能够给我你的一分钟，换回他们的一辈子吗？ #iamdone #butitjuststart
PLEASE HELP - URGENT
As many of you know, I grew up with an aboriginal community in Malaysia called the Temiars. The Temiars are known as one of the most peaceful groups of people in the world. During my first time with them (a 2-year visit as a young teenager) I never saw a physical fight between them, I never saw a husband, wife or child get beaten and murder was at zero percent. This did not mean that they did not argue, of course they did, but they found other peaceful ways to resolve their conflicts.
The Temiars live in one of the states of Malaysia called Kelantan, a northern state near the Thai border.
The Temiar way of life is now under threat. Over 50% of their ancestral jungle land has been chopped down by logging companies supported by the state government and other authorities – this has all happened in recent years at a fast pace; trying to get the jungle chopped down for their profits before anyone can stop them. This past year the Temiars have started to peacefully resist the logging companies by blocking the roads that lead to their villages, through which the logging trucks pass to cut down more trees.
There have been numerous court cases to try to stop this destruction but the state keep on supporting the logging companies and more and more Temiar jungle is destroyed. This leaves the Temiars without food, homes or land. They are forcibly moved onto reservations and state created so called ‘villages’.
The Temiars have been custodians of the jungle for 1000’s of years, they have looked after it not just for themselves but for the benefit of us all. If something is not done we will see an entire jungle and an entire culture disappear again, much akin to the original people in North America (USA) and what continues to happen in the Amazon rainforest. Half of the Temiar jungle has been cut down since I first lived with them as a teenager … half! The logging companies now want the other half and will do anything that they can to get it. They will stop at nothing to get those trees.
The logging companies aided by the state and local police forces are using a variety of methods to force the Temiars off their land. The Temiars continue to protest peacefully despite violence towards them, arrests and confinement (jail). One example last night (29th November 2016) 41 Temiar villagers were arrested as they tried to block roads to their villages. The state government (along with the state Forestry Department, aided by the PGA – the local police of Gua Musang) sided with the loggers and arrested the protesting Temiars. The authorities confiscated their cameras, phones and other equipment in an attempt to hush it all up. They also confiscated their only means of transport – mopeds and scooters; this means that their families are also stopped of any chance to work or travel.
What logging translates to is: All trees are chopped down and taken away to sell by the logging companies, indigenous people are moved off the land, plantation companies then either plant mono-culture oil palm trees or rubber plantations – neither of which can accommodate people or animals. All the profits go to (mainly foreign) corporations and ‘taxes’ to the local state government. The Temiars get nothing.
We are asking for your help. You can of course go to Malaysia and stand side by side with the Temiars in their peaceful blockades of you can show your support by writing to leading members of the Kelantan state government (details below) and/or send tweets of outrage to their Twitter account @KelantanGov (Official twitter page of Kelantan Government).
Your letters and messages will help the Temiars by showing them that you support them and by showing the state authorities that there are people all over the world that care and are prepared to do something about it.
Please take the time to write one letter and pass on theses details to one other person so that they can do the same. There is a template letter below that you can use with a Malaysian translation. Please send me details of any replies you get.
Thank you for your support.
Write to:
Md Anizam Ab Rahman Kelantan (Head of Culture and Toursim)
Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah (Head of Land Affairs and Natural Resources)
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE
BLOCK 2, LEVEL 2, Kota Darulnaim
15503 Kota Bharu, Kelantan
+609 7481957
portal [a] kelantan.gov.my
+609 7485512
www.kelantan.gov.my
Template letter:
Dear
I am writing to express my concern and outrage that the Kelantan state government, amongst others, are supporting logging companies to further destroy the Kelantan rainforest, home of the Temiar Orang Asli, in the name of profit.
Over 50% of the Kelantan rainforest has now been cut down, replaced in part with Oil palm and Rubber plantations; mono culture habitats where animals and indigenous people cannot live.
This destruction of the rainforest for short term profit will have long term devastating effects on Kelantan, Malaysia and the world as a whole. It also destroys another culture of Malaysia, that of the Temiar Orang Asli who are seeing their lands stolen and destroyed.
I urge you to put a stop to this massacre of land, animals and people.
Yours sincerely,
Malay translation:
Kepada
Saya menulis untuk menyatakan kebimbangan dan kemarahan saya, Kerajaan Negeri Kelantan, antara lain, yang menyokong syarikat pembalakan untuk memusnahkan lagi hutan hujan Kelantan, rumah daripada Temiar Orang Asli, atas nama keuntungan.
Lebih 50% daripada hutan hujan Kelantan kini telah ditebang, digantikan sebahagiannya dengan kelapa sawit dan ladang getah; mono habitat budaya di mana haiwan dan orang asli tidak boleh hidup.
Ini kemusnahan hutan hujan untuk keuntungan jangka pendek akan memberi kesan buruk jangka panjang di Kelantan, Malaysia dan dunia secara keseluruhannya. Ia juga memusnahkan satu lagi budaya Malaysia, yang daripada Temiar Orang Asli yang melihat tanah mereka dicuri dan dimusnahkan.
Saya menggesa anda untuk menghentikan pembunuhan beramai-ramai ini tanah, haiwan dan manusia.
Yang ikhlas,
