Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights

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on 12 Mar, 13:08

#UndiMsiaChats with MESYM: “Money Logging”

Lukas Straumann,  executive director of the Bruno Manser Fund, will spend a few days in KL and we wasted no chance to ask him come join us for a special gathering to discuss his exceptional book “Money Logging – on the trail of the Asian timber mafia“.

Among other things (being this an informal session), we’ll try to cover:

  • An introduction on the book
  • The key messages the book aims to convey.
  • Responses and reactions to the book.
  • Q&A session with the audience

In addition, Linus Chung will also join us, and share his personal experiences working with the indigenous communities for the ‘SAVE Sarawak. Stop the Dams’ film.

Join the event on the MESYM Facebook Group.


Lukas Straumann – the author


A historian by training, Lukas Straumann is the executive director of the Bruno Manser Fund, a human rights and environmental organization that champions the rights of the indigenous peoples of Borneo.

 

Money Logging – the book

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Money Logging investigates what Gordon Brown has called ‘probably the biggest environmental crime of our times’—the massive destruction of the Borneo rainforest by Malaysian loggers. Historian and campaigner Lukas Straumann goes in search not only of the lost forests and the people who used to call them home, but also the network of criminals who have earned billions through illegal timber sales and corruption.

Straumann singles out Abdul Taib Mahmud, current governor of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, as the kingpin of this Asian timber mafia, while he shows that Taib’s family—with the complicity of global financial institutions—have profited to the tune of 15 billion US dollars. Money Logging is a story of a people who have lost their ancient paradise to a wasteland of oil palm plantations, pollution, and corruption—and how they hope to take it back.


*Pusat Rakyat is evolving =)

rakyatcoffee

on 8 Jan, 12:29

#UndiMsiaChats: Rich Malaysians Poor Malaysians and Inequality with Anas Alam Faizli

Anas Alam Faizli is a Project Management Professional and a doctorate candidate in Business Administration, focusing on capital investment evaluation practices and decision-making in the oil and gas industry and is the author for Rich Malaysia, Poor Malaysians and Malaysia Kaya, Rakyat Miskin.

Anas is a co-founder of BLINDSPOT, a socio-economic think tank and BANTAH TPPA, a coalition of 60 NGOs and 10 coalition councils against the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement. He is also the co-founder of Sekolah Falsafah and he formerly served as the Founding Chief Executive Officer on the board of Teach for The Needs (TFTN), a non-profit education-based civil society organisation which houses 800 volunteers, 300 mahasiswas, 300 students and adopts 12 orphanages. He occasionally writes and contributes to The Star, The Edge and several online news portals.

Anas is an alumnus of Kolej Islam Sultan Alam Shah. He holds a Bachelors in Computer Sciences from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and a Master’s degree in Project Management.

In his professional experience with Talisman Malaysia, Petronas Carigali and Sime Sembcorp Engineering, Anas has undertaken various responsibilities in development projects and execution, building extensive technical and commercial and management skills within the industry.
A passionate traveller and reader of history, philosophy, politics, economics and thought, his main interest is Malaysian socio economics. He is focused on education, poverty and public policy with an emphasis on efficient use of petroleum resources, inequality and inclusiveness.
Anas lives on only one hope; for every member of the future generation to inherit and experience a better Malaysia.

Event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/744713915597842/

Rich Msia cover

on 10 Sep, 15:29

#UndiMsiaChats 61 with MESYM: “Disruption: Climate. Change.” film screening

#UndiMsiaChats is back on Malaysia Day, in partnership with MESYM, to show an exciting new film about climate change, “Disruption: Climate. Change.

The film premiered earlier this month, setting the stage for the People’s Climate March on September 21 and the UN Climate Summit taking place in New York City two days later. The film calls for a new strategy to address the climate crisis: a public movement and uprising that forces world leaders to replace rhetoric with action.

Disruption seeks to answer a fundamental question: When it comes to climate change, why do we do so little when we know so much? The movie lays bare the science, the broken political process, the industry special interests and the civic disengagement that have brought us to this crossroads.

Join the event on Facebook.

Live music!

There will be live performances by Markiza & Peter Brown, Negarakus and more after the film screening. Feel free to bring food & drinks to share with everyone.

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About Disruption

‘When it comes to climate change, why do we do so little when we know so much?’

Through a relentless investigation to find the answer, Disruption takes an unflinching look at the devastating consequences of our inaction.

“In the past, masses of people have taken the wheel of history and turned it,” says author Naomi Klein in the film. “We have a responsibility to rise to our historic moment.”

The title of the film, “Disruption,” refers to both the dangerous environmental tipping points after which the entire climate system could spiral out of control, as well as the need for a mass social movement to disrupt the status quo and business-as-usual approach which is inhibiting the bold actions necessary to protect the planet’s future.

The People’s Climate March will bring together upwards of 100,000 people in NYC to demand immediate action from the 190 heads of state in town for the UN Climate Summit. Over 700 organizations spanning labor, faith, environmental justice, youth, health, first responders, environment, have already endorsed the march and will be dispatching their members to attend.

This is the story of our unique moment in history. We are living through an age of tipping points and rapid social and planetary change. We’re the first generation to feel the impacts of climate disruption, and the last generation that can do something about it. The film enlarges the issue beyond climate impacts and makes a compelling call for bold action that is strong enough to tip the balance to build a clean energy future.

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Welcome to MESYM!
Connecting the green dots

MESYM.com is a crowd-sourced platform and a living database for environmental movements in Malaysia. There are many good actions being done out there. Our goal is to bring them together. We connect the green dots.