Swiss-based NGO, Bruno Manser Fund, has compiled the
names of people who have aided Taib Mahmud's journey in acquiring his immense
wealth.
For too long the destruction of the
Sarawak rainforest and the land grabs against its indigenous people have been
politely treated as an “issue” or an “environmental problem”.
But it is
neither an “issue” nor an “environmental problem”. It has in fact been a crime.
The
problems in Sarawak have come as a consequence of personal decisions by
politicians to break the rules and abuse their power, in order to take the
wealth of Sarawak’s people and put it in their own pockets.
If this had
not been the case, there might have been a genuine debate to be had about
trade-offs between the environment and sustainable development and how to best
help the people.
But all
that has actually happened is that Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, his family and
henchmen have made off with the loot, leaving the people of the interior with
nothing.
Political gangsters
In order to
hang on to power and keep milking the state’s resources, these political
gangsters have further corrupted the electoral system and cheated, bribed and
bullied their way into securing nearly 100% of Sarawak’s seats at the last
federal election.
That
amounts to a fairly devastating series of crimes, consisting of numerous counts
of political corruption, theft from the state and crimes against humanity.
For much of
the past year, Sarawak Report has been pointing this out, and also taking the
trouble to amass some of the evidence that shows just how Taib has abused his
office, in order to get rich at the expense of his people.
The impact
has started to resonate.
The rest of
the world and indeed Malaysia has begun to acknowledge that what happened in
Sarawak – the fastest rate of deforestation in the world – should not be
treated as just misguided actions but as a criminal act.
And this
explains the significance of the publication today of the so-called “Wanted
List” by the Bruno Manser Foundation.
The list
names and shames Taib’s “international helpers”.
No accessible information
Without his
team of experts, lawyers, property managers, bankers and agents abroad, Taib
and his family members and cronies could never have managed to siphon out their
stolen gains and invest them in properties and in banks around the world, in
such places as the US, Canada, UK and Australia.
Back in the
1990s, when the American Ross Boyert started to work for Taib, such a role
might just possibly have been excusable, for a person who was not too directly
involved with the family.
Boyert told
Sarawak Report that in those days there was no Google and no websites like ours
to shed light on the true nature of Taib’s regime.
In his
view, if the Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI (the US’ top law
enforcement agency) had decided that it was suitable to rent a building from
Taib, then he could consider that to be a clean bill of health!
But, by the
time of his death in 2010, Boyert knew differently, and so should anyone else
who is still working for Taib.
Malaysia,
among most corrupt
Just in the
same way that Taib has made personal decisions, time and again, to abuse his
power and steal from his people, those helpers also made a personal decision to
work for a corrupt dictator and assist him in re-investing his wealth or carry
out his policies in Sarawak.
They
deserve to be named and shamed, just as they would if they had taken a job
from, say, Robert Mugabe or Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Malaysia’s
corruption levels are among the highest in the world.
Capital
flight (that is, money stolen from the people and taken abroad by politically
exposed persons) is second only to two of the tiniest, least populated Arab oil
states, per capita.
These
“foreign helpers” have assisted this process by assisting Taib.
Source : FMT
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