ITS GLobal Consultant that had recently pubished an independent study into operation of RH have released another independent assessment on MASALAI-I-TOKAUT website and Rimbuan Hijau Watch. As a result masala-i-tokaut domain has been deregisted and site hosted through a thirdparty.

http://www.fiapng.com/campaign_against_rh.html

Summary of the report basically refute evidence provide by this 2 websites and simple concludes that it is just a smear compaign.

Executive Summary

Two anonymous websites have mounted a slander campaign against the forestry industry and,specifically, Rimbunan Hijau (PNG) Group, the largest forestry business in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Masalai i Tokaut is a web-based newsletter which circulates allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the forestry industry. Rimbunan Hijau Watch is a website whose sole purpose seems to be to disparage and undermine the credibility and business interests
of Rimbunan Hijau. The websites are sensationalist tools in the long running campaign to halt commercial forestry in PNG.

ITS Global Asia Pacific (ITS Global) was commissioned by Rimbunan Hijau to undertake an independent critique of these websites and their key claims of wrongdoing by the company.

Masalai i Tokaut

Masalai i Tokaut (Masalai) distributes a regular electronic newsletter which carries allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the forest industry. It is sent to people with influence on forest policy in PNG, including government officials, politicians and the donor community. Rimbunan
Hijau is a primary target. It has featured in more than half of Masalai’s 46 newsletters to date. The real aim appears to be to discredit Rimbunan Hijau. These newsletters also target Rimbunan Hijau’s business interests in other sectors and its business associates. Masalai’s style is scurrilous. It refuses to reveal its identity, principals, funding sources, or
affiliations. It carries rumours and reproduces allegedly “leaked” and “official” documents which warrant only the status of fiction since the website will not accept responsibility for publishing them.

Rimbunan Hijau Watch

Rimbunan Hijau Watch (RHW) was set up to exclusively target Rimbunan Hijau. It does not contribute any original material but serves as a portal to recycle reports and sites which are antiforestry and anti-Rimbunan Hijau.
The website appears dedicated to damaging the credibility and business interests of Rimbunan Hijau. It urges people to boycott the company. It has published material considered defamatory, which was removed when contested. Like Masalai, it does not reveal its principals or sources of funding.
The claims against Rimbunan Hijau The claims against Rimbunan Hijau made on these websites are emotive and frequently slanderous.

Masalai asserts that Rimbunan Hijau is ‘...a Malaysian multi-national that is destroying lives, raping our country and destroying our natural resources for its own gain and it is assisted by the selfish interests of corrupt politicians and public servants and protected by its own newspaper, The National’.

Both websites accuse Rimbunan Hijau of engaging in corruption and benefiting from political patronage. They also accuse the company of bribing police and being responsible for police conduct at its operations, including incidents of alleged human rights abuses. Rimbunan Hijau is also accused of labour rights abuses and illegal logging.

May be they are going all out to smear RH. i worked as a security minder for the Boss of RH in Manus, i have been in the office when a MP now in trouble with the ombudsman received cheques of up to 100,000.00 i have seen the bush devasted down the west coast. RH has operated in manus under seven diffrent names with the same shareholders. The sad thing is they are still doing it. pressuring and threatening and bribing is their standard operating proceedure. wouldnt it be better if we sold our own timber? new leaders will surely put a stop to the rape of our resources on land and sea. if not then we have to find someone who will!

http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20061010/tuhome.htm

Criticisms having adverse effect

CRITICISMS of Papua New Guinea’s logging record is having a detrimental effect on the export of forest products, laments National Forest Authority boss Dike Kari. Speaking on Friday when giving a preview of the two-day regional seminar beginning today in Port Moresby on forest law enforcement and governance, the NFA acting managing director said the authority had put out advertisements “to clear its position” on illegal logging allegations but its attempts have been in vain. “The criticisms are already having a detrimental effect on the export of forest products from PNG having to enter markets overseas. The net effect is that PNG may not export its forest products and about 10,000 people currently employed in the timber industry will be out of jobs. There will be no income to the forest owners, no infrastructure and no rural development,” Mr Kari said in a statement. “The PNG Forest Authority is of the view that there is no illegal logging taking place in PNG. We have one of the strongest legal framework and sound policies to sustainably manage the nation’s forest resources.” But non-government organisations such as Greenpeace and pro-environment centre for environmental law and community rights Inc (CELCOR) have released reports in recent years highlighting alleged human rights abuse and breaches of the Forestry Act perpetrated by logging companies. The most recent report was released in August by CELCOR and Australian Conservation Found that revealed arbitrary detention and physical brutality by police against forest landowners, abuse of women, destruction and contamination of food and water sources, destruction of cultural property and poor working conditions for logging company employees. But Mr Kari is adamant there was no illegal logging, saying the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) defined illegal logging as “harvesting, processing, transporting and marketing forest products in breach of national laws”. .

For the latest news at "Masalai-I-Tokaut" the truth will always come out.

http://www.masalai-i-tokaut.com/

RH can afford to spend the money it generates from logging to pay for expensive consultants such as ITS Global but continuous reports in the media time and time again such as this latest one below (taken from the Post Courier) will get them no where in their propaganda attempts to paint a good image about themselves (such try hards), we know they're corupt and the only reason they're getting away with all the gory things they're capable of doing is because they've got the money to bribe people easily.

IRC, police arrest three illegal immigrants - PC 19-03-08

THREE immigrants of Chinese origin alleged to be illegally in PNG were arrested by officers from the Department of Police and the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) Customs in the Central Province last Saturday.
Police said they acted following a tip-off on allegations of smuggling activities at the Galley Reach area near Yule Island.
The raid resulted in the arrests of three men and they have been locked up at the Boroko police cells in Port Moresby.
Police alleged the three Chinese were initially brought into the country by a major foreign timber company but were found working for another logging company which they said had been operating in the area.
They said a full scale investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arrest of the three suspected illegals was continuing.
They also said the investigation would attempt to determine whether or not the second logging company was a subsidiary of the company alleged to have brought them into Papua New Guinea.
The three Chinese nationals denied they were employed by the major company (RH of course)but allegedly admitted to having been brought into the country by that company.
The IRC Customs officers involved in the operation could not be reached yesterday, however, sources within the organisation said more such operations were planned to continue.
They said people were being smuggled into the country by logging companies.
Officers said the allegations of illegal immigrants being employed by timber companies had been known for some time and it was up to the forest department to take action to take away licences.

Interesting, whats the latest? or is the police also with RH?