News from Sarawak
Sarawak Report
In 2010, the British journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown founded this website to disseminate news and commentaries on Sarawak politics. She works tirelessly to uncover corrupt practices by the Sarawak government and especially by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud. www.sarawakreport.org/
Free Malaysia Today
This independent Internet news site reports critically on the daily happenings in Malaysia. It also regularly publishes contributions dealing with Sarawak. www.freemalaysiatoday.com/
Rengah Sarawak
Sarawak-based website with close links to NGOs offering current news and an online archive on the topics of native customary rights, the logging and plantation industries, rainforest protection and politics. www.rengah-sarawak.net/
Malaysiakini
This professionally run, independent Internet news service based in West Malaysia has its own correspondent in Sarawak and reports regularly from there on political and economic developments. A charge is levied for using this service. www.malaysiakini.com
Radio Free Sarawak
This independent radio station was also set up by the journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown. It provides a voice for the rural and indigenous population and reports daily on political happenings and life in the villages. The radio station can also be received in the forest and talks to the rural population in the Malay and Iban languages. Brief summaries in English are available online. www.radiofreesarawak.org
Information about the Penan
Rimba
The Canadian linguist and author Ian Mackenzie operates a website with extensive information about the primeval-forest dwellers. It is also possible to consult an excerpt from the dictionary of the Penan language compiled by Mackenzie. www.rimba.com
Websites of Malaysian non-government organisations
Save Sarawak Rivers Network (SAVE Rivers)
This network brings together indigenous and civil-society groups that are campaigning against the dams planned on indigenous land by the Sarawak government. www.savesarawakrivers.com/
Borneo Resource Institute BRIMAS
This organisation, which is based in Miri (Sarawak), is campaigning consistently and with determination in favour of indigenous rights and protection of biodiversity. http://brimas.www1.50megs.com
Center for Orang Asli Concerns COAC
This centre, which is based in Kuala Lumpur, represents the interests of the indigenous population of West Malaysia (Orang Asli) and produces a series of high-grade scientific publications on indigenous issues. www.coac.org.my
Malaysian Nature Society (MNS)
This society campaigns for research into and protection of Malaysia’s unique flora and fauna. www.mns.org.my
Partners of Community Organizations "PACOS"
This support organisation, which is based in the Malaysian federal state of Sabah, works to promote the rights of the indigenous inhabitants of that state. www.pacostrust.org
Sahabat Alam Malaysia SAM
The Malaysian section of the Friends of the Earth network is committed to social and ecological issues. Its head office is in West Malaysia, and it also has a branch in Marudi, Sarawak. www.foe-malaysia.org
Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia JOAS
The umbrella organisation of all Malaysian organisations focusing on indigenous rights and issues represents the concerns of the indigenous inhabitants nationally and internationally. http://orangasal.blogspot.ch/
Suaram
This Malaysian human-rights organisation with its head office in Kuala Lumpur is involved, in particular, in campaigning for political and civil rights, but it does make an issue out of the rights of the indigenous people too. www.suaram.net/
International organisations with particular emphasis on Sarawak
Borneo Project
This support organisation, which was founded as a student action programme at Berkeley University in 1968, acts through supporting specific projects that benefit the indigenous peoples in the Malaysian federal states of Sarawak and Sabah. http://borneoproject.org
Rainforest Foundation Norway (Oslo)
The Norwegian section of the foundation set up by pop singer Sting supports the endeavours by the indigenous peoples of Sarawak in matters of land rights and forest conservation. www.rainforest.no
International Rivers
Since 1985, this organisation, which is based in Berkeley, has been working for the rights of communities affected by dams, including those in Sarawak. www.internationalrivers.org
Global Witness
This British organisation is dedicated to uncovering corruption related to resources and violations of human rights and the environment associated with corruption, including in Sarawak. www.globalwitness.org
Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact AIPP
The umbrella organisation of the indigenous organisations in Asia, which has its headquarters in Thailand, has been dealing with the concerns and rights of indigenous peoples since 1985 and also supports the indigenous movement in Sarawak. www.aippnet.org
International organisations with particular emphasis on indigenous rights and protection of tropical forests
Cultural Survival
This US organisation lobbies worldwide in favour of indigenous peoples and publishes a magazine called "Cultural Survival Quarterly". www.culturalsurvival.org
FERN
The "Forests and the European Union Resource Network" (FERN) handles the flow of information between various NGOs concerned about forests and coordinates their lobbying of the European Union. www.fern.org
Forest Peoples Programme
This British non-government organisation works in favour of forest dwellers in Asia, Africa and South America by carrying out specific projects. www.forestpeoples.org
Greenpeace
Greenpeace International, through its headquarters in The Hague and also through various national sections, has for many years made protection of the primeval forest into one of its campaign issues. www.greenpeace.org
Rainforest Foundation
The foundation set up by pop-singer Sting with branches in New York, London and Oslo supports rainforest-protection projects run by indigenous peoples and critically analyses the work of the large non-government organisations. www.rainforestfoundationuk.org
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs IWGIA
This organisation with its headquarters in Denmark works committedly in favour of the indigenous peoples of all continents. It publishes a much respected yearbook called "The Indigenous World" and also the "Indigenous Affairs" magazine. www.iwgia.org
Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme for South Asia and Southeast Asia
This network of organisations in South and Southeast Asia supports forest dwellers in using their natural resources sustainably and in marketing forest products. www.ntfp.org
Pro Regenwald
The German campaign organisation based in Munich has supported the Penan and other indigenous peoples in Sarawak on various occasions. www.pro-regenwald.org
Rainforest Portal
This website run by the US activist Glen Barry provides extensive online documentation on rainforest themes and current campaigns. www.rainforestportal.org
Rettet den Regenwald
This German campaign organisation based in Hamburg supports the Penan and others through e-mail campaigns. www.rainforest-rescue.org/
Survival International
Survival International, which has its headquarters London, is one of the most important organisations for supporting indigenous people. It has branches in France, Spain and Germany. www.survival-international.org
World Rainforest Movement
This organisation based in Uruguay coordinates the global exchange of information and publishes the highly respected “World Rainforest Movement Bulletin”. www.wrm.org.uy
Action Alliance Rainforest Instead of Palm Oil
This action alliance of non-profit organisations, of which the Bruno Manser Fund is a part, is working for the protection of nature and human rights. In our work, we are confronted daily with the disastrous consequences of the cultivation of palm oil. We are combining our skills to take action against this irresponsible destruction of nature and the human rights violations related to it. http://www.regenwald-statt-palmoel.de/en/
Organisations in Switzerland
Centre de documentation, de recherche et d’information des peuples autochtones "Docip"
This organisation’s objective is to facilitate contacts between indigenous peoples and the United Nations. It runs a documentation centre on subjects concerned with indigenous peoples at the UN headquarters in Geneva. www.docip.org
Society of Endangered Peoples (Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker)
Bruno Manser was one of the co-founders of the Swiss section of this society. It works actively for the protection of minorities and indigenous peoples and also for the defence of human rights. www.gfbv.ch
Greenpeace Switzerland
The international environmental organisation also campaigns for the protection of the forests. The Swiss section of Greenpeace used to be a partner of the Bruno Manser Fund in the "urwaldfreundlich" ("primeval-forest-friendly") project, which is today managed by FUPS. www.greenpeace.ch
Incomindios (International Committee for the Indigenous People of the Americas)
Since 1974, Incomindios has been working actively along with the indigenous peoples of the Americas to ensure respect for their values and rights and has also been promoting dialogue between cultures. http://incomindios.ch/en/
PanEco
This foundation for sustainable development and intercultural exchange is committed in particular to conservation of the last remaining pristine tropical forests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and to the reintroduction of orang utans into Central Sumatra. www.paneco.ch
WWF Switzerland
This environmental organisation with international activities provided support for the publication of Bruno Manser’s book "Voices from the Rainforest" in 1992. www.wwf.ch
Ecopaper
Ecopaper promotes environmentally friendly papers and office ecology. It is currently continuing to run the "primeval-forest-friendly" project initiated originally by the Bruno Manser Fund along with a number of other organisations. This project’s aim is to encourage the Swiss confederation, cantons and communes to use paper and timber in a sustainable way: www.ecopaper.ch
Public Eye
The activities of this non-government organisation, which was set up in 1968, are research, lobbying and campaigns for a fairer form of globalisation. It works on issues related to those of the Bruno Manser Fund, such as resources and money flows. www.publiceye.ch
Official bodies
International Tropical Timber Organization
The ITTO is a grouping of representative of countries producing and consuming tropical timber. As an intergovernmental organisation base in in Yokohama (Japan), it finances projects dealing with tropical timber and compiles statistics on the trade in tropical timber. http://www.itto.int/
Suhakam
The Malaysian government’s official human-rights commission regularly publishes systematically compiled reports on the human-rights situation in Malaysia, including the situation of the indigenous people in Sarawak. www.suhakam.org.my