In a statement today, the Samling Group Sdn Bhd said among SAVE Rivers’ claims was that the certification issued by SIRIM QAS International in favour of two of its logging subsidiaries was allegedly done without complying with due process, and thereby allegedly violated the rights of indigenous communities in Sarawak.
The logging companies are seeking an apology, an injunction stopping SAVE Rivers from reporting community claims, and RM5 million in damages.
“Samling contends that the allegations made by SAVE Rivers, published on the website known as saverivers.org in respect of Samling, are baseless and defamatory,” it said in a statement.
“Such allegations not only seriously damaged – and continue to damage – Samling’s reputation and jeopardised its business dealings with third parties, but also undermined the integrity and adequacy of the processes undertaken by the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) and SIRIM QAS International.”
Samling said when the first article appeared on the SAVE Rivers website in June 2020, MTCC issued a clarification the following month stating that Samling had indeed satisfactorily fulfilled the requisite certification requirements.
However, Samling said despite MTCC’s clarification, SAVE Rivers “persistently repeated their allegations” and made no effort to correct them.
“On its part, Samling endeavoured to find an amicable solution to the issue by reaching out personally to SAVE Rivers’ director Peter Kallang long before we commenced legal action. However, our efforts were not reciprocated.
“Instead, SAVE Rivers continued to repeat the defamatory allegations. Under these circumstances, Samling then issued a letter of demand (LoD) to SAVE Rivers and its team to retract the allegations in order to safeguard Samling’s interests as well as preserve the integrity of MTCC’s certification processes.
“As a major player in the timber industry of Sarawak, Samling Group takes its responsibilities of ensuring sustainable timber production most seriously.”
On Monday, FMT reported that a coalition of local and international organisations in Sarawak, which includes Swiss NGO Bruno Manser Fonds, said Samling’s suit was filed in bad faith in order to disrupt the dispute resolution process – an allegation which Samling said is “patently untrue”.
“The date for the filing of the suit was a result of a one-year process undertaken by Samling to find an amicable solution to the issue. It was a culmination of our continuous efforts to reach out to SAVE Rivers – efforts that were rebuffed by Peter Kallang.”