Rimbunan Hijau is a global conglomerate in the timber empire owned by the

Tiong family is Sarawak. Rimbunan Hijau monopolizes the logging industry in

Papua New Guinea, Equatorial Guinea and Malaysia. They own significant forestry

in Gabon, Indonesia, Vanuatu, New Zealand, and Russia. Rimbunan Hijau has

business trades around the world and just to mention a few, they are Asia, Europe,

America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

According to the Malaysia-China Business Council, the estimated annual

turnover of Rimbunan Hijau is more than USD 1 billion. According to Annie Kajir a

human right lawyer in Papua New Guinea that landowners are forced to sign over

their land with a gun behind their backs in the presence of police and company

officials. Moreover, The World Commission on Forest and Sustainable Development

1999 states that more than 350 million people who are poor depends on the forest.

Sarawak is the home to more than 1.76 million and 49.5% are indigenous

tribes. Logging is Sarawak’s single largest source of revenue for the State

Governments with the total exports of timber valued at MYR1.5 billion in 1985

according to Heyzer (1996) Logging has lots of pros and cons and the pros are that

indigenous people normally receives modern amenities such as pipe water,

transportation, education and job opportunities. While the cons are that the

indigenous people are exposed to the modern world where it disrupts their traditional

way of living exposing them to modern negative influences such as drugs and

alcohol. Besides that, logging also destroys their natural resources known as

environmental degradation which contributes to environmental issues that will affect

them such as soil erosion, water pollution, shifting cultivation and declining plant,

animal and fish stocks.

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 The indigenous people depend on the forest and rivers for food and water.

Logging changes their natural way of living by polluting the water and stripping the

forest till the people no longer able to hunt, or plant their food. This is a price the

indigenous people are not willing to pay in exchange for some modern amenities and

modern social problems. They believe that this wouldn’t have happened if the

government controlled their logging permits and allow the indigenous people to

claim their lands under the adat customary law were they are allowed to claim the

land if they cleared and cultivated the land.

Over 50% of the indigenous people cannot read and only 54.2% of those who

can read can only do so in their own dialect. When the Sarawak State Government

introduced the 1958 Land Code, it further restricted in the creation of more

customary rights meaning that the indigenous people could no longer claim the land

that the cleared and cultivated. However, due to their illiteracy, none of them are

aware of this new Ordinance and this is a problem to both of the authorities as well

as the indigenous people. Rimbunan Hijau purportedly took advantage of their

illiteracy and claimed their lands. The indigenous people could only protest in the

form of blockades which will last for months resulting in great losses for many

logging companies.

Rimbunan Hijau has also been accused of conspiring with influential

politicians for immunity from the law. The company also appeared to be protected by

an extensive and well established network of political patronage and media control

according to Heldringstra (2004)

The issue that Rimbunan Hijau already has with the masses such as the

activists, environmentalist, and the many issues with the law especially problems

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with their employees in Sarawak with the numerous rape cases, alcohol problems

and exploitation of the orang asli especially those who depends on the forest to live.

The problem that Rimbunan Hijau is currently facing and could be worst in

the future in the PR practice areas are the problem with corporate social

responsibility and issues and crisis management. As a global conglomerate dealing

with timber, it should only be natural to give back to the community who depends on

the forest to live. Giving back should be in the form of education to enhance their

lives and ensure their future generations have a better life. Corporate social

responsibility has to ensure that they satisfy the social, environmental and legal

problems that have plagued them for many years.

According to Kitchen (1997) the success of managing a company’s

reputation is to influence how the company behave, how the company is reported

and how the company is perceived by the public. A company’s image isn’t only

dependent on its product and services but instead on its social responsibility.

Research has also shown that there is a significant improvement of the sales of

companies which have active social responsibility campaigns.

If issues are not managed well, it becomes a crisis and the issue that they

didn’t manage well was regarding their employees. Recent reports by The Star (Oct

6, 2008) claims that Penan girls are being sexually abused by employees of major

logging companies in Sarawak. Besides that, employees has reputedly been drinking

and under the influence of alcohol. This has become an issue when major local and

foreign NGO’s exposed their activities and so far, has involved the Human Rights

Commission, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Ng Yen

Yen, Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Mohmad Salleh.

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 Swiss NGO Bruno Manser Foundation (BMF) charged that employees of

logging companies were targeting female students who depended on them for

transportation to school. Besides that, they also charged that young Penan men were

entice by alcohol brought in by the loggers and once are drunk, these loggers will

ask them to bring them home as guest as they haven’t eaten and once the Penan men

falls asleep, they’ll rape the women in their homes. This is a delicate issue because

employees are the most important part of the company.

The issue with their employee is the many complaints about their employees

who apparently gets drunk and are involved in many rape cases especially with the

Penan community. The rape cases resulted in the births of many babies who are

stigmatized for being born without a father. Besides that, the women that they rape

are only in their teens that used to have big dreams but after they got raped, they

have to provide for the baby and they are normally ostracized for getting raped.

According to Regester and Larkin (1997) states that “there has been a

significant increase in activism and these well funded and well organized groups

have enough power to influence even policy making especially with issues relating

to the environment, human rights, food, health and safety, animal welfare, trading

standards and even disclosure of information” Rimbunan Hijau should take this into

consideration because they are vulnerable since they are involved in environmental

based line which affects the indigenous people directly.

The research required to develop the campaign should be carried out in stages

according to Oxley (1989) Research should begin by identifying the problems and

interviewing experts. Then, the research has to be more systematic which means case

studies, statistics and research methodology involving measurable variances. The

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primary research methodology could be quantitative rather than qualitative because

numbers, graphs and charts has more meaning than semiotics.

The term stakeholder was coined by Edward Freeman in the 80s. Key

stakeholders could be identified as the employees, communities, shareholders,

investors, NGO’s and the government. As a stakeholder, the employees are directly

affected because they are the driving force behind the company and employees are

directly affected by whatever the company chooses to do. They have to work hand in

hand to keep the forest sustainable such as replanting trees, chopping trees that are

matured, and giving time to samplings to grow.

Another stakeholder is the communities because as a company that’s dealing

with the environment and forestry, they need to sustain the environment. The

communities are those who are affected negatively because the company seems as if

they’re fighting with the orang asli who have nothing except their forest. This

portrays a negative image on the company. They could help by offering the

community jobs and paying them better.

Shareholders are also affected because the image of the company influences

the price of their stocks. Investors are also affected because if the company is in

trouble, their investments in the company will suffer and result in losses. Both could

encourage the company to practice more ethical business and to contribute using

corporate social responsibility.

NGO’s and advocacy groups are the most critical because they can make or

break a company. NGO’s and advocacy groups are affected because Rimbunan Hijau

is going against the cause that they’re fighting for. The government on the other hand

is affected legally. As mentioned, the company also appeared to be protected by an

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extensive and well established network of political patronage and it becomes an issue

because it is unethical for a political figure to protect an unscrupulous business such

as Rimbunan Hijau. The company and the NGO’s, advocacy groups and government

could work hand-in-hand by providing the orang asli with basic needs such as clean

water, decent housing and medical aid. They could also build a mini library and

provide education.

According to Oxley (1989) The goals and objective of the campaign must be

measurable and could be stated as an improved reputation and greater trust for the

brand Rimbunan Hijau, reduce cost and more efficient use of natural resources for a

more constructive and sustainable forestry system. After the setting of goals and

objective, scheduling and costing has to be done to estimate the duration and cost of

each campaign plans. Scheduling and costing is important because investors,

shareholders, accountants and even the CEO would want to know how much each

campaign will cost as well as how long they are expected to participate in the

campaign. Besides the accountants, everyone will be very interested with the figures.

The first step in handling an issue is the risk audit. A auditing the risks such

as the potentially unfavourable behaviour by the stakeholders, and in Rimbunan

Hijau’s case, it’s their employees. The employees might be defensive and deny all

allegations, thus, it’s difficult to carry out remedial steps to rectify the situations with

immediate effect.

Secondly, identifying and prioritising their audiences. For example, the major

issue with Braer known as the Braer Disaster when their oil tanker ran ashore in

Shetland in January 1993. The owners then prioritised the wrong audiences and

ended in disaster.

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 According to Newsom, Turk and Kruckenberg (2004) some PR key tactics

consist of rhetoric, symbols and slogans. The most suitable tactics in this case are

speeches, visual presentations, and the internet. Speeches and visual presentations

are important because most loggers may or may not be illiterate. To get the message

to them, they have to speak to them using simple language and also let the visuals do

the talking.

Measuring the success of the PR campaigns “determines the extent to which

it achieved its objective” according to Oxley (1989) to measure the success of the

campaigns, we have an attitude change, change in the company’s image, and

increase in the company’s stocks and portfolio.

In conclusion, corporate social responsibility and issues and crisis

management is important in maintaining a company’s image. As long as a company

follows the correct PR steps, there shouldn’t be a problem in the implementation and

achieving the desired results.

(2036 words)

PR Tactic 1: Speech

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 Speeches are the most influential communication tool because the intended

audiences don’t need to know how to read or write. Speeches could be used to target

everyone and anyone in general. It is also one of the most common communication

tools because anyone can understand it. A speech is relatively cheap, easy,

innovative, and adaptive.

The intended target audiences are the employees which may or may not be

illiterate. At most the speech has to be easy to understand, using layman’s language,

straight to the point, addresses the issue, and strong enough to empower the

employees to change their behaviors. As Rudyard Kipling once said, “Words are, of

course, the most powerful drug used by mankind”

The objective of the speech is to address the issue and encourage a behavior

change in all of the employees. The speech is to be presented by the CEO and is

addressed to the employees especially the loggers.

“Thank you for having me here to talk to you about some issues which

should be closer to our hearts. Firstly, I want to say thank you for the amount of time

you spend deep in the forest, logging trees to make beautiful products which are sold

to make homes more beautiful. I want to say that your work is indeed beautiful,

turning a house into a home.

Secondly, we have a serious problem with ethics. We have received a lot of

complaints and we take these complaints very seriously when it comes to you; our

employees. Criminal offence such as rape and drinking alcohol during work is

unacceptable. In the future, any employees caught doing so will be dealt with by the

police and will be fired.

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 Thirdly, we want to introduce a new system which will improve everyone’s

life. Since our business involves the environment, we have to give back what we’ve

taken. Employees are encouraged to plant more trees and for those working in our

offices, together we’re going to practice the 3R’s which are reduce, re-use and

recycle. The company will place recycling bins all around the office and on

weekends, the office will be turned into a collection centre when all employees are

encouraged to bring recyclable items to office which will be then recycled. The

employee that recycles the most will win RM 300, so, start recycling!!!

Lastly, we think that all work and no play makes Jack and Jill very dull

people so; we’re going to have a family day. All employees are encouraged to bring

their families to take part in our fun and games. We encourage our employees to

perform charitable work during their free time. Besides that, we will be opening our

factories for tours from primary and secondary school students and we hope that you

will welcome them and teach them with patience. We hope you will participate and

enjoy all of our activities.

Thank you for listening to my speech and I hope that you’ve enjoyed it. I

hope to see some changes in the way we run this place.”

(506 words)

PR Tactic 2: CSR for the Web

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 According to Wilcox (2006) over 60% of Americans have access to the

internet and the internet is an important tool in communication because people from

all parts of the world are able to access the company’s profile.

As a global conglomerate dealing in the timber and timber products, we

should invest in alternatives to help sustain the environment because without the

environment, we won’t have a future. To us, the future is where our children can

enjoy fresh clean air, building tree houses, and discovering the best that Mother

Nature has to offer.

We pride ourselves by giving back to the environment. Our diverse ranges of

products are made from the finest timber sourced from all over the world, turning

them into beautiful products so you can turn your house into a home.

Our passion for the environment doesn’t just end there. We have participated

in many forest conservation and tree planting activities. We believe that our children

have the right to a greener planet, and we have to sustain the environment for a better

future. Here is a summary of our activities that highlights our contributions toward

the area of Education, Community and the Environment.

EDUCATION

- We have sponsored factory tours to primary and secondary school

children to teach them sustainable resources.

- We constantly source machines that are friendlier to the environment and

our loggers are well trained to minimize deforestation.

- We constantly participate in international forums to discuss ways to

sustain the environment.

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 COMMUNITY

- We provide modern amenities and infrastructure to the indigenous

people in Sarawak such as a mobile library, schools, transportation, and water pipes

for clean water.

- We encourage our employees to perform charitable deeds during their

free time and some of our employees are volunteers are children’s home and old

folk’s home.

- We have adopted many indigenous kampongs so we could do more for

them financially and to enhance their lives.

ENVIRONMENT

- We play an active role in our Plant-A-Tree campaign where we work

with our employees to plant trees as well as and we are constantly looking for

modern ways to help, conserve, protect and sustain our environment for our children.

- We turn our offices into a collection centre every weekend to encourage

recycling and during normal working hours, we place recycling bins around our

offices and factories to maximize recycling efforts from our employees.

We know that it’s important for our customers to know about our business

and we are happy to assure you that all timber and timber products purchased from

our company are from sustainable forest.

We believe that everyone should play their part and as long as we work

together, it is possible for our children to play hide-and-seek amidst trees, climb the

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trees to touch the skies, and discover animals and insects they never knew existed.

This is our dream and together, this will be our future.

(493 words)

(Total word count: 3035 words)

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Dauvergne, P. (1997) Globalisation and deforestation in the Asia-Pacific, Australia

Department of International Relations.

Hammond, D. (1997) Commentary on forest policy in the Asia-Pacific region,

Forestry Policy and Planning Division, Rome.

Heldringstraat, O. (2004) The untouchables: Rimbunan Hijau’s world of forest crime

& political patronage, Greenpeace International.

Heyzer, N. (1996) Gender, population and environment in the context of

deforestation: A Malaysian case study, United Nations Research Institute for Social
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Kasran, B. (1988) Effect of logging on sediment yield in a hill dipterocarp forest in

Peninsular Malaysia, Forest Research Institute Malaysia.

Kitchen, P. (1997) Public relations principles and practise, Thomson Learning

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Oxley, H. (1989) The principles of public relations, Kogan Page.

Purnomo, H. & Guizol, P. State Forest Land Management after Deforestation.

The Star
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/6/nation/2198042&sec=nation
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accessed on 8 October 2008

The Star
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/10/6/lifefocus/2150772&sec=life
focus

accessed on 8 October 2008

Wilcox, D (2004) Public relations writing and media techniques, Pearson Education.

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