A tale of two journeys: an update
A guest post by Hoon Seong Teo
God had given humankind stewardship over His creation, and given the poly-crisis besetting it today, it can be hard to believe in the Good News, which is what Christians are tasked to do. We are also told to spread the Good News, which can feel like a tall order in the face of the climate and ecological emergency, the wars, and the current tide of hate and violence. Nevertheless, that is what He has asked of us, and one way of doing so is to spread the success stories; where divine grace has allowed Earth defenders to triumph over adversity.
Two years ago, I was moved to start on a journey to walk for the rainforest peoples of the Upper Baram Forest Area of Sarawak, to publicise their David against Goliath fight against one of the worst of the multinational companies intent on logging in one of the last areas of their tribal homelands that still had intact forest. SAVErivers was the organisation that represented the rights and concerns of the tribespeople.
In summary, www.SAVErivers.org, then and now one of the most effective indigenous rainforest organisations in Malaysian Borneo, had been hit by a SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) lawsuit by Samling Berhad, the most notorious of the palm oil-and-timber multinationals. The lawsuit was an egregious attempt to silence the activists from publishing exposes about Samling Berhad’s illegal logging in tribal homelands, and was for a ruinous sum of MYR$ 5 million, against an NGO that barely turned over $45000 annually.
I blogged about this in Green Christians, and am grateful that it was published (A Tale of Two Journeys).
I was, and still am, astonished at the turn of events in the two years following the first step that I took in 2022. After a year of walking, networking and false starts, our solidarity organisation, www.cleanupthetropicaltimbertrade.org took flight in the UK. Consequently, www.SAVErivers.org was adopted by Friends of the Earth UK’s flagship Planet over Profit campaign. Planet over Profit is pushing for a new environment law that would close the loopholes in the current Environment Act used by GOV.UK and UK companies to continue to exploit global resources.
The walk had succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.
More good news was to come. On 18/9/2023, after three years of mounting international pressure, Samling Berhad finally withdrew its lawsuit against SAVErivers.
Timber giant Samling withdraws lawsuit against Indigenous forest defenders (borneoproject.org)
This was the second of SAVErivers’ major victories, the first being the defeat of the Baram mega-hydroelectric dam in 2015 that would have drowned 20 000 hectares of primary rainforest.
It has been humbling for me to witness the faith that has been placed in God by the Kayan, Kenyah and Penan indigenous peoples. Throughout the entirety of this battle it has not wavered, and when they won they gave Him thanks. I give Him thanks too for allowing me to play a small part in this struggle.
So this is my Good News story. The struggle is not over, we are now pushing to establish the Baram Peace Park, an area of 225 000 hectares of rainforest in the heart of Malaysian Borneo that will be under indigenous management for the first time. Please support us; you can find out how at Baram Peace Park. Closer to home, please support the campaign for a new environmental law at Why the UK needs a new law to put the planet over profit | Friends of the Earth.
Hoon Seong Teo
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