The face of Sarawak tourism abroad, UK presenter Ben Fogle, has called off his meet-and-greet event, saying he is “horrified” by recent allegations of the state government’s corruption and acts of deforestation.

NONE The BBC presenter whom the Sarawak Tourism Board engaged for its promotional documentaries, ‘Ben Fogle’s Sarawak Adventures’ was slated for a champagne reception this week in London with blogger fans.

UK daily The Independent yesterday reported that Fogle, who has received criticism for being a “pawn” of the Sarawak government’s whitewash efforts, would halt his involvement in the campaign.

“Fogle told The Independent he has ‘postponed’ the champagne event after being ‘horrified’ by recent revelations.

“He said he would not be making any more films for the Sarawak Tourism Board until he receives answers to ‘many questions’ that he now had,” reported the daily.

Fogle has been the poster boy for Sarawak Tourism's UK campaign headed by public relations firm Hills Balfour to paint the state as a sterling example of environmental protection.

Apart from the documentaries, he also wrote about his Sarawak travels in a column for the Daily Telegraph and an article for the magazine Hello! .

Hills Balfour has also organised a cybertrooper campaign comprising British housewives known as "mummy bloggers" who help spread the word online about Fogle's adventures, cute orangutans and gorgeous forests, oblivious of the true picture.

The champagne event was reportedly to entice the bloggers with possible trips to Sarawak for their efforts in spreading the word.

The bloggers and Fogle appear to have been oblivious of the state government's environmental track record until international NGO Global Witness' recent expose on Sarawak corruption, and articles by whistleblower website Sarawak Report .

BBC denies involvement

Last week Sarawak Report burst the bubble on Fogle reporting that BBC has denied involvement in the documentaries.

"It seems Ben Fogle may have been made a pawn," the website's founder Clare Rewcastle-Brown ( left ) told The Independent .

NONE "Anyone with the slightest knowledge of environmental matters should know the issues around Malaysian oil palm destruction and the culpability of the Sarawak state government.

"He should not be promoting them for responsible eco-tourism or pretending that they are protecting the jungle habitat of the orang-utan," she was reported saying.

According to the daily, Sarawak has the "fastest rate of deforestation in Asia" with only five percent of its natural forest remaining.

These figures are likely derived from Global Witness' report in December, ‘In the Future There Will Be No Forests Left'.

The report can be found online at the UK-based NGO's website .

‘Fogle misled'

Fogle and Hills Balfour however maintain that their support for tourism in the Borneo state does not imply political support for the ruling regime.

NONE "I make a distinction between the Sarawak Tourism Board and (Sarawak Chief Minister ) Taib Mahmud ( right ).

"I was in Sarawak to promote tourism which employs thousands of people and is estimated to be worth more than a billion pounds to the economy. I have never knowingly supported the ‘regime'," he told The Independent .

Global Witness' Tom Picken however muses that Fogle has been misled.

"Whoever advised Ben Fogle that doing PR for the Sarawak government on environmental issues was a good idea has let him down badly," he was quoted as saying.

"Promoting tourism in Sarawak is positive in itself, but it must not gloss over the environmental destruction and exploitation that is devastating the region."