When a tragic accident hits the news, such as the shocking explosion that caused injury and death to miners in Selantik this weekend, it is normal for the name of the company concerned to be reported.
But, there was a strange silence on this matter in Sarawak’s news.
What we did learn was that the workers, including those killed, are all foreigners in this mine. There are no jobs for local people in this enterprise which is extracting the wealth from under their feet.
A minister has helpfully provided his explanation for this matter. XXX announced that it was because the mainly North Korean workers are more brave than locals!
By doing so this West Malaysian has clearly managed to insult the Dayak of Sarawak. But, he has also raised an important issue. Why do these miners need to be so incredibly brave? Are the safety conditions in Sarawak’s mines more treacherous than in tens of thousands of other mines across the world where local people find employment?
Because, let’s be frank. North Koreans come from the world’s most vicious dictatorship – their bravery is based on desperation and their employment in Sarawak is clearly based on exploitation.
Luckyhill?
Which returns us to the question as to who is doing this exploitation and why are the authorities so silent on the matter?
Sarawak Report’s enquiries lead us to an answer that is very far from surprising. The company is none other than Luckyhill, which has already suffered another similar explosion accident as recently as 2012.
So, no wonder the workers have to be brave. What safety enforcement regulations are being carried out to result in such repeated accidents?
There is more of course. Luckyhill has provided reason for local protests ever since it and its related mines in Selantik opened shop.
The sloppy management of this lucrative enterprise has caused destruction, disruption and serious pollution to the lives of the local people, according to numerous complaints, and it has poisoned the water sources of thousands downstream.
Pretty typical really.
Just as typical is the report that no notice whatsoever has been taken of the complaints of these poor locals. They didn’t get a say in whether there should be mining in their area. They have never been consulted on mitigation of the problems. They have never been compensated or given jobs. The usual story.
So, who is behind this mine, granted as a concession of course by the former Resources and Planning Minister cum Chief and Finance Minister, the present Governor Taib Mahmud?
Because, make no bones about it, coal mining is very lucrative indeed – especially if you don’t have to worry much about safety measures, paying workers adequate wages or pensions or indeed any form of genuine compensation if they are killed or injured.
Is anyone surprised to learn, therefore, that the shareholders in this mine are a combination of Taib family members, Taib political hangers on and one of his key crony families the Wongs of WTK?
After all, the idea that a state concession for a mine should be managed for the public good with a proper tender to gain maximum income from the state and proper consultation and consideration of the local people affected would have been anathema to BN.
They prefer to treat Sarawak as if a handful of politically connected families were the owners of the entire place. They have clearly started to believe that in fact they are and that laws and regulations are for other people.
That’s why they don’t even employ the local people, because they don’t want to even consider the possibility that they too have rights over the coal in Selantik. In fact, they only have these rights and the politicians and their hangers on have no legal rights at all.
The tragic news that three foreign workers had died in a coal mine explosion in Sarawak at the weekend has provoked speculation as to who was behind the company. The company was thrown into the spotlight earlier this week when it became apparent that they were employing migrant workers from China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar and most alarmingly from North Korea.
4 foreign workers have died so far, 30 others injured, of which 20 are said to be critical.
Shortly after it was announced that a North Korean was among those killed in the explosion, Malaysia’s Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Jaafar informed journalists that North Koreans can work legally under a special agreement between Pyongyang and the Sarawak authorities.
Defectors from North Korea claim that Pyongyang pocketed at least 90% of earnings by migrant workers in Qatar.
But despite local and international media coverage, why has the company involved not been named?
It didn’t take Sarawak Report long to work out that the company managing the coal mine in Selantik is none other than Luckhill Mining – a company that came into the spotlight in 2012, when it also exploded, killing four Chinese nationals.
Locals have been complaining about the environmental concerns linked to coal mining in Selantik for years but their concerns appear to have fallen on deaf ears. According to Iban communities living nearby, their farm lands have been destroyed, their drinking water polluted and their personal safety threatened.
Injured workers are being treated at Sarawak General Hospital
Calls by the Sarawak opposition party two years ago for a thorough investigation into the fatal incident and the need for environmental and social impact assessments to be conducted were ignored by the authorities.
Although investigations are now underway, Sarawakians have been left questioning why no action was taken back in 2012 and why the mine has been left to explode for a second time.
Who is behind Luckyhill?
How did Abang Johari’s family members get the contract?
The fact that the company involved in this week’s explosion has close links to the family of former Chief Minister of Sarawak (and current state Governor) Taib Mahmud and other BN cronies may explain why the company has been unnamed until now.
Although predominantly owned by Kim Don Hwan (thought to be of Korean nationality), a company search shows us that the directors and shareholders of Luckhill Mining include the usual BN hangers on.
The list includes; Zaleha Mahmud (sister of Taib Mahmud), Datuk Abang Abdul Karim Openg (brother of Sarawak’s Minister of Housing Abang Johari), his wife Datin Airi binti Abdul Manan, her sister Marjuin Bt Haji Abdul Manan, Datuk Amar Haji Hamdan Sirat (former State Police Commissioner), Halimah Abdullah (wife of Hamdan Sirat) and Benedict Bujang Tembak (former Senator and current PBB Supreme Council Member).
And what about the single largest shareholder of Luckyhill, Stratum Mining Sdn Bhd? The shareholders are none other than Taib timber cronies the WTK family. Sarawak Report have previously exposed the close links between the Taib family and WTK including the fact that Taib’s daughter Jamilah has substantial shares in the company. The coal explosion adds to a growing list of human rights and environmental concerns linked to the Wong family’s global ventures.
But there is one character that we have noticed crop up as secretary in almost all Taib family ventures and here she is once again in Luckyhill Mining, a Ms Joyce Chew Chin Lian. Just who is this secret secretary and why does she appear to control almost all of Taib’s business? Sarawak Report will be looking into the links between Joyce and the Taib family in the coming weeks.
Time for Adenan to take corruption seriously!
Natives have been complaining about the environmental and social consequences of coal mining activities in Selantik for almost 30 years. Will the government also listen to them as well as investigating the cause of the explosion?
And what about the safety and rights of the foreign workers in Sarawak? There have been countless reports of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers in Malaysia.
If anyone is to take Adenan’s recent calls for reform seriously then he should start by condemning WTK and the family of his predecessor Taib Mahmud. It was WTK after all that signed his integrity pledge promising to tackle bribery and corruption.
Luckyhill shareholder and WTK tycoon Wong Kie Yik signs Adenan’s integrity pledge