Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud says that 70 per cent of the rainforest in Sarawak is intact and he is prepared to invite independent and international inspection teams to verify this.
But Mark Bujang, the executive director of Brimas, says that 85 per cent of Sarawak has been deforested. He says the Sarawak government includes plantations in its calculations of forest cover. Continue reading »
I cannot for the life of me imagine why any businessman would want to invest in Zimbabwe.
Look what happened to one such business venture, a Malaysian-Dutch firm Matanuska, which had its banana plantation seized by a retired army general-turned-Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Tanzania.
Perhaps Matanuska thought its interests would be protected by Zimbabwe’s Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (Bippa) with Malaysia. Under this agreement, the firm was reportedly offered land but not title to the land. Or maybe they thought Malaysia enjoyed a special relationship with Zimbabwe! Continue reading »
