KUCHING: Sarawak needs to step up its publicity machinery to counter all the lies spread outside the state.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said all the good that the government was doing for the people were often twisted by certain quarters to bring the state down.

As such, there was a need to fight back because the bad publicity had dented foreigners’ trust in the state.

“We are still being harassed no matter what we have done or continue to do. We have emerged from obscurity to a little fame, thanks to our adverse critics,” the chief minister said at Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam)’s 30th anniversary dinner here on Saturday.

Citing the government’s intention to develop hydroelectric power dams in Murum, Baram and Baleh as an example, he said the whole idea was to propel the state’s industrialisation drive, but it was painted differently in the foreign media.

Fortunately, he added, the locals were not influenced by all these bad publicity as they (people) knew that industrialisation was good for the state.

“But this, of course, does not relieve me of such accusations. The Murum resettlement will attract a lot of do-gooders in coats who will say ‘The Penans are not well looked after’ and are victimised by a half-hearted government’.

“The impression given is that the Penans formed the majority of Bumiputeras (natives).

“Such a picture is far easier for them (outsiders) to believe because of the poverty in developing countries.”

Taib said the government had in fact spent RM2 million per family in resettling the Penans affected by the Murum HEP project. This project entailed the construction of roads, houses, schools and churches, and opening up of land for cultivation.

This amount, he pointed out, was much more than what the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had asked for the Penans.

Another area that never escaped adverse criticism is the timber industry in the state.

Taib said the state had also been accused of destroying its environment even though international fact-finding missions proved otherwise.

“We have been acknowledged by professional bodies as having one of the best policies on sustainable timber. We are able to supply enough timber needed by the world, and at the same time protect the environment. And yet, we are still harassed by adverse publicity.”

On a related subject, Taib commended Azam for doing a good job in tackling such adverse propaganda, and in helping the people to understand the government’s development agenda.

“Thanks to Azam, the idea of developing land has become a reality. People who have land are now slowly registering their interest to change it into native estates.

“The problem now is (Land Development Minister) Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing cannot find enough machinery to fulfil the requests of these people. And this happens despite the agitations here and there, which tend to disrupt our programmes.

“And because of this, I would like to say thank you to Azam. You have gotten most of the community leaders to your side, and they understood our good intentions. Now we have more than one million hectares of land, and another 200,000 hectares participating in various forms of partnership.”

Also present were Housing Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg, State Secretary and Azam chairman Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi Abdul Ghani and Azam chief executive officer Datu Aloysius J Dris.