The Malaysian logging company Rimbunan Hijau is an international behemoth, logging in virtually all the major forests of the world. In the past several years, Rimbunan Hijau has been granted three major concessions in the Russian Far East, making them the first foreign company to log there. This time, however, they may face more opposition than expected, thanks to a recent exchange program between Russian and Malaysian activists.

Rimbunan Hijau has a very long history in Sarawak, Malaysia. Thus, the Oakland-based environmental organization Pacific Environment brought five Russian activists and journalists to Sarawak to learn how Rimbunan Hijau's activities have affected communities and forests in its decades of logging there.

Rimbunan Hijau's track record in Sarawak is not good, to say the least. The five Russians, Rodion Sulyandziga, Irina Belova, Boris Nekrassov, Svetlana Titova, and Tatyana Matveeva, met with Sarawak activists and traveled to four affected communities to learn of the company's behavior first-hand. The Borneo Project helped Pacific Environment facilitate this trip, and one of our staff traveled with the Russians throughout Malaysia.

Russians Visit Remote Communities

There were extensive meetings at each community between the Russians and indigenous Malaysians. The ethnic background and level of development varied greatly from village to village, but the story was similar in each: Rimbunan Hijau had logged their lands without permission, and left them with next to nothing.

Large group discussions between the Russians and locals took place every night. Questions went back and forth for hours, with both groups learning much. A number of Russians were from indigenous Siberian communities. The indigenous Malaysians had never met indigenous people from anywhere else, and were surprised to hear just how similar their problems and lifestyles were to those of people in very different countries.

The Russian delegation, meanwhile, was surprised to learn just how underhanded and rapacious Rimbunan Hijau could be. For instance, in the Penan village of Long Sayan, the Russians told the Penan about the promises and compensation offers Rimbunan Hijau had made to their government and local communities.

Penan headman Ajang Kiew responded that the same thing had happened to them and warned the Russians, "I think you are walking into a trap." He explained that Long Sayan had signed several agreements with Rimbunan Hijau. After years of broken promises and on-and-off blockading of the company's timber roads, the village and the company signed a new agreement two years ago under which the village was to receive a mere 25 cents per metric ton of timber taken from designated parts of its traditional territories. Yet even that paltry compensation was too much for Rimbunan Hijau, who continued to log while completely ignoring the agreement. As a result, the community has given up on negotiations and has been staging a blockade for the past three months, as well as most of the first half of 2001.

The Russians were surprised to hear stories like this. Many people in Russia had assumed that Rimbunan Hijau could only be better than the Russian logging companies. On the contrary, however, the Russian companies practice selective logging, whereas Rimbunan Hijau plans to clear-cut in all of their Russian concessions. Furthermore, the company does not allow anyone into their concession areas to see what they're actually doing.

Into the Ring of Fire

The Russian activists concluded their visit by attending a conference in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. This was the second Ring of Fire conference and was also arranged by Pacific Environment. About 30 forest activists from a dozen Pacific Rim countries attended, including delegates from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Russia, the United States and Chile. While representing many nations and a diversity of backgrounds, they had many issues in common. Thus, the coalition aims to expand their ties and intensify their efforts, and the Borneo Project plans to remain actively involved.

Positive Outcomes

At the end of this conference, the Russian activists returned home with a new perspective on Rimbunan Hijau specifically and many other issues generally. As one indigenous Malaysian stated, "I wish some exchange program people had warned us when companies started logging our lands in the early 1980's!" Several of the visiting Russians were journalists, and wrote articles in the Far East Russian media about their trip and what they learned about Rimbunan Hijau. There were even stories in several of the more independent Malaysian media outlets about the Russian delegation and the Ring of Fire conference. Russian watchdog groups will be keeping a close eye on Rimbunan Hijau's activities, and organizations will be lobbying against further expansion by that company.