23 activists arrested, houses demolished

They keep the illegal mansion of Klang municipal councillor, Zakaria... ...

But they demolished the houses (so-called Squatters )of the people,

the only place where the poor can sleep in ... ...

KHIR TOYO OVERRULES PAK LAH, 23 ACTIVISTS ARRESTED, HOUSES DEMOLISHED

Report by : SUARAM


(Note- the local authorities have confiscated and deleted the photos taken.)


Ampang, 20 November 2006

After almost 8 hours of defending 62 houses in Kampung Berembang, finally the police and local authorities crushed the resistance resulting in 23 arrests including arrest of PSM and JERIT leaders, houses being demolished and burned down and one women in a very critical condition, fighting for her life in the hospital.


After only managing to demolish 2 houses on Friday, the MPAJ(Local authorities) with the developers and the police came again this morning to finish the job which they failed to complete last week. At the village, all three entrances to the village have been blocked by human shield and other items. There were also a large number of activists mainly from JERIT and PSM, along with several other villagers from other Urban Settlers community aligned to the Coalition of Housing and Urban Settlers present. The situation was tense and the people waited for the showdown.


After more than 3 hours of initial stand-off, the first ambush by MPAJ at around 10.30am saw a massive clash between the local authorities and the villagers. The fight broke out with every corner, fist fighting, punching and dragging. The local authorities with 3 huge demolition machines failed to penetrate the human shield but it resulted in the local authorities arresting and assaulting 8 people – 2 villagers and 6 activist. The assault was brutal but the people were equally strong and the first wave of attack by the authorities failed. There were injuries from both sides. Both parties retreated to original positions.


Then came the second round of stand still. The District Police Chief of Ampang, ACP Amer and his high ranking officers were also prevented from entering the area from another location. That resulted in another arrest by the police. Human Rights Commissioner, Dato Siva Subramanim arrived shortly.


Then in a series of negotiation between the District police Chief, Dato Siva, MPAJ officer- Ismail, the developer and PSM Secretary general S.Arutchelvan created a stand still but a tense situation.


The police Chief told that he prefers to call off the operation as he said the situation is very tense and serious and he wants to avoid a bloodshed. Siva Subramanima said that the demolition should be called off and SUHAKAM (Human Rights Commission) will conduct a meeting with the relevant bodies to resolve the issue.


But the Local authorities- MPAJ who were under the Instruction of the Developers was very adamant to bull doze. They told the police that they have enough people to carry out the operation. The police then told all parties to hold on, as there were attempt to reach certain Government authorities to call off the exercise.


Both parties stood their ground. The developers and the MPAJ said that the people did not have an Injunction while the people said that the case was to be heard in April next year and therefore the authorities have to wait and the land status must remain unchanged. Then the police Chief, MPAJ and SUHAKAM representative went to the Developers site office with the instruction that there should be no forced eviction until some agreement can be reached.


Just after 1 pm, the whole situation from gloom changed to happiness when 2 villagers shouted victory and carried with them some papers. They managed to get a letter calling for the demolition and forced eviction to be postponed. The letter was released by the Prime Minister's Department and signed by the Prime Minister's private secretary. The villagers Pak Lang told the people gathered, the Government has opened its eyes. We have a letter now and thanked everyone. The activists were very caution and told the people not to be fooled but wait for final confirmation that the forced eviction exercise will be called off. Pak Lang has already started singing praises for the Prime Minister.


A team villagers and PSM Sec Gen, S.Arutchelvan then took the letters to the Developers site office. They were shocked to find that the Developers has catered a lot of food to feed the government servants. Meanwhile the Human Rights Commission, Dato Siva said that the letter is good enough to stop the demolition of houses. He said this is the highest authority- The Prime Minister's Office. He later held a Press Conference at the side and left.


An hour later, things became sour again when Riot police started parking their heavy vehicles in two main entrance to the village. The news then came that the Selangor Chief Minister (MB) Khir Toyo has overruled the PM's letter and has called for the operation to carry on. Pak Lang was stunned and in tears. The villagers were stunned. The Villagers then made a human chain with the activist and waited for the ultimate assault, which was imminent.


Then a team of police under the order of the Deputy Police Chief came to arrest PSM Secretary General S.Arutchelvan, who was at that time the key negotiator. He was told to surrender but he remained defiant. Arul was then arrested, dragged and handcuffed by around ten policemen. He was then taken away to a separate police detention center.


The rest of the people continued to hold on. They managed to hold on for another half an hour, then the next series of arrest took place. Sivarajan, PSM's Treasurer, Chang Lih Kang- SUARAM were arrested, other JERIT leaders as well other activist and villagers were arrested. 13 more people were arrested, a fight broke out, more people got injured and one young lady collapsed and did not regain consciousness. She was taken to the Hospitals. The authorities moved from every angle, one house was razed and the rest went down one by one. The resistance collapsed under a heavy presence of riot police with authorities outnumbering the people to 3 to 1.


All arrested were taken to Ulu Kelang police station except for Arutchelvan who was kept at Ampang Police Headquaters. He was later taken to Ulu Kelang and after a massive protest by Human Rights Groups, all those arrested were released just before midnight the same day. They were released on police bail and told to report at the Ampang magistrate on 4 th. December. Around ten police reports at different parts of the country was also done by the JERIT network condemning the arrest and the forced eviction..

At the village, the houseless people erected tents. They were still stunned how the Chief Minister- Khir Toyo can overrule a letter from the Prime Minister's department. They are now more convinced that the Prime Minister has no control. The Human Rights Commission is equally stunned and are going to call for a Press Conference the following day.


The arrest of 23 people is perhaps the first time after many years when such a huge resistance was put up. The last major resistance in an Urban Settlers area was in 1998 in Kampung Sg. Nipah where 55 people were arrested. Today the resistance in Kampung Berembang has radicalized the community there. The people are putting up tents and are staying put in the same land. Under the ruins, they are going to attempt to build their homes again.


The resistance this time also saw how the various races can unite under a class solidarity to fight the oppressor. The villagers- all of them Muslim Malays have now realized a few important lesson. They now see that the issue is simply that the Developer(capitalist) has bought over the local authorities and the State Government and police are standing behind them. The Prime Minister letter did not stand. The only people who stood with the poor urban settlers were other settlers from various ethnic and comrades from the socialist party and the JERIT coalition as well as ther activist. They understand who are their allies and who are their enemy.


List of people arrested:

1. Adli Abdul Rahman

2. Ahmad Tamrin

3. Arutchelvan

4. Awalluddin Sharif

5. Azman Mohd

6. Chang Lih Kang

7. Ebrahim Haris

8. Faezae Ramzi (15 years old)

9. Fiqtriey bin Al Hakimi

10. Kumaravee

11. Lechumy Devi Doraisamy

12. Lee Huat Seng

13. Mohan

14. Mohd. Rajis

15. Parames Elumalai

16. Ramachanthiran Ananthan

17. Ramalingam Thirumalai

18. Sabariah Ayoub

19. Sevan

20. Sivarajan

21. Thevarajan Ramasamy

22. V. Wani

等老天降雨？不要推卸责任 Do something, don’t just pray for rainfall

Published in Merdekareview.com on 26 Oct 2006



十年前入学的孩子，记忆中已经累积一段天空蒙蒙胧胧的记忆。每逢西南季候风吹，蓝天突然被遮挡，空气中还偶而弥漫着刺鼻的焦味。印尼周边国家如马来西亚、新加坡、汶莱、泰国受烟霾困扰，一眨眼，竟已10年。

不久前，在东南亚各国强烈要求下，印尼总统苏西洛宣布该国将在近期内，寻求国会通过认签《东协跨国界烟霾污染协定》。如果印尼最终认签这项协定当然是好事，但这桩“好事”有多好呢？印尼认签了协定，我们的海滩在明年这个时候还可以一片“碧海蓝天”吗？

翻回过去一个月，我国与印尼领袖针对烟霾的回应。印尼领袖说：“除非风向转变，否则我们也无能为力。”我国的领袖也祈求天降雨去烟霾。两国政府甚至互相指责对方的种植公司及伐木活动是烟霾的罪魁祸首，然后我国政府公布：“印尼拿不出名单，证明没有大马公司涉及”。看来看去，两个东南亚的老大哥，都没有把话说完。

听起来，烟霾好像变成了自然灾害，谁也不必负责，下雨过后自然会有新鲜空气。我不禁打了个冷颤，两个都是贪污贪出名堂的国家，人民这辈子也甭想知道谁在烧芭了。

让我们一起搞清楚：烧林的是哪一群人？火耕种植原是传统农民的种植方式，火耕在全世界许多人口散居、腹地辽阔的地方，是一种让土地有机会休息、积累肥料的“永续性”种植方式。传统农民或群体一般上求自给自足，因此，火耕范围很小，他们依赖森林资源，不至于把几千万公顷森林烧光，还将烟霾“输送”到邻国。

这种传统的“永续性”生产方式，却在印尼70年代土地改革中被破坏。一些原本散居的传统农民被聚集起来，让路给一些大规模种植及生产的投资者。

大规模种植业者主要是油棕业者，还有咖啡、可可。印尼政府曾经说过，扑火工作艰难，主要是很多林火热点位于沼泽林。沼泽林是稀有的生态区，一般上是保护区，为什么会变成种植区不在话下。然而，可以想像财力雄厚、并拥有政治势力的大规模种植公司，为了盈利不惜破坏环境。

如果说伐木业是目前全世界最赚钱的行业之一，为什么种植公司不选择伐木然后卖掉赚钱？印尼多年来的伐木活动已经毁掉许多原始热带雨林，这些公司近年来“趁风势”所烧的森林主要是没有经济价值的次生林，或是伐木后的“残余林”。另外，由于印尼政府征收橡胶树桐的砍伐及出口税，未有政策奖掖应用橡胶树桐的公司，所以，很多老橡胶林也因此“葬身火海”。

资料显示，1997年的霾害中，印尼政府提控至少167家涉及非法烧林活动的公司，然而，审讯过程繁锁冗长，到了2000年只有一家公司罪名成立被处罚。发展中国家法制不健全、执法不严的问题，往往让这些大财团有机可乘，通过剥削自然环境积累资本。对财团来说，在发展中国家“钱”可以解决的问题都不是问题。

认识印尼在遏止烧林活动的能力后，那我们要问，认签了《东协跨国界烟霾污染协定》能改变多少？目前，我们听到的是马、新、泰、汶已经放话：早一点签署，我们可以早一点启动拨款机制。

的确，协定中列明东南亚各国在监控、评估、预防及回应的合作方向，比如：交换资讯、技术、专才。而印尼在认签这项协定后，需在国内制订有助于解决烟害的政策及修改法令。但印尼最终是否会揪出非法烧林的公司，这还需取决于他们国内的政治意志。做为一份“指导性”协定，就算烟霾继续或恶化，根据协定中第27条文，各国也只能“通过友好地咨询及协商解决。”

许多针对环境问题设计的跨国性或国际性协定，纵使在认签国修正了国内的法令后，也因国内本身的司法、执法、教育、经济、民众参与度等问题，成了无爪的老虎。

至此，笔者不想制造一种“都是印尼政府、种植业、伐木业的错！”的印象，因为印尼人民本身也深受烟霾困扰。经济活动是一种人与人之间的互动，当非法烧芭活动进行时，我们是否在入口、消费着源自于印尼烧芭活动的商品？如：家具木材、食物油、化妆品等等，间接成了烧芭活动的帮凶？

就算“没有大马公司涉及烧芭活动”是一句真话，我们也有权利知道自己是否正在掏腰包购买“烧芭财团”的产品，政府必须公布：国内什么集团与“烧芭财团”有商业关系，让这些典当环境赚钱的利益集团，承担更多社会责任，为环境遭破坏付出更多补偿！

必须做的事真的太多了，如果只祈求老天爷降雨，恐怕老天爷也不会同情不动脑筋的人。假使印尼认签了《东协跨国界烟霾污染协定》， 虽然值得掌声鼓励，但那只是小小的一步。

Do something, don’t just pray for rainfall

Young Malaysians who entered school ten years ago all remember a period of time when the sky was often shrouded by haze during southwestern monsoons. Every time a southeast wind blew the blue sky disappeared, and occasionally saturated the air with a stench that irritated the nose. Countries neighbouring Indonesia, like Singapore, Burnei and Thailand have been disrupted by low visibility and choking haze for ten years.

Not long ago, Indonesia was urged by ASEAN countries to promptly ratify the ASEAN Transboundary Haze Agreement. Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said earlier that Jakarta would ratify the treaty. It would be good news even though the Indonesian government is the last ASEAN country that finally ratified the treaty. However, will Indonesia's ratification make a difference? Are the mechanisms in the treaty effective enough to overcome the annual smog?

How did the Malaysian and Indonesian leaders respond to this issue recently? Both prayed to God for rainfall. They also condemned each other for allowing their logging and plantation companies to practice slash-and-burn as a cheap and illegal means of land-clearing. In the end, the Malaysian government claimed that "the Indonesian government was unable to provide us the list of company names; therefore, no Malaysian company is involved in burning the forest." Neither of them has provided us the whole story.

It seems like nobody is willing to admit responsibility for the haze pollution. It has become a type of natural disaster - I trembled at the very thought of it. We can never know who is burning the forest, causing health and environmental degradation.

Let us figure out, who is burning the forest. In traditional agriculture fire has been used as a tool to clear the lands. Slash-and-burn has been extensively used in many places by traditional farmers. Sustainability of fertile soil can be expected in such a relatively, small-scale operation. Traditional farmers often demand and ensure their self-reliance and self-sufficiency in such operations. They rely on the resources of the forest; it is unlikely of them to destroy the vast area of forest until the smoke and haze is “exported” to their neighbours hundreds of miles away.

Such a "sustainable" mean of land-use has changed since the land reform of Indonesia in 1970s. Traditional agriculture has given way to forest conversions for the expansion of agricultural lands, settlements and tree crop-based large-scale plantations.

Those large-scale plantation companies mainly grow oil palm, coffee and cocoa. The Indonesia government once mentioned that fire suppression is difficult and costly as most of the “hot spots” are located in peat-swamp areas. Peat-swamp areas are so rare that they are usually protected as ecological reserves. We should question how these reserves were converted into agricultural land. From here, we can see how those companies undermine the environment in order to make profits.

Logging is one of the most profitable industries, but why didn’t the plantation companies just cut down the timber and sell it off? In fact, tropical forests in Indonesia have been destroyed after many years of logging activities. Most of the burning areas are unproductive over-logged forests and jungle rubber. In addition, the Indonesian government imposes heavy export taxes on sawn rubber timber. There are no incentives to encourage these companies to process and utilize rubber woods; therefore, the rubber timber are always goes up in smoke.

Some research shows that, in 1997, at least 167 companies were prosecuted for illegal slash-and-burn activities. However, only one company was sentenced. The dysfunction of the legal system and its weak implementation in developing countries can be easily taken advantage of as opportunities for those financial groups to accumulate capital at the price of environmental degradation.

What will be done if the Indonesian government ratifies the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution? Recently, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei have urged Indonesia to promptly ratify the treaty, which would allow the group to work out and put a regional firefighting fund into operation.

There are various provisions in the agreement for each party to adhere to its obligations in terms of monitoring, assessment, prevention and response. If Indonesia ratifies the treaty, they will need to amend or formulate some policies to tackle the smog. Under Settlement of Disputes (Articles 27), the agreement states: “Any dispute between parties as to the interpretation or application of, or compliance with, this agreement or any protocol thereto, shall be settled amicably by consultation and negotiation.” As the agreement lacks an effective dispute settlement mechanism, the effectiveness of the measures to prevent and control activities that cause haze pollution still depends on the political will within the Indonesian government.

In fact, there are many international treaties which are designed to combat the environmental problems. However, after they were ratified by the relevant countries, domestic problems in legislation, implementation, education, economics and public participation, amongst others, has always undermined commitment to the agreement.

In the end, we should not only blame on the Indonesian government, plantation companies and logging companies. Indonesian people themselves are also suffering. Economics activities are interactions between human beings. When the forest is burning, are we not consuming the products made of the materials from the burning forests, and thus do we not become the accomplices of these illegal activities?

Even if we assume that “no Malaysian company is engaged in burning the forest”, we still have the right to know whether we are buying products from corporations which are involved in illegal burning. We should demand that these corporations fulfill their social obligations by paying compensation for degrading the environment and the health of their fellow Malaysians.

Even if the Indonesian government ratifies the treaty, it does not mean that the haze pollution problem will be solved next year. It will be just a small step.

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