Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem clarified today  that he had never accused six timber tycoons and their companies of corruption, as is widely reported in the media today.

The six timber companies are KTS Holding, RH Forest Corporation Sdn Bhd, Samling Shin Yang Group, Ta Ann Group and WTK Holding.

All these companies yesterday signed a ‘corporate integrity pledge’ which was witnessed by the chief minister.

“What I said was that I want them to monitor their subcontractors, camp managers, supplies and workers closely as I don’t want to see any of them failing to adhere to the pledge,” Adenan said.

“Some of the newspapers misrepresented what I said,” he added.

He admitted that corruption  and illegal logging “are very serious” in the timber industry in the Sarawak, adding that he wanted these timber companies help the government to monitor it.

Adenan said if illegal logging and corruption were not stopped it would cause the state not only to lose millions of ringgit in terms of revenue, but also give a bad name to the state.

When he said not to “mess with me” , he meant these illegal loggers and corrupt people.

“I mean business,” Adenan added.

Meanwhile, Bruno Manser Fund executive director Lukas Straumann expressed support for the move taken by Adenan to curb corruption in the logging industry.

“The international community and civil society are ready to assist Sarawak in the badly-need reforms, not only of the forestry practices, but also its governance and institutions in a wider sense,” Straumann said in a statement.

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