Fishy business. The Social Impact of SST.pdf - Act Now!

The two landowning clans of Parom gave their land and seaport (and its fishing grounds) withthe understanding that they would be compensated fairly. They’ve now lost their ‘bulk store’and haven’t been compensated.So far three different companies have been in the area and the manner in which these companiesentered and left has not been appreciated by the landowners. Initially a local inland landownercompany, registered as Wongwong Ltd., signed the agreement with the Parom landowners andnot with the foreign logging company Sovereign Hills, a subsidiary of Rimbunam Hijau. Theagreement faltered, and the company left. After its winding down, Unirise Ltd. was invited inby the landowner company. Unirise then came in but never carried out logging operations.The landowner company formerly registered as Wongwong Ltd registered under a new name,Wayenduo, and went in search of a so-called ‘developer’. They brought in Somas Ltd. But thiscompany was not made known to the landowners of Poram until a barge full of equipment andmachinery arrived. The old company operating in the area packed and left on the same bargeafter the new company came in early in July. Without consulting the landowners the companystarted clearing and widening the road some 10 metres on both sides of the road. They caused agreat deal of damage to the land and angered the landowners.The company then did not pay landowners for damages, breaching their MOA. Frustrationsbuilt up because the company ignored the complaints and concerns of the landowners. Thelandowners feel they were treated with disrespect in the way the company arrived looking forall intents and purposes like illegal trespassers. Pent up frustrations then led young men in thevillage to take the law into their own hands. While others confronted the company to stop andretreat, others physically assaulted the camp manager of the logging company and broke thewindscreen and the lights of the his Toyota Land Cruiser. The company retaliated by reportingthe matter to the police who came and arrested those involved. In the process of making arrestthe police swore at innocent women and children in the village, fueling everyone’s anger. Theaccused appeared in court and paid K100. fine as directed, and were placed on 6 months goodbehaviour bonds.A meeting was convened on the 12 th of July with the new landowner company. The people inthe new landowner company are the same people in the old landowner company. The people ofParom demanded ompensation for the destruction of their environment. The landownercompany admitted that they had no money are in no position to pay any compensation. Theyclaim that payments can only be made after they have harvested and exported the logs.The people of Parom, especially the two clans, want their demands to be met first. They wishnow that the company wind down its operations and leave because the damages caused to theirenvironment cannot be tolerated.A well-placed Provincial Government figure:Regarding Hawain logging:The timber thing is …what the government is trying to do is to stand in for the people,represent the people to financiers, and what we want to do is let the resource owners dealdirectly with the financiers, and let the government stand back for monitoring and that sortof thing, not to control this too much. I was directly involved with getting rid of theWongWong people, because when I was in government we got rid of them because whatthey were doing was they were paying for the whole log, the whole log, about 60 to 10045