Japan Urged To Ban Malaysian Timber Shipments Over Human Rights Concerns

JOINT PRESS RELEASE by Keruan, SAVE Rivers, The Borneo Project and Bruno Manser Fonds

(Long Tepen, Sarawak, Malaysia) – 200 Indigenous Penan from Sarawak’s Lower Baram region are calling on the Government of Japan to immediately ban timber imports by the Malaysian Shin Yang Group (“Shin Yang”) for alleged human rights violations and breaches of harvesting agreements with the communities.

In an urgent letter addressed to the Japanese Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba, the Penan call for an end of Shin Yang’s shipments to Japan as the company’s practices allegedly contravene Japan’s newly revised Clean Wood Act. The communities claim in their letter that the group’s timber “cannot be regarded as legally harvested”.

It appears that Shin Yang failed to uphold their commitment to compensate community members as agreed in a previous Memorandum of Agreement between the company and the community. Currently, Shin Yang is logging in the forests of Long Tepen without the residents’ consent. In response, the community has erected a blockade to prevent further encroachment and have repeatedly attempted to initiate a dialogue with Shin Yang.

However, local leaders report that so far, they have been met with increased intimidation and criminalization, including the recent arrest of two community members without evidence of any wrongdoing.

“The company is unfairly supported by the Sarawak government, which continues to ignore our demands and attempts to criminalize and intimidate us,” the community wrote in their letter.

The communities call on the Japanese Government to ban Shin Yang’s shipments to Japan with immediate effect and to investigate the company’s past and present conduct.

Japan is a key player in the tropical timber trade. Logging activities for Japanese customers are causing severe environmental degradation and are contributing to deforestation in Southeast Asia, driving climate change.

© Scoop Media