diocese, who is also president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia.

Up to now, priests of churches that send carolling groups to visit Christian homes in the prelude to Christmas are merely required to apply for a police permit for the visits. Approvals were never a problem.

However, provisions of the recently passed and highly controversial Peaceful Assembly Bill require priests to furnish the names of the main occupants of homes the carollers intend to visit.

"If parish priests have to furnish the names of the main tenants, then we have become very nearly a police state," said Tan.

"This is a bureaucratic requirement that is so vexing," added the Jesuit-trained prelate.
Buffer zone between citizens and the state

"We are a church that periodically conducts a census of our members, but we do not go around asking our members details of where exactly they stay and if they own their residences or are merely tenants," he said.

"We generally know where they stay but we don't keep a ledger of their addresses.

"We don't snoop and we respect the privacy of individual members of our congregation. We don't believe we should be Big Brother or Nanny to them," Tan said.

The prelate said a valued insight of Catholic social teaching was the necessity of a mediating space between the state and ordinary citizens.

"That space is the area in which bodies such as the church and others play a role. It's a kind of buffer zone between the citizen and the intrusions of state. The width of that space is taken to be a barometer of the heath of a society.

"With this Peaceful Assembly Bill, the government is intruding into an area that is not theirs, unduly burdening the people in the process. This is worse than the ISA that can put suspects into detention without trial," asserted the bishop.

Dr M tells Shahrizat to go

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad called today for Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil to quit politics following the controversy over the RM250 million National Feedlot Centre (NFC) project awarded to the her family.

The former prime minister, who is still highly influential in Umno, told a press conference today that the Wanita Umno chief should leave before being “chased out” by her party.

“If we feel it is necessary to quit for the sake of party, we quit. When I wanted to quit, I didn’t ask anyone. I hope others do the same. Don’t wait for people to chase you off.

“Yes, ukur baju di badan sendiri (measure yourself up),” he said when asked if the senator should resign.

The former Lembah Pantai MP had gained the support of both the Youth and her Wanita wings of Umno last week after denying any wrongdoing in the controversy over the national cattle-farming project.

But other leaders including senior Sabah Umno MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin have called for the women, family and community development minister to step down instead of “troubling us.”
PKR has repeatedly attacked the project with various allegations surrounding the “loans” of over RM84 million given by the NFC to companies owned by Shahrizat’s family including RM13.8 million for two luxury condominiums in Bangsar.

The opposition party also pointed out that RM5 million had been spent on the purchase of a Mercedes-Benz, land in Putrajaya and disbursement of RM588,585 in cash to companies belonging to her family as well as over RM455,000 issued to tour agency Impian Global Network Services.

The scandal has led to a police investigation for criminal breach of trust.

The Auditor-General’s Report released last month had criticised the NFC, pointing out that it was now “in a mess”.
The report said production in 2010 was only 3,289 head of cattle or 41.1 per cent of the target set.
But Agriculture Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar responded on October 31 that the project was a success as it had met its target of 8,000 cattle by 2010 once 5,742 slaughtered cattle were taken into account.

Teresa Kok: Police control of carolling is 'abuse'

By Yow Hong Chieh

The Seputeh MP today called the police requirement “simply unnecessary and an abuse of power by the authorities.” — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 — The police must respect and not politicise long-held religious customs like Christmas carolling, DAP national secretary Teresa Kok said today.

She said a recent request by Klang district police for two churches there to hand over details of homeowners they would visit while carolling indicated an attempt to clamp down on religious freedom.

“While the requirement of providing detailed info of carolling activities and participants, and obtaining a police permit is tedious in itself, Christian churches and groups have adhered to this rule since the late ‘80s and have gone about spreading joy and peace to members’ homes without disturbing public order nor infringing on the religious freedoms of others in Malaysia.

“The supposed current need for further information and restrictions on carollers, such as the requirement to provide the police with details of names and contacts of homeowners whom the churches’ carolling groups will visit, is simply unnecessary and an abuse of power by the authorities,” she said in a statement.

Kok urged Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to clarify the need for churches to inform Bukit Aman police headquarters and the National Security Council of this “insignificant information”.

“This should not be practised nor tolerated by the government of Malaysia and further clarification must be delivered by the authorities should this episode be merely an act of overzealous police personnel,” she said.

The Malaysian Insider reported today two churches in Klang had received a memo from a district police officer earlier this week asking them to submit the names and contact details of homeowners they planned to visit.

Rev Father Michael Chua said the two parish churches — the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Church of the Holy Redeemer — were also told to inform Bukit Aman and the National Security Council of their plans.

Carollers are usually required to submit their full names, identity card numbers and details of total participants, dates, time and general areas of their visits.

The irregular condition imposed by the Klang district police officer this year has cast the spotlight on a recently passed law that governs peaceful assemblies, which many civil liberties groups claim is more restrictive than the law it replaced.

Malaysia, which established diplomatic ties with the Vatican earlier this year, has nearly a million Catholics out of its 28 million population.

Canadian spotlight on Taib family's 'investments'

Canadians have been given an eyeful on the alleged investment of profits from the logging of dwindling rainforests, by a company linked to the Sarawak chief minister’s eldest daughter and her husband.
According to a programme aired nationwide on the Global News’s network 16X9 last Saturday, the profits went into the construction of properties in Ottawa, the Canadian capital.

The couple has, however, denied all related accusations made on the programme entitled 'Family Trees', which was uploaded on the station’s website last week.

Eleven federal ministries are said to be renting from Sakto Corporation’s Preston Square, operated by Jamilah Abdul Taib and her Canadian husband Sean (Hashim) Murray, (left) who is her business partner.

These offices are said to be used by the attorney-general, Children and Youth Services, Citizenship and Immigration, Health and Long-term Care, Labour; Health Promotion, Sport and Recreation, and Community and Social Services.

“Canadian taxpayers are paying C$4.9 million (RM15.12 million) annually (to rent) these properties from Sakto,” the report said.

Jamilah was described as a director in eight companies in Canada and 63 companies in Sarawak, in the programme.

Murray, in a letter to Global News, has denied all allegations and claimed that Abdul Taib does not benefit directly or indirectly from the company’s transactions.

“We also deny that the money (was) used in Sakto's projects in Canada (or) Sakti Corporation’s projects in the United States. Allegations of our connection in the destruction of the rainforest are false,” they said.

“We find the statement highly false and defamatory. We have varied business interests.”

The 17-minute programme highlights an interview with Sarawak Report founder Clare Rewcastle-Brown (right), who traced the alleged link between logging activities in Sarawak and use of the profits in Canada.

Despite the couple’s denial of the allegations, she insisted that the evidence suggests otherwise.

“Everyone whom I know that has worked for Taib family companies not only say that daddy is the piggy bank, but that he is the godfather,” she alleged.

‘C$3 million start-up capital’

Brown claimed to have evidence  - parts of documents were shown on the programme - to show how the contracts were given to Taib's family members, including Jamilah.

“It is an environmental and human catastrophe as the forest has been mowed down,” she said.

“Abdul Taib has used his power to rob the people and to take as much money as he can from the state which he controls. I feel I have a sense of responsibility for the forest and the people of Sarawak ....”

She claimed that Jamilah had obtained C$3 million in 1983 while as a student in Ottawa, and had participated with her uncle Onn Taib Mahmud in timber-shipping activities to form Sakto.

According to the programme, they bought a rundown place and developed the property. They currently own six properties in Ottawa worth in excess of C$100 million (RM308 million).

Brown (right), who once lived in Sarawak and now operates Sarawak Report in London, said all Taib wants is to log the rainforest and open up areas for oil palm planting.

Canadian anthropologist Wade Davis described the deforestation and the plight of the Penan people as “criminal”.

Imprisoned for a month

“You ask yourself, from the logging activities, what do the people get in return? Nothing. You not only obliterate the forest but also the people's unique way of life,” he said when interviewed for the programme.

“.... It shows how much they have taken but are investing in the Americas and it shows how much they are committed to their people.”

The programme also interviewed an activist who now resides in Canada, and who had been imprisoned for a month in Sarawak for participating in a blockade to protect the Penan people.

“The truth is that they are trying to destroy the forest and the people staying there,” said the activist who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions.

Taib, in a video posted on Youtube, has previously denied that rainforest destruction is extensive in Sarawak, as logging practices are inspected by foreign auditors.

“We have good civic culture and good logging practices. Oil palm (planting) is to benefit development of unproductive land,” he said in the video.

Commenting on the C$3 million made available to Jamilah, he had said: “I resigned from the federal government and I gave her a gratuity and I put it up together and give the money to her.”

“If you got talent, you've got some money, you can really build a good business. Over 30 years, anybody can get rich if they have something up there,” he added pointing to his head.

So much information, yet no action by MACC

Taib family fortune 'RM4.6bil in Malaysia alone' by Keruah Usit

Sarawak's Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud famously boasted that he has more money than he can ever spend.

A Swiss NGO campaigning against corruption in Sarawak, the Bruno Manser Fund, has now fleshed out this assertion. The BMF reports that Taib's family owns US$1.46 billion (RM4.6 billion) in corporate assets in 14 wealthy companies - in Malaysia alone.


According to the BMF, Taib himself, his four children, eight siblings and his first cousin, Abdul Hamed Sepawi, have a stake in 332 Malaysian companies. In the three largest of these companies, the BMF contends, the Taib family owns substantial shares in Cahya Mata Sarawak or CMS (84 percent of net assets of RM2.4 billion), Custodev Sdn Bhd (25 percent of RM1.6 billion) and Ta Ann Holdings Bhd (at least 35 percent of RM1.4 billion).

CMS, popularly known by its nickname ‘Chief Minister's Sons', is a listed conglomerate with construction, cement, steel, property, private education and stockbroking interests. Custodev is a property development company. Ta Ann is a logging and oil palm giant. The BMF also says Taib's family are sole owners of Achi Jaya Holdings, a monopoly holder over log exports, with assets of RM550 million.

These findings contradict Taib's claim that his relatives have grown rich only outside Sarawak, using their entrepreneurship talent.

Taib denied using his family members as his proxies, claiming instead that his relatives are rich because they are "good" and "clever".

"We consider these corporate interests of the Taib family to be illicit assets. There are many clear indications that Taib has abused his public office to build a corruption and fraud-based billion-dollar empire," BMF director Lukas Straumann alleged in a press statement released internationally last weekend.

"We are shocked to see that the Taib family has so shamelessly enriched itself while the people of Sarawak have to struggle with widespread poverty and an appalling lack of infrastructure and government services."

As a yardstick, Taib's recently announced budget estimated a total state revenue of RM4.04 billion in 2012.

The BMF readily admits that the RM4.6 billion figure is an underestimate, saying there are likely to be hidden Malaysian assets, as well as enormous capital flight.

The NGO says its research shows Taib's inner family circle has a stake in 85 companies in 24 countries and offshore jurisdictions worldwide, including Australia, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Jersey, Saudi Arabia, Labuan, New Zealand, China, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, the US and Vietnam, and holds "illicit assets worth several billion US dollars".

The BMF has been a constant gadfly in the side of Taib's family, one of Malaysia's richest. It has collaborated with investigative journalists in the anti-graft website Sarawak Report to trace the financial trail of Taib's self-proclaimed fortune. These human rights campaigners have unearthed astonishing statistics from publicly available corporate and stock exchange documents.

Sarawak Report founder Clare Rewcastle-Brown, during an interview on Family Trees, a Canadian prime-time television programme screened last Saturday on Global News, pointed out that investigating Taib's financial network is highly workable, because Taib family members openly own so many companies and such a huge chunk of international real estate.

Despite the wealth of accumulated information available, numerous reports by local human rights actvists to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Malaysian police have been futile. However, the governments of Switzerland and Germany have begun graft investigations into Taib's family, and Canada and the United Kingdom have expressed concern.

Rewcastle-Brown alleges that Taib, as state minister in charge of land and forestry for some four decades, dealt out vast land parcels and logging licences to family members and cronies. Ta Ann, for instance, has been awarded over 675,000 ha of logging and plantation concessions, an area the size of Negri Sembilan, in three decades.

"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. I've painstakingly researched what I can of many of these contracts," she said.

"It has 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."

Taib has admitted giving ‘seed money' to his eldest daughter Jamilah to finance her Canadian property business, Sakto, said to be worth more than US$100 million (RM310 million).

Her Canadian husband and business partner, Sean Murray (left in photo), wrote a letter to the Global News programme, complaining that "Jamilah and I find these statements about ourselves and our business false, highly defamatory and very damaging".

Curiously, though, Taib and his family have all resisted taking the BMF or Sarawak Report to court. Tactics appear to have changed since the lawsuit brought by Taib against Malaysiakini in 2007, after the news portal reported a scandal in alleged kickbacks during timber exports.

The recent flurry of global news items on his family's ostentatious wealth seems to have overwhelmed Taib's lawyers.

Locally, Sarawakian lawmakers attempting to ask questions in Parliament have been stonewalled. Worse still, opposition representatives in the state legislative assembly have had their microphones silenced, and have seen parts of their speeches deleted from the Hansard.

Even so, Taib's family must not place much hope on being able to silence all their growing critics, throughout the world. They may speak softly and carry a big stick, but they may already have drawn too much attention to their wealth.

The BMF concluded its press statement by calling on anti-corruption and anti-money laundering authorities to investigate Taib's family, and urging international companies to shun doing business with the family, for "legal reasons" as well as to protect their reputations.

---

KERUAH USIT is a human rights activist - ‘anak Sarawak, bangsa Malaysia'. This weekly column is an effort to provide a voice for marginalised Malaysians. Keruah Usit can be contacted at keruah_usit@yahoo.com

'Najib should just sign death cert for 1Malaysia

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has lambasted prime minister for his "hostile warning" to non-Malays not to antagonise the Malays in his speech to Pertubuhan Kebajikan dan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia (Pekida) yesterday.

Lim demanded that  Najib Abdul Razak proves with facts his warning to "innocent" non-Malays, failing which, he said, prime minister "might as well issue a death certificate" for 1Malaysia.

Najib had "shocked" the nation by playing the race card against non-Malays in his speech last night, the DAP secretary- general added.

"Does playing the race card against non-Malays and wanting to defend Malays give Umno the right to be involved in the RM250 million 'cows and condos' scandal with the family company of a cabinet minister?" Lim asked in a statement.

"Does warning non-Malays not to antagonise the feelings of the Malays sanction the RM13 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal or excessive expenditure of RM3.7 billion exposed by the 2010 Auditor-General's Report?"
'

Non-Malays told not to antagonise Malays

Najib at the Perkida function in Shah Alam warned non-Malays not to cuit (antagonise) the feelings of Malays and not change what has already been decided upon and discussed.

He said Umno would not compromise an inch on the special rights of the Malays as enshrined in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution and that only Umno could defend the Malays.

Lim, who is also Bagan MP, said the time had come to fight for the aspirations of all Malaysians, regardless of race and religion.

DAP rejected the "discriminatory politics" of Umno that insisted on Malay first and Malaysian second.

The DAP, he said, condemned Umno and its allies for treating those who disagreed with their "racist ideology" of Malay first, Malaysian second as traitors and enemies of Malays.

Najib told to salvage 1Malaysia
Lim said Najib should "save and salvage" his 1Malaysia slogan by making five important commitments.

These are: We are Malaysian first; Malaysians deserve to enjoy basic human rights and a civil society; equality of opportunities; rule of law; and to build integrity and intelligent city communities towards a high-income and knowledge-based economy.

"We must not allow Umno to hijack the Malaysian constitution to split and and divide Malaysians with enmity and hatred and that it is somehow wrong to fight for all Malaysians," Lim said.

"Umno always cites Article 153 of the federal constitution on the special position of the Malays as justification for its racist Malays-only approach.

"However, Umno invariably fails to mention that Article 153 also states that the legitimate interests of other communities must also be protected," he added.