Penan families not going to get a sen more, says Sarawak Chief Minister

Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud (pic, left) continued to play hardball with the state's long-suffering Penan tribe when he said his government will not pay an extra sen to the 100 families displaced by the Murum hydroelectric dam project.

He called their cash demands "outrageous" and insisted the state government will not budge as the demands "would be rejected anywhere in the world".

The 100 Penan families, who have set up a blockade on the access road to the dam site, are demanding RM500,000 compensation for each family while the state government is only prepared to pay RM15,000 per family.

"Their demands are often over exorbitant cash payouts. The government will continue to reject their most outrageous demands because they are unreasonable," Taib said when concluding the debates in the state assembly this afternoon.

The chief minister also hinted that the Penan had been made use of when he said: "What they have managed to achieve is a lot of publicity for the instigators behind them, who received cash from their sponsors outside Sarawak".

He said that to those affected by the proposed construction of a larger dam in Baram and another proposed dam in Baleh along the Rajang River, the government would devise a resettlement plan that is acceptable to all parties.

In Baram, the project would displace thousands of people in 33 villages.

The dams are the cornerstone of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score), the industrial corridor of the state government’s industrialisation plan.

Taib said the success of Score depended on the successful resettlement of the affected communities.

"There is no doubt in my mind in the link between Score and resettlement.

"The government is committed to a successful resettlement exercise because the people of Sarawak owe it to the affected communities.

"We owe it to the indigenous people that they should also benefit from the development programme which we are pursuing for Sarawak," he said.

Taib also said Sarawakians should be proud of their present resettlement policy because "it is probably among the best in the world".

The chief minister also acknowledged that Sarawak had not taken adequate measures in the past to provide for better resettlement because "we could not afford them".

"Now that we are able to integrate hydro development as part of our hinterland development strategy, we are in a position to plan better and have a better approach."

On another contentious issue, the Malaysia Agreement, Taib said it should not be questioned as Sarawak had benefitted much in the 50 years after it gained independence and became an integral member of Malaysia.

He said the people had enjoyed peace and harmony, tackled poverty which fell from 60% in the 60s to only 2.4%.

"The standard of living in Sarawak has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 50 years," he said. – November 27, 2013.

Penan blockade highlights rich-poor gap

By now you may be aware of the peaceful blockade by the Penans along the road to the Murum Dam site in Sarawak – despite a virtual blackout in the mainstream media.

The Penan blockade – Photograph: Scane

The odds are stacked against the Penans in this David vs Goliath test of wills.
On one side are the Penans, a community that is among the poorest and most marginalised in the country. On the other are powerful corporate interests backed by a few of the wealthiest politicians in the country and their cronies. A stark reminder of the wide gap between the rich and the poor in the country.
Development for whom? This is not holistic development but pure economic development (for whom? large politically connected corporation or local communities?) which ignores the social, cultural, ecological and spiritual dimensions of local communities and their habitat.
And let’s not forget the issue of whether there was free, prior and informed consent and participatory decision-making at the local level.

IGP must stop his boys from provoking Penans

The Royal Malaysian Police force needs to be educated on human rights and perspective of the people's struggle, claims Suaram.

KUALA LUMPUR: Human rights NGO, Suaram, has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ismail Omar to warn his men not to interfere in the Penan tribe’s rights struggle in the Murum dam issue in Sarawak.

“In order to bring the credibility to the force, they should be seen as a neutral party and not to take the side of the oppressor.

“People resort to the blockade as an option to stop destruction of their livelihood as the construction of the dam progresses. Is this a criminal offence?” asked Suaram in a statement issued today.

Suaram was commenting on a statement by Sibu police chief DSP Bakar Sebau who warned protesting Penan natives that criminal action will be taken against them if they continued to mount blockades on the accesses road leading to the controversial Murum dam project site.

The Penan community from eight affected villagers have been setting up blockades since Sept 25 stopping lorries and heavy vehicles from entering into the RM3 billion Murum Dam project site. They are demanding that the state government and contractors Sarawak Energy Berhad respect their rights and demands and keep promises given to them four years ago.

Bakar had also warned the natives that they will be charged under Section 143 and 147 of the Penal Code for unlawful assembly and causing riot.

He had reportedly said that police reinforcement from Sibu and Kapit would be despatched to the blockade site.

Condemning the “intimidation” and “provocative tactic” by the police, Suaram said: “This is clearly a bully tactic from the state against the Penan natives.

“The state is now employing the police to forcibly remove the blockade to further its project.

“Suaram reiterates that this is an intimidation and provocation tactic used by the police in order to create tension at the blockade area for the police to take action.”

‘Abuse of law’

Earlier this week Sarawak PKR leader-cum lawyer Baru Bian warned Bakar not to provoke the Penans.

Said Bian: “I am disturbed to read about the recent development in the Murum Dam issue… I sense that this is a buildup to the arrest of the Penans who are manning the blockades.

“I am extremely disappointed by the statement by district police chief DSP Bakar Sebau that action could be taken against them under Section 143 or 147 of the Penal Code for illegal assembly or taking part in a riot. This is an abuse of the process of the law.

“The Penans are a peaceful people and if there is any riot, it would be as a result of provocation by agents of the dam-builders or the authorities.”

Penan resettlement sites: ‘Why notify only now’?

A 'first' notification on resettlement sites issued by the state government to Penans affected by the Murum dam which is 75% complete has raised more questions.

KUCHING: Save Rivers Network (SAVE Rivers) has ridiculed the first notification of the Social and Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) Report for the proposed resettlement sites and service centre for the Penans affected by the Murum dam project.

The notification was released on Oct 11 by the State Planning Unit (SPU) and involved the Metalun and Tegulang Resettlement sites as well as the Murum service centre.

“However, the question on why the SEIA report has only just been released when about 75% of works on the Murum dam have been completed begs to be asked,” said Peter Kallang , chairman of SAVE Rivers.

“We have heard that earthwork for the two proposed resettlement sites has already begun. Therefore, does it make sense to ask for public comments on the SEIA report now?

“This sounds like a last-minute public relations exercise to me, and not a genuine effort to get proper feedback from the public,” he said.

Kallang noted that a statement made in March 2010, by the SPU principal assistant director (environment and natural resources) Andrew Tukau stated that “the state government will conduct social and environmental impact assessment studies on all future hydroelectric dam projects in Sarawak, starting with the Murum Dam”.

“Despite promises made by the SPU about two and half years ago, we are still waiting for the SEIA report for the construction of the Murum dam itself.

“We were told that the Murum dam would be the model to correct mistakes previously made in the Bakun mega dam, and other dams in Sarawak.

“Sadly, it appears that the government is making the same mistakes all over again, and the Penan communities of Murum are now paying the price,” Kallang said.

He wants to know what had happened to the government’s earlier promises.

He said the government had promised that there would be “no involuntary resettlement as was done in previous dam projects” and that the resettlement action plan would have a new monitoring, evaluation and reporting mechanism.

The failure of the state government to release the SEIA report earlier and the promises that have not been fulfilled have made the Penans from eight villages angry.

Since Sept 26, the Penans have blocked the roads leading to the dam construction sites resulting in scores of trucks and lorries loaded with building materials abandoned near the sites of the blockades.

Helping the Penans: A RM100m question

In 2008, Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu said that RM100 million had been allocated to develop Penan community and that projects would be completed by 2010.

KUCHING: Several Penan community leaders are demanding to know what happened to the RM100 million that Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu had announced in September 2008.
According to them, the RM100 million was a federal government allocation meant to aid development in the Penan community.
But it has been four years since and the community has not seen the money or any development.
Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian, who was in Baram last week, said several Penan leaders had met him and urged him to raise the RM100-million question.
“A Penan leader pulled out from his file and showed me a paper cutting which quoted Jabu as saying that the federal government had approved an allocation of RM100 million for the development of Penan community.
“The paper cutting was dated Sept 25, 2008,” said Bian, who is also the Ba’Kelalan assemblyman.
Bian said that the Penans are asking where the money is now and how it was spent.
“They told me that they have not seen the money, not even a sen,” Bian said.

‘BN delivers’
On Sept 25, 2008, Jabu, who is the chairman of the Penan steering committee, said that the federal government had approved an allocation of RM100 million for the development of the Penan community.
He said the allocation would be used to develop the community to bring them into the mainstream of development, adding that the money would be used for various sectors to improve the living standard of the community.
“The allocation will be spent until 2010, and we thank the federal government for responding to help the Penan community,” Jabu said.
He said the Penans, like other communities, needed to be developed and that the government would always fulfil its promises to the people.
“Unlike the opposition who make empty promises, the BN always delivers what it promised,” he added.

Penan block logging road near Ba Bunau, Middle Baram

Penan are stopping a four wheel drive at Ba Bunau, Baram, Sarawak, on 13 October 2011 (Picture: BMF)

We have just received the news that the Penan communities of Ba Abang and Long Kawi in Sarawak's Middle Baram region have started blockading a logging road to prevent the further felling of their rainforests.

According to community information received by the Bruno Manser Fund, the blockade has been erected last Thursday, 13th October 2011, and has been attended by more than 70 Penan tribespeople. The blockade is located near the Ba Bunau river within the claimed Native Customary Rights land of the Ba Abang community. It is mainly directed against Interhill, a Malaysian logging company based in Miri, Sarawak. Interhill is also known to be the owner of the Pullman 5-star hotel in Sarawak's capital, Kuching. The Pullman Kuching hotel is being operated by the French Accor group.

The Penan accuse Interhill of particularly aggressive and environmentally destructive logging during the past months. Several attempts by the communities to negotiate with Interhill responsibles have failed. Interhill had already been accused of similar conduct in 2009. An independent study commisioned by the French Accor group showed at the time that Interhill had been involved in illegal and unsustainable logging practices. Following pressure from Accor's sustainability department, Interhill promised to better its conduct but has obviously failed to live up to its promises.

The Bruno Manser Fund has learned that Interhill called the police and forestry department officials to dissolve the blockade but the Penan are currently upholding their protest. In December 2009, six Penan communities of the Middle Baram region jointly filed court cases to claim land titles over their customary land and asked for the logging licences to be declared null and void. The cases are currently pending at the Miri High Court.

The Bruno Manser Fund is calling on the Interhill management to instruct their staff to immediately stop the destructive logging of the Penan forests and to send a high-ranking delegation to the blockade site to apologize for the company's conduct. We are particiulary disappointed to learn that Interhill failed to live up to the promises made to the French Accor group and to the international community two years ago.

Fight for Penan justice or keep mum

Justice for the Penan women who have repeatedly cried rape appears to be elusive.
COMMENT

The recently concluded Sarawak state election has given seven women politicians a chance to become assemblypersons. An opportunity that brings with it the responsibility to do the “right thing”.

Four incumbents from the Barisan Nasional (BN) and three from opposition ally DAP now sit in the State Legislative Assembly.

DAP fielded four women – Violet Yong in Pending, Ting Tze Fui in Meradong and two new faces, Alice Lau Kiong Yieng in Bawang Assan and Christina Chiew in Batu Kawah. With the exception of Lau who lost to SUPP heavyweight Wong Soon Koh, the rest succeeded in coming on board as assemblypersons.

The youngest candidate was Chiew, who, at 27, managed to outdo Tan Joo Phoi, assistant minister in the chief minister’s office in winning the people’s trust.

With the election over, work is at hand for these women leaders. The most pressing and long-standing issue concerned the rape of the Penan women and girls, a matter which no authority has viewed seriously, much less offer help.

The police, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry as well as Suhakam, Malaysia’s human rights body, have failed the Penan women in seeking justice for the sexual exploitation they have for years been suffering at the hands of the timber loggers.

The April 16 state election saw four incumbents from BN – Fatimah Abdullah, Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, Simoi Peri and Rosey Yunus (Bekenu) – retaining their respective seats.

Fatimah, 54, won Dalat with a majority of 4,990 votes in a three-cornered fight. Fatimah, who is Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Wanita deputy chief, was the only woman minister in the last Cabinet.

Justice a distant dream

Sharifah Hasidah, 42, retained her Semariang seat with a 5,431-vote majority in a straight fight against Zulrusdi Mohamad Hol of PKR.

Simoi, 47, kept her Lingga seat, with a majority of 2,506 votes in a three-cornered fight while Rosey, 55, of the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), won the Bekenu seat with a majority of 3,714 votes in a four-cornered fight.

Regrettably, these four BN women representatives remained indifferent towards the plight of the Penan women who time and time again have cried rape.

For the rape survivors who dared take on the timber loggers, justice remains a distant dream.

In 2010, it was reported that a Penan women from Long Item, Baram in Sarawak, given the pseudonym “Bibi” by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry’s National Task Force Report (in September 2009), gave birth to another baby in February last year.

The father of Bibi’s child was her alleged rapist, an Interhill logging camp worker known as “Johnny” or Ah Hing.

In 2008, Bibi lodged a police report of a rape in Bukit Aman and was given refuge by the Women’s Aid Organisation, a participant in the National Task Force. However, when Bibi returned to Long Item to visit her family, she again fell under the clutches of Ah Hing.

And contrary to Ah Hing’s claim made to the police and the Borneo Post, a local daily owned by a logging company that he was Bibi’s husband, the Penan Support Group (PSG) had documentary evidence that Ah Hing is registered with the government as the father of two sets of children born to two different mothers aside from Bibi; a Chinese woman and another Penan women.

Police ‘bought over’?

In her 2008 police report, Bibi said Ah Hing raped her in 2005 after she rejected his demand that she become his “wife”. She refused after learning from villagers that Ah Hing already had two wives and two families.

Section 375(c) of the Penal Code states that obtaining a sexual relationship by pretending to “marry” a woman when the perpetrator is already married, amounts to “misconception of fact” and is in fact, rape.

Despite pleading for help from the Bukit Aman police and the National Task Force, Bibi received none. This despite the fact that the Task Force report confirmed the rapes had taken place. Bibi ended up as Ah Hing’s wife, bearing him three children, in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

It is a shame that despite Bibi placing her trust in the police and the National Task Force, both abandoned responsibility. Bibi failed to free herself from Ah Hing. The police meanwhile never arrested Ah Hing who instead took Bibi to police stations in Long Lama and Marudi in September 2009 to lodge new reports denying she was raped by him.

The PSG had been told by villagers in middle Baram that Ah Hing had accompanied the police to another village in middle Baram to pressure another Penan girl, aged 18, to withdraw her report. This teenager and her family in all their courage refused to cower.

There is no doubt left that the manner in which the police handled Bibi’s complaint has tainted the image of this profession. The police as well as the newspapers were the least bothered to verify the facts that Ah Hing was never Bibi’s husband.

If all this was not painful enough for Bibi, the police closed their investigation following Bibi’s retraction. Interhill, a logging company, in its internal investigation found no evidence of sexual misconduct, leaving Ah Hing free to claim Bibi as his “wife” although bigamy is a serious crime for non-Muslims in Malaysia.

When questioned, Sarawak police chief Mohmad Salleh denied that police were protecting the rapist from the politically-connected logging companies.

“When I am asked about this, I become emotional. The police don’t hide facts. We have tried everything we could but the victims refuse to cooperate,” he had then claimed.

Police not willing to help Penans

The Borneo Post in its report quoted Mohmad as saying that the police visited nine logging camps, interviewing 72 witnesses. The police made three visits to the “jungle” to investigate the findings of the National Task Force report.

Mohmad, however, refused to explain why the police merely interviewed the loggers. According to the Penan communities, the police never visited any of the rape survivors.

“The real problem lies with the victims themselves. They are not giving proper cooperation to the police,” Mohmad was quoted as saying.

Proper cooperation? According to the PSG, two of the survivors gathered all the courage and travelled to the foreign land of Kuala Lumpur to lodge reports while others gave the police their full cooperation.

Now, will the police bother clarifying as to why it went back on its commitment which was made by the then Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan in January 2009 to conduct a joint visit with the PSG to the affected communities?

What the police did instead was unforgiveable – they proposed to use logging camps as a base, bringing the rape survivors to the same camps where some Penan girls said they been abducted by loggers and used the logging vehicles for transport.

Obviously, the police had no sincere wish in investigating the case. In the end, the police withdrew using the excuse that they had no funds for the visit.

“The absence of positive support from state authorities in investigating and finding solutions to grievances has undermined the trust of communities like the Penans in the authorities and has left them even more defenceless and vulnerable,” the PSG had said in its mission’s report which was released on July 6, 2010.

On July 8, 2010, Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu, in responding to PSG’s mission findings, parroted the police chief’s demands for the Penan survivors to lodge further reports.

“We are open. Give us the proof… we will investigate,” he had said.

New blood hope for Penans

Yong, Ting and Chiew, the DAP greenhorns, hopefully can take it upon themselves to assist the Penan women earn the much-delayed justice for a crime shielded politically.

The Penan women and girls have suffered enough at the hands of the timber loggers, the police and the unscrupulous government under Chief Minister Taib Mahmud.

In their desperation, the PSG turned to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s wife Rosmah Mansor for intervention but she too refused any help.

Now that Taib has once again “bought” his way into lording over the people of Sarawak, the Penan women and girls have two options – to continue fighting against all odds for the much elusive justice or to keep silent, for good.

Penan wars trilogy: Crimes in the jungle

(Malaysiakini) I reproduce below the police reports written by the Penans themselves, so that they may now have a face. The Penans are not just faceless and voiceless characters. Now they have a personality, just like you and I.

I recommend that you read the reports carefully for the Penans are great storytellers, having in their heritage a fine oral tradition. They are painstaking when it comes to details and they are eloquent in the emotive retelling of their experiences.

Until today, it is worthy to note that no one has been arrested or interrogated in relation to the reports. The excuse is that the police cannot prosecute the perpetrators of the crimes because they could not be identified.

In the end, the police reports and statutory declarations quoted here remain the only indictment of the crimes committed in the jungle.

Raped at 12

This testimony comes in the form of a signed, statutory declaration. Because the victim was a minor when the rape took place, she will simply be called 'M'.

Her father, Buet Kayan of Long Ajeng, Ulu Baram, a Malaysian citizen of about 40 years of age born in the vicinity without birth certificate, made the following statutory declaration at Miri, Sarawak in March 1995:

“Sometime in early November 1993, my wife Leren Bajau and I returned to our dwelling in Long Kerong after having gone to the forest to gather sago. We found that our daughter M, together with some other people from Long Kerong, had returned from Long Ajeng a few days earlier.

“M had gone to Long Ajeng at about the end of October 1993 to fetch rice for the family. She had travelled on foot to Long Ajeng together with Gembala (pastor) John and his wife, both of Long Kerong, and another girl named Martha (also known as Merita) from Long Ajeng.

“M is my third child and was born in April 1981. She is generally reserved and quiet. She has a lisp in her speech and does not speak much. My wife and I have 10 children still living, including M.

“About two or three days after we returned from the forest, M told my wife and I that she had been raped in Long Mobui while en route to Long Ajeng from Long Kerong. She was sad and depressed and cried while relating her experience. She had been afraid to tell us what had happened to her for fear that my wife and I would be angry.

“M said that she had been raped at night by two men in the house of Datu Abeng, the son of the ketua kampung of Long Mobui. She said one of the rapists was of big build and had a big stomach. She said that she had struggled, screamed and cried while she was being raped but nobody came to help her. She said she had not told anyone about the rape.

“My wife and I were shocked. We consoled her and told her we were grateful she had not been injured or killed by the rapists...” read the declaration.

“My wife and I did not tell anybody about the rape until August 1994. We did not know what to do about the matter, or to whom we should report. We finally told Balang Tui (of Long Ajeng) when we heard that some Penan leaders were going to Kuching to make a police report on problems faced by our community. A police report was made on Sept 30, 1994 at the Kuching Central Police Station.

“On March 22, 1995, M made a police report, Miri Central Police Station and gave a statement to the police in Miri regarding her rape in Long Mobui. I also gave a statement to the police,” it concluded.

Nobody has ever been arrested in connection with M's case. At the time of writing, M has remained single and she is now 29-years-old, living with her kin somewhere near her village in Ulu Baram.

4-year-old killed by tear-gas

Bulan Yoh of Long Mobui, Baram made the following statutory declaration regarding the death of her 4-year-old son Sonny Laot:

“...We are currently living in Long Kerong, Baram. We have six children now living. Five of my children have died, including Sonny Laot who was my youngest child. Sonny was 4 years old when he died on Oct 6 1993.

“Sonny was hospitalised in Marudi hospital for about a month in August/September 1993. He was operated on for a swelling on his neck below his left ear. He recovered fully and my husband and I took him back to the Sebatu blockade site. There he actively played with the other children and was eating normally and in general good health.

“On the second day of our arrival at Sebatu, the tear-gassing and dismantling of the blockade took place. At about 10am that day, a large number of Police Field Force (PFF) personnel and other police personnel wearing red helmets with visors and carrying shields, whom I believe to be from the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU), were seen advancing towards the blockade.

“They were accompanying some officers from the Forest Department and some workers from the logging company that operates in the area. I believe there were more than 300 police personnel present.

“Some men at the blockade went some distance down the road with the intention of negotiating with the police. But they were immediately arrested upon coming into contact with the Police.

“The PFF personnel continued their advance and the large group of men who had followed close behind their representatives retreated towards the blockade. When the PFF were about 100 metres from the blockade, they started arresting people in the group.

“My husband was among this group of men. I saw him being arrested. His arms were forcibly held behind his back by four PFF personnel. I heard him shouting as if he was in pain. I ran towards my husband to help him.

“At that moment the PFF started throwing tear-gas canisters at the group without any warning and without any provocation from the group. At the same time those PFF personnel that were armed with M-16 rifles surrounded the area around the blockade.

“I was afraid for my children whom I had left in our lamin (an open-walled temporary hut, raised about six feet above the ground) located about 100 metres from the blockade. In our lamin were Sonny (4 years old), Rose (7-8 years) and Stella (6-7 years). My grandchild Joit Abut (5-6 years) was also in the hut.

“As I made my way towards our lamin, I saw the PFF throw tear-gas canisters towards the lamins of the people. Some of them landed near our lamin. The gas drifted towards the lamin and enveloped the area. People ran away from the gas. As I tried to get back to our lamin the PFF tried to prevent me and the other people from getting to the lamin. It took me a long time to reach our lamin.

“When I finally arrived at our lamin, there was tear-gas all around and inside. I was choking from the gas. I rushed inside and found only Sonny there. He was crying, coughing and vomiting from the effects of the tear gas.

“I took him out of the lamin and went into the nearby forest, to get away from the gas. Sonny was vomiting badly. I tried giving him some water but he drank only a little.

“That night, I sheltered with Sonny and the rest of the family in a lamin in the forest. Sonny was constantly coughing and vomiting and could hardly eat or drink.

The next day we set off on foot for Long Kerong with the other families from the blockade as we were extremely fearful of the police. On the journey Sonny's condition deteriorated. We only had some Panadol for medication.

“We travelled for five days in the forest and reached Long Sait where we stayed with some relatives. At Long Sait, Sonny's condition continued to worsen.

“He eventually died on the third day after we arrived in Long Sait, 6 Oct 1993. We buried Sonny in Long Sait.

Another tear gas tragedy

Another victim of the show of force at a Penan blockade was Geran Ten, who passed away on Sept 8, 1994 in Long Kerong.

The police report featured the interviews of his brother Gilin Ten, 65, and another farmer Geoffery Upai Lagui, 33 from Long Kerong.

Geran was born in Long Kerong, part of a family of four brothers and sisters. He was married with no children.

Before the blockade in Long Mobui, Geran had stayed in Long Ajeng for some time. His land is in Long Kerong.

It is suspected that tear-gas thrown by the PFF personnel while dismantling the blockade at Long Mobui was the main cause of his death.

Gilin says he was with Geran when the police charged at the Penan manning the blockade. Gilin was about 100 meters from the hut where Geran was resting. At that time, Geran was a little sick with fever but it was not serious, and he continued to participate in all the activities at the blockade site with the others.

Gilin says as the police started firing tear-gas at the people, he saw some being thrown underneath the hut where Geran was resting. He then saw his brother emerge, vomiting as he descended the staircase.

Gilin rushed to help his brother but was restrained by the police as he reached a worship hut half way to where Geran was. He could see Geran appearing weak and vomiting continuously.

In the pandemonium nobody was helping Geran. They were either prevented from reaching their huts, or running away from the smoke that was proving extremely irritating. When the smoke got thicker, he could not see Geran anymore. Irritated by the smoke, Gilin rushed to a stream nearby to wash his face.

When he returned about half an hour later, the police had left and it was raining very heavily. The huts were completely destroyed and he could not find Geran.

The people started returning to the site and about 30 temporary sheds were put up. It was getting dark and the rain was still very heavy. Geran returned at that time and he was coughing badly. Gilin boiled some water for Geran to drink, hoping that it would help stop his coughing but it did not.

Gungho police and indifferent doctors

The next morning, a helicopter flew over the blockade site and a group of armed soldiers came to the sheds. They searched to see if anything was being hidden. They did not destroy the sheds this time.

That evening, after the soldiers had left, people started leaving the site.

Gilin and Geran left together. After walking for only half a mile, Geran complained that he was too weak to walk. Gilin then erected a small shed and both of them stayed there for the night.

Geran was coughing badly and complained of stomach-ache. There was white stuff coming out from his mouth when he coughed. He began to have a lot of blisters on his lips and he could not eat. He felt weak and was visibly losing weight.

Because Geran was too weak to walk a long distance, Gilin had to erect a shed for him to rest and sleep after walking a short distance each day. They spent ten days in the jungle before they reached Long Kerong. Normally, it takes less than two days to walk the distance..

When they first arrived in Long Kerong, they stayed in a good friend, Bala Kadir's house. Geran's wife also arrived, following another group.

After staying with Bala for two weeks, Geran's health had deteriorated. He could not eat anything at all; when he did, he vomited. Panadol was the only medicine that the local villagers could get for him.

When the flying doctors came to Long Kerong, they refused to walk the short distance (about 40 meters away) to see him. Some villagers had tried to carry Geran to see the doctors but any small movement of his body caused him so much pain that they didn't persist.

Geoffery was away when Geran arrived in Long Kerong. When he returned, he immediately went to see him when the villagers told him that Geran was very sick.

He corroborated Gilin's account of his brother's condition. He helped administer some medicine for rehydration and for gastric that the flying doctors had prescribed.

He says during the time when Geran was in Long Kerong, the flying doctors visited the community three times. Geoffery tried to persuade the doctors to see Geran, explaining how moving him caused him great pain, but the doctors were not sympathetic. They just asked about his health condition and left some medicine.

Two days before he passed away, Geran was unconscious. The villagers helped to move him into Bala's house because a lot of the villagers came and wanted to pray for his recovery.

He passed away after midnight. Before he died, he told his brother to keep his parang and his gun, and not to throw them away.

Gilin is very sad because the government has done nothing to investigate the death of his brother. He is still angry with the flying doctors for refusing to attend to Geran, even though they were informed of his critical condition.

Penan rapes: Complaint to UN rapporteur

(Malaysiakini) A regional human rights organisation has expressed concern about the 'significant delay' in response by Malaysia to sexual violence against Penan women and girls by workers attached to a private logging company in Sarawak.

Pooja Patel, the Forum-Asia representative in Geneva, acknowledged that Malaysia had set up a national task force.

However, the NGO remains deeply concerned that “no concrete measures have been taken so far to act upon its findings and recommendations or bring perpetrators to justice”.

Patel said that Forum-Asia, together with local indigenous support groups in Malaysia, have since documented new cases of sexual abuse.

“We have also conducted research on the wider structural causes to the issue of persistent sexual violence and exploitation faced by Penan women and girls,” she said during a dialogue yesterday with James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples.

“These include denial of their land rights and basic citizenship rights as well as defunct mechanisms for redress and remedies.”

A copy of Patel's statement was made available to Malaysiakini.

She said Forum-Asia, based in Bangkok and representing more than 40 human rights organisations, has requested the special rapporteur to remain vigilant on human rights violations against the Penan.

Anaya was asked to follow up with Malaysia on the alleged incidents of sexual violence, and to develop comprehensive programmes that serve the needs of Penan women and girls.

It is learnt that he had communicated with the Malaysian government in November 2008, but has not received a response .

In July, the Penan Support Group, a coalition of 36 NGOs, had released a detailed report, describing the ordeal of the Penan women and their communities.

The logging company Samling Global, which has consistently denied the allegations, immediately reminded employees in a circular that it does not tolerate criminal acts or inappropriate behaviour, and that offenders will be reported to the authorities.

Explanation of delay

In a related development, the Malaysian delegate's office in Geneva has issued a statement explaining the delay in responding to Ananya two years ago.

Read on behalf of the government by Johan Ariff Abdul Razak, it attributed the delay to official action in progress at the time.

A high-level task force chaired by the women, family and community development minister had only just been established at the time, and was undertaking its own investigation on the issue of alleged sexual violence against Penan women, said the statement.

The task force report, initially kept under wraps by the cabinet, was finally made public in September last year after coming under pressure from PKR Women's chief Zuraida Kamaruddin.

“It was only appropriate that the findings of the task-force be included in its response to the special rapporteur's communication,” said the statement.

“For its part, the government remains committed to ensuring that the Penan continue to reap the same benefits as other communities from the nation's continued progress and development.

“In this connection, it is unfortunate that certain quarters, both domestically and internationally, have sought to politicise the situation of the Penan, which is not necessarily the most constructive approach.”

According to government data, 97 percent of the Penan community have adopted a settled lifestyle, with the remaining 3 percent - numbering several hundreds - have retained their traditional nomadic way of life.

It is this latter group which is at greater risk of potential human rights violations, including sexual abuse, said the government.

It claimed that, like other indigenous communities in Malaysia, the full range of human rights of the Penan are constitutionally protected.

Penan power and a press conference that wasn't

COMMENT Trouble was brewing in 1990 in the jungle of Sebatu near Long Ajeng, Ulu Baram in Sarawak. Penans from 15 villages had put up a long-standing blockade in their attempt to stop loggers from entering their area. A blockade is a simple collection of branches laid across the path of a jungle road to prevent timber trucks from entering.

Eventually, the state police decided to take action. They sent in 300 members of the much-feared Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) and tore down the blockade by force, while arresting the people on site.

The protesting Penans were taken utterly by surprise and they were shocked by the sudden show of violence on the part of the FRU.

They ran helter skelter through the jungle in great confusion. In the pandemonium that followed, a four-year-old Penan boy was overcome by one of the tear-gas bombs hurled into the midst of the Penans and he later died from the effects from the gas.

With the FRU and police personnel occupying their Long Ajeng settlement, many families left Long Ajeng to take refuge in other Penan settlements. It was on one of these desperate journeys that a 12-year-old Penan girl was raped by a uniformed intruder, according to Penan villagers.

When some NGO members from abroad brought these crimes to my attention in 1993, I decided to take the matter to the law. I sent my personal aide, See Chee How, into the Upper Baram area to get a first-hand, eyewitness account of what had happened in the deep jungle.

Chee How reported to me the violent actions of the FRU, together with details of the death of the young boy and the rape of the 12-year-old girl.

But my attempts to report the matter to the police failed, because the police in Miri were lukewarm in their response and did not treat the report seriously. That was when I decided to lodge a police report in Bandar Kuching central police station.

It was a logistic nightmare, but finally we overcame all kinds of difficulties in communications and transport. A group of 20 Penan village chiefs representing 15 Penan villages finally arrived in Kuching city.

Close knit community

The next morning, I took these village chiefs (tuai rumah) to the central police station in Kuching. A police inspector had been contacted and was waiting for us, and he was the very picture of hospitality and courtesy.

The visitors were offered hot drinks and cakes, and invited to sit down at a big table. After we sat down and exchanged pleasantries, a police officer was assigned to record the villagers' statements. The action of the police, in this instance, was exemplary.
In the afternoon, the Penan chiefs called for a press conference. They trooped into my small office at Green Road in Kuching. The office was crowded with eager members of the local press.

That was when I noticed something unique as we entered my office; the Penans always walk in single file, there in my office in the city, and anywhere they go in the jungle. They keep together and depend on one another.

That was my first time meeting the Penan villagers face to face. Much as I had heard of their shyness, they were articulate and outspoken in voicing their long-standing problems with the authorities, in their jungle home. They were a gentle people and slightly shorter in stature than town folk.

I could not detect a single fat person among them. They were all fit, their bodies hard as nails, thanks to the long years of living in the wild and depending only on their personal resources for survival. I was told that the nomadic Penans' most prized possessions are their loyal hunting dogs, on which their existence depended.

I was taken aback by another unique practice of the Penans. In their communal traditions, they share everything in their lives together. They do not have a concept of a spokesperson.

Every time a question was raised by the reporters, the question would go through the ring of Penans one by one, with murmured consultations, until finally one answer emerged at the end of the discussion. The press conference took a great deal of time for this, but I was very impressed by the democratic practice of their communal living.

There was some degree of excitement among the reporters at the end of the press conference; some were busy taking pictures, while a film crew recorded the proceedings.

Muted press

The next day when the newspapers were delivered to my office, not a single picture of the Penans appeared in the press. That was how it was in those days: any news of the Penans was systematically blacked out.

Fortunately, the news of the Penans' visit to Kuching was leaked out to the international press. That was the time when reports about the Penans had become big news with the international media, shortly after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June, 1992.

During their visit to Kuching, the delegation of Penans also took the opportunity to lobby their cause with the government.

They sent a delegation of representatives to visit the chief minister's office; they also met with officers from the education and medical departments and a representative from the State Cabinet Committee on Penan Affairs, under the aegis of Minister Abang Johari Abang Openg.

A day or two later, they returned to their villages. All in all, despite efforts to suppress the news of their suffering, it had been a successful trip for the Penans.

This was how one of the most highly publicised actions taken by the Baram Penans came about. Unfortunately, in 1995, I fell ill and had to retire from active politics. But thanks to the Internet, the struggle of the Penans has never lost steam and has gained more momentum in the last two decades.

Meanwhile, See Chee How (right) and his team of lawyers have picked up the Penan cause where we left off. They have kept up public interest regarding the plight of the Penans with even greater urgency and effectiveness. Today, the problem of the Penans and native people fighting for their rights to their land is one of the hottest issues on the Sarawak political stage.

Next week, I shall reproduce in full the 1993 police reports lodged on the deaths of the four-year-old Penan boy and a Penan man at the blockades, and the rape of the 12-year-old Penan girl.

Penan issue: Taib expresses regret over NGOs' unfriendly views

KUCHING: Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud has expressed regret over the issue of the Penans being hurled at the state all the time by "unfriendly" non-governmental organisations (NGOs), particularly foreign NGOs, which he said held the wrong view that they should be left to roam the jungles like the orang utans.
However, he said, if the government left the Penans to roam like animals in the forests, then the state would be accused by human rights groups of not doing its duty to help them develop.
"To date, some 500 of the Penans are still wandering as nomads in the forests," he said during a recent interview with a British television station at Oxford, near London.
Extracts of the interview were made available in a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office here today.
Nevertheless, Taib said, he was happy that most of the Penans had begun to settle down while some of them had been able to earn a good income from cultivating oil palm.
He said there were Penans among the civil servants, and added that they excelled in education at school.
"Although they are late starters, they are increasingly becoming part of the Sarawak community," he said.
Taib said his visit to London was to look into the possibility of tapping the expertise and knowledge of the academia, particularly those at Oxford, on how to get in touch with big investors and players in the global market to participate in the development of the Tanjung Manis Halal Hub in Sarawak.
Also present at the interview were Sarawak Land Development Minister James Jemut Masing, Deputy Foreign Minister Richard Riot and Kuala Rajang MP Norah Abdul Rahman.
- Bernama

Govt urged to act immediately on Penan issues

By Joseph Tawie - Free Malaysia Today,

KUCHING: The Sarawak government has been urged to revoke immediately licenses and leases involving the Penan's native customary land if it was serious in helping the community and the indigenous people.
The Borneo Resources Institute Malaysia (Brimas) also urged the Sarawak government to recognise the rights of the Penan and indigenous people of Sarawak.
“If the government is sincere in helping the Penans and has nothing to hide, it should immediately revoke licenses and leases which overlap with NCR lands.
“And they should immediately stop the issuing of logging licences, licences to plant forests and provisional leases over the native customary lands (NCR) and territories of the indigenous people, “ said Brimas executive director Mark Bujang.
Bujang was responding to Land Development Minister James Masing’s statement in London on Tuesday that the government was ready to engage non-governmental organisations (NGOS) with regards to issues affecting the Penan community.
Whilst lauding Masing’s statement, he however said that the government must survey and recognise the Penan territories.
“Masing's comment is seen as a positive development, taking into account that all these years, NGOs working on social and environmental issues have been ridiculed and labelled as anti-development, anti-establishment and negative by certain ministers and civil servants.
“We believe the government should survey and grant recognition of the Penans’ native customary rights land and territories as what Prime Minister Najib (Razak) had announced recently,” Bujang said.
He added the exercise should also cover other areas occupied by the indigenous people of Sarawak.
Land for Penan
Bujang also called on Masing to disclose the exact location where 300 Penans were purportedly given land by the state government to hunt.
“We are still in the dark over this matter,” he said.
On the Penan rape victims, he also called on the state government to look into their plights and immediately order a police investigation.
“We do not wish to see the state government dragging its feet on this matter and blaming the NGOs for not being cooperative.
“The police should not close these cases even if at this moment there is lack of evidence to charge the perpetrators.
“As a first engagement, we would like the state government to call for a dialogue with the social and environmental NGOs and discuss further issues affecting the indigenous people and the environment in Sarawak,” he said.
Masing had, on the sidelines of the inaugural Oxford Global Islamic Branding and Marketing Forum , told newsmen that the state government was always ready to engage with NGOs to discuss issues affecting the Penans.
“We have nothing to hide and what we are doing now is for the good of the community. We have never run away from the NGOs,” he said.

British MPs write to Taib on abuse of Penan

(Malaysiakini) British members of parliament have written to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud expressing their concern over the sexual abuse of Penan women and girls and the marginalisation of the Penan in general.

Speaking for the British parliament's All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Tribal peoples, its chairperson Martin Horwood in a letter to coincide with Taib's visit to the UK this week expressed the group's concern for the new cases that have emerged of rape and sexual abuse of Penan women and girls.

Horwood also asked that Taib (right) “take steps to ensure that Penan women and girls are protected from sexual violence and the perpetrator of such abuse brought to justice.”

Since 2008 when reports first emerged in the mainstream media of Penan women and girls being subjected to rape and abuse at the hands of logging workers, criticisms have been levelled at the Taib government for failing to acknowledge and investigate the crimes.

On the general marginalisation of the Penan community in Sarawak, Horwood said he was “heartened” to hear of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's visit to the Ulu Baram on Thursday and “hope that this will be the start of a genuine dialogue in which the tribe's voice will be heard.”

Without recognition of their land rights, however, the Penan are struggling to provide for themselves and are left vulnerable to violence and exploitation,” said the APPG chairperson.

“As you will know, logging companies have operated for decades on the Penan's land without their consent and despite their peaceful protests.

“Many are struggling to find enough food, since logging has left the forest with fewer animals and the polluted rivers with fewer fish , and are suffering from poor health as a result.

“The effects of plantations growing oil palm and trees for paper production are even more serious, as the forest is clearly completely,” Horwood said further.

Horwood (left) urged the Chief Minister to "halt logging and other developments on the Penan's land without their free, prior and informed consent, according to international law."

He also said Taib should "ensure that Penan women and girls are protected from sexual violence and the perpetrators of such abuse brought to justice".

Ref: 737567756e61

Sarawak’s Chief Minister faces UK protesters over Penan

By Survival International,

Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud faced protests by supporters of the Penan in the UK today, while British MPs have written to him expressing concern over the newly documented cases of sexual abuse of Penan women.

Protestors from Survival International and other organizations greeted the Chief Minister in Oxford this morning, where he had travelled with cabinet colleagues to give the keynote speech at the Inaugural Oxford Global Islamic Branding and Marketing Forum. The protestors held placards reading ‘Penan tribe say NO to logging’ and ‘Malaysia: Stop destroying the Penan tribe’. The protest forced the Chief Minister to enter the building through a side entrance.

The chairman of the British parliament’s All Party Parliamentary Group for Tribal peoples, MP Martin Horwood, has written to Taib Mahmud on the occasion of the Chief Minister’s visit to the UK. ‘The Penan have frequently been subject to violence and intimidation at the hands of loggers operating on their land… Without recognition of their land rights, the Penan are struggling to provide for themselves, and are left vulnerable to violence and exploitation’.

Mr Horwood urged the Chief Minister to ‘halt logging and other developments on the Penan’s land without their free, prior and informed consent, according to international law’ and to ‘ensure that Penan women and girls are protected from sexual violence and the perpetrators of such abuse brought to justice’.

Download photos of the Oxford demonstration

Download a copy of the All Party Parliamentary Group’s letter to the Chief Minister

Report reveals rape of tribeswomen by loggers 20 July

The Penan's forests have been devastated by loggers © Andy and Nick Rain/Survival

A new report has exposed an ‘environment of violence’ against tribeswomen in Borneo. According to the report, released by a coalition of Malaysian human rights groups called the Penan Support Group, there have been repeated cases of rape and sexual assault against Penan women by the loggers who are destroying the tribe’s forests.
They follow allegations by other Penan women in 2008, which the Malaysian government denied but was later forced to confirm.
The report condemns the Malaysian government for giving lucrative logging concessions on Penan land to ‘private companies closely tied to the state government’, resulting in ‘dispossession, destruction, dislocation and impoverishment’ and an ‘environment of violence’ which leaves Penan women and girls ‘highly vulnerable’.
The Sarawak state government has licensed the Penan’s land to logging and plantation companies that have devastated the rainforests the tribe rely on.
The Malaysian Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has refuted the new allegations. The Chief Minister of Sarawak also denied the previous allegations of rape, saying they were ‘lies’ and an attempt at ‘sabotage’. A government investigation later confirmed that the women’s claims were true.
Officials have continued to dismiss the issue. When the BBC confronted Sarawak’s Minister for Land Development with the statement of a teenage Penan rape victim, he said, ‘They change their stories, and when they feel like it. That’s why I say the Penan are very good storytellers.’
Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Logging has brought the Penan nothing but abuse, with rape, violence and hunger now commonplace. For the government to react by calling them ‘storytellers’, and pretending all this is ‘progress’ is appalling.’
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is due to visit some Penan villages on July 22.
Download the Penan Support Group’s report

“Case closed”

By Anil Netto,

Can’t say I am surprised to see this in the Borneo Post. I am also not surprised that the alleged victims were relucant to provide statements.

Penan rape case closed: Deputy IGP
By Gary Adit

Nation’s No. 2 cop says police have done all they can and probe over

KUCHING: The police have done all they can to investigate the recent allegations of rapes of Penan women and though no one has been prosecuted, they now consider the issue over.Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar, who said this, pointed out that the police had thoroughly investigated every reported case to separate genuine cases from those that had been sensationalised.

Speaking at a press conference following the official opening ceremony of the General Operations Force (GOF) headquarters in Batu Kawah yesterday, he said they did their best, including setting a task force to investigate the claims.

However, Ismail said there were cases which could not be investigated due to lack of evidence, or the reluctance of the alleged victims to provide statements to the police.

He pointed out that although the police had responded to the issue, there was simply not enough evidence from a law perspective to arrest or prosecute anyone in relation to the alleged incidents.

“We did not push it (the alleged rape issue) away nor did we try to hide anything. We were very open about the investigation and cooperated with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as well as federal agencies like Datuk Seri Sharizat Jalil’s (Women, Family and Community Development) to uncover the truth. There is no need to bring up this issue any more,” he stressed, in an apparent response to criticisms from some quarters that the police were slow in conducting their investigations.

The Deputy IGP said what was important now was for all parties to work together to make sure such incidents do not recur in the future.

“We (police) are also taking our own measures now, but we need the cooperation and obligation of everyone – families, friends, and the community as a whole – to prevent such acts from happening again in the future,” he said.

The allegations of rape or sexual abuse of Penan women surfaced in September 2008 following a media release by Swiss-based Bruno Manser Foundation.

They claimed that workers from two timber companies were sexually exploiting women in various settlements in the Middle Baram area within the companies’ operation areas.

Consequently, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development set up a task force to look into the claims and its report was released in September.

It caused a national outcry and was taken by some quarters as a confirmation of the claims although no one had come forward to point out the alleged rapists.

Last month, federal CID director Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin revealed that the police had not been able to complete its investigations because those who made the allegations had not given their cooperation and this, in turn, had raised doubts as to the truth of their claims.

“The people cannot blame us for that because if you really want the cases to be completed then give us information, even the non-governmental organisations who initially brought the issue to the public have given us zero cooperation,” he told reporters in Bintulu then.

He also revealed that the police had investigated 14 cases in nine settlements in Ulu Baram, but that only four cases involved the Penans.

One person was subsequently charged in connection with one case, but the other three cases had no witnesses to enable the police to take legal action.