Who Cares About The Penans?

As reported in The Star Online.

KUALA LUMPUR: Thirty-five non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the Bar Council want Bukit Aman instead of the Sarawak police to investigate the alleged sexual abuse of Penan women and girls by loggers.

They cited non-action over the alleged rape of a 12-year-old Penan girl back in 1994 and other abuses.

The NGOs said in a statement the affected communities had “expressed a serious lack of confidence in the Sarawak police due to their long-standing dealings with them” and the perpetuation of abuse with impugnity.

Referring to the reports of rape, sexual abuse and exploitation of Penan girls and women in The Star on Oct 6, they said that despite the serious nature of the allegations, Sarawak police had been dismissive, insisting a report be lodged before an investigation commences.

They questioned police commitment since the Marudu police had stated yesterday that they had found no evidence of abuse but “temporary” marriages between Penan women and loggers.

On Tuesday, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen announced the setting up of a task force to look into the plight of Penan women and girls. The Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) and Women’s Centre for Change, Penang, will be members of the task force.

At a press conference at the council, its chairman Datuk Ambiga said Malaysia was a signatory to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

“One of the strengths of good governance is not how well the Government looks after the majority but its minority and vulnerable groups,” she said.

WAO executive director Ivy Josiah, who said the task force had yet to meet, said WAO would like indigenous women to be represented. in the task force.

“WAO would like the task force to not just devise programmes but go on a fact-finding mission to see for ourselves the situation.”

Centre for Orang Asli Concerns coordinator Colin Nicholas called for investigations to “be conducted by Bukit Aman because the Sarawak police has shown itself by its inquiries in 1994 to be either biased or incompetent.”

Baram MP Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan said he is “shocked” by the claims that Penan schoolgirls and young women had been raped and sexually abused by timber workers in his constituency.

Sagan, who said he had not been informed by anyone of these alleged crimes, said: “This is a serious matter and I support the call by Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam for the truth to be exposed.”

Against Their Will for Politics of Development

As reported in The Star Online

ON a sunny Sunday morning last year, 16-year-old Cynthia (not her real name) boarded a four-wheel drive dispatched by logging company Samling to ferry students to SMK Long Lama from her longhouse in Long Kawi, middle Baram, Sarawak.

However, the driver did not send the passengers ( two boys and three girls ) to the school directly. He dropped by a logging camp and told the students that they had to spend the night there.

“It was around 4pm. Although the school is not far from the camp, the driver didn’t want to continue the journey. The boys and girls were separated into two rooms. I was with my younger sister and another girl. When night fell, the men in the camp were drinking. In the middle of the night, several men came into our room. One of them dragged me from the room and took me to the bushes behind the camp,” Cynthia recalls her ordeal. The other two girls were not harmed.

A life ruined:
Mindy, 21, is saddled with two children after being coerced into having sex by a timber company worker.

The Form 3 student became pregnant and delivered a baby girl a few months ago. Cynthia, who harbours hopes of being a nurse, is now unsure of her future as she has been absent from school due to her pregnancy.

The fair-skinned, soft-spoken girl had previously been harassed by workers from a Samling camp but managed to elude them.

Samling, when contacted, says the camp implicated in the incident may not have belonged to the company and urged those making the allegations to contact the police and provide accurate information to enable criminal investigations.

Samling’s head of corporate communications Cheryl Yong says: “We are very concerned over the latest allegations even though we do not operate in the Temela Camp (where the alleged sexual assault took place). We do not condone any criminal acts within our premises or by employees.”

Yong explains that Samling has a zero-tolerance policy towards alcohol consumption during work hours. Furthermore, alcohol sale is unavailable on its premises and anyone found consuming alcohol while working will be dismissed.

At Long Belok, Rina (not her real name) who was raped in her house and delivered a baby girl in May 2005, is fearful of timber camp workers. “If I see them in the village, I will run and hide in the forest.”

She is glad that she did not have to marry the man who raped her despite persuasion from her parents and neighbours’ unkind remarks.

The youngest in a family of two boys and two girls, Rina, 20, says life is difficult with an extra mouth to feed. At times, she confesses that she feels like running away.

Mindy (not her real name) of Long Item, recounts the intimidation, deceit and harassment of a 40-something man who works for Interhill.

“We know him as Ah Heng. My parents and I got a ride in his vehicle from Ba Abang sometime in 2005. Shortly after that, he came looking for me in the village. He offered to take care of me but I declined. He then said I should give in or he would hurt me and my family,” says the 21-year-old woman who eventually acceded to his demands and has since borne him two girls, one in 2006 and another in February.
Ah Heng now rarely visits nor provides maintenance for the family after his wife found out about his activities and accused Mindy of seducing her husband.

“I don’t want him to come here anymore; I will raise the kids myself. I don’t even love him,” says Mindy.

The Penans Are of No Importance to S'wak Gov't

Source: The Star Online

Monday October 6, 2008
A neglected people

THE Penan’s protracted resistance to deforestation and the international attention the tribe continues to receive must have irked the Sarawak government.

The state government continues to dismiss their concerns over the loss of forest resources brought on by industrial logging that degrades the forest and pollutes the rivers.

At the height of the international anti-tropical timber campaign in the late 1980s, the state set up a Penan Affairs Committee to help the nomadic tribe to lead a settled life with promises of socio-economic development. The state announced allocations worth millions of ringgit.

Two decades later, the benefits remain elusive for many Penans. The rapid expansion of acacia and oil palm plantations eats into their ancestral land. To top it off, the natives are becoming illegals with many not having official documents.

The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has raised the issue of poor MyKad registration which complicates the issuance of birth certificates.

Suhakam has thus far failed in persuading the state government to resolve the land rights issue inflicting every native group in Sarawak.
In recent years, the Penans are turning to the court of law to stop further encroachment.

But the nomadic Penans face a tough battle in claiming native customary rights (NCR) as the Sarawak Land Code 1958 states that one cannot stake a claim for NCR if one had not cultivated that piece of land before Jan 1, 1958.

In May 2007, further restrictions were imposed when the clause “any other lawful method of establishing land claim” in Section 5(2) was dropped. Lawyers had previously used that provision to argue for a broader interpretation of land use.
“When environmental groups suggest setting aside forests for wildlife, the state will agree but when we demand for our forests to be protected, we are ignored. It seems that the wildlife living in the forests are more valued than us humans,” notes a young Penan.

Although disillusioned, the Penans remain hopeful.

As Balan Jon of Long Item puts it: “It’s not only our livelihood but our culture and survi val as a tribe has been affected for so long. We’ll die if we continue to be neglected.”