FIVE civil society groups have urged Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to reform the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS), which they say has long-standing flaws. They called for immediate action to ensure Orang Asal communities are not excluded from the certification process when logging occurs on their lands.

The MTCS is a voluntary scheme that provides independent assessments of forest management and chain of custody certification, aimed at ensuring the sustainable management of the country’s permanent reserved forests.