MALAYSIA: Penans appeal for international help

More than a hundred Penan people, from various settlements in the interior of Sarawak, have gathered at Long Kevok to stage a non-violent protest against sustained logging activities in their communal lands and forests. They've appealed for international support, according to an appeal issued by Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth, Malaysia).

The Penan tribe's number is fast dwindling, with only about 9000 left in the Sarawak interior.

On August 11, the Penan communities from the Apoh and Tutoh settlements erected a wooden barricade on a logging road belonging to Lajung Lumber, which is owned by logging companies Rimbunan Hijau, Shin Yang, and Raywood.

The blockade was set up to stop the logging companies from freely transporting and extracting timbers from Penan forest areas. Blockaders resorted to action after the companies continued to ignore their rights of access to their natural forest resources. Their numerous complaints to the authorities and the logging companies have fallen on deaf ears.

The Penan allege that the companies have acted arrogantly, bulldozing fruit trees and graveyards without paying compensation, refusing help to Penan communities needing to send their sick to the nearest clinic in Long Bedian, and encroaching into their communal forest reserves to log.

Five police officers have already been sent to the blockade but no arrests have yet taken place.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia is asking supporters to write to government officials, urging them to exercise restraint at the blockade site and to address the communities' grievances.

Send your appeals to: Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamed, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Main Block, Prime Minister's Department, Administrative Centre, 62502, Putrajaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia; Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, Hon Chief Minister of Sarawak, 22nd floor, Wisma Bapa Malaysia, Petra Jaya, 93502 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia; and Tan Sri Norian Mai, Inspector-General of Police, Royal Malaysian Police Force, Bukit Aman, 50560, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Please send copies to Sahabat Alam Malaysia for forwarding to the Penan communities: PO Box 216, Marudi, 98058 Baram, Sarawak, Malaysia.

BY SEAN HEALY

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