CHIEF Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem continues to surprise. In the closing stages of the current Assembly sitting, he gathered some of Sarawak’s most important individuals in a room and lambasted the timber industry.
It was a speech that no one could have imagined coming from a Barisan Nasional leader just a few months ago.
Not only did Adenan make the bosses of Sarawak’s “big six” logging firms sign “corporate integrity pledges”, he also criticised enforcers and the police, calling them either stupid, cowards or corrupt for having let Sarawak’s forests be robbed in broad daylight.
To set the scene, his speech took place at the Assembly complex, less than an hour after a war of words between the Opposition and a senior state minister on illegal logging had occurred in the August House.
A DAP assemblyman accused the minister of failing to protect Sarawak forests and asked Adenan to remove the minister from the Cabinet.
It was with some disbelief that, while this was going on, reporters noticed a number of Sarawak’s richest timber tycoons walk pass the media room. One by one, they headed towards the ballroom.
This electrified the atmosphere: Who knew what Adenan would say at the pledge signing ceremony scheduled to begin soon?
Personally, I cannot even remember when was the last time I saw this many timber titans under one roof.
It was nearly 1pm when Adenan took the stage to deliver his speech. In the ballroom were state Cabinet members, senior enforcement officers, the assembly Speaker and the logging bigshots.
In his trademark style, Adenan began with the simplest of salutations and the audience fell silent immediately.
“Let me say from the very beginning we in the Sarawak Government are very serious about fighting corruption, and not only in the timber industry, but in all sectors.
“For the past few months, I have addressed nearly 2,000 enforcement officers, police, council staff, in Kuching, Sibu and Miri, together with the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission).
“With MACC’s cooperation, I want to put the fear of God into people who are dishonest.” It was clear by then Adenan was in a serious mood. The man who usually peppers his speeches with jokes and speaks a mixture of English and Bahasa Sarawak, did not even seem able to crack a smile.
When I glanced at a handout of his pre-prepared speech,
I realised he was not reading a single word from it. Everything he was saying was off-the-cuff, in plain English, delivered like a stern father.
“The state of corruption in (the) timber (industry) is very bad. Very bad. I cannot tolerate it anymore. We must put a stop to it, not only because we lose money in the millions, but because we have gained a bad reputation internationally. This robbery of the forests in broad daylight has given us a bad name.”
One could hear a pin drop at that point.
I glanced around the room trying to gauge sentiments. Everyone seemed to have a look of disbelief on their faces like they were not quite sure what to make of the words coming from the stage.
“Don’t tell me some have never seen people stealing logs. Why didn’t anyone say anything? Because some are in the payroll of smugglers.
“Don’t mess with me. I’ll get you with assistance of MACC. Our enforcers might say they are fearful of gangsters.
“Well, you tell the gangsters, I am the person who gave you the direction to enforce the law.
“No more excuses like being worried of getting bullets in the mail. That is just an excuse not to do anything.
“Even for our very highly paid officers, I know, it is very tempting when those people offer you large amounts of money. But don’t take it. Don’t mess with my government.
“I think that is all I need to say. You got the message. All of you. I want to thank the big six for coming forward to sign the pledge. I’m sure they are sincere about it.”
And that was it. Adenan had spoken for only 14 minutes but it was enough to make most front pages the next day.
At the end of the speech, I even saw reporters, who are always a cynical bunch, clapping.
A department head posted on Facebook afterwards she had never felt more proud in her 31 years of service. The deputy secretary of the assembly told me more or less the same.
Once the stories went online, calls came from university lecturers asking for transcripts of the speech. Non-governmental bodies reached out to reporters with tip-offs of known illegal logging sites.
Adenan, whether intentionally or not, succeeded in igniting public imagination and galvanising his supporters.
His growing popularity among the urban middle-class is set to rise.
Illegal logging might affect poorer rural folks more than most readers of this newspaper, but Adenan, by taking such a thorny subject head on, had done something few politicians had done.
Related Story:
Adenan: No timber licences for some areas
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