Hunger strike seeks to save Penan
On April 15 Swiss rainforest activist Bruno Manser completed his 45th day of a hunger strike calling for a boycott of all imports of tropical timber from the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Manser shared the life of the Penan people (one of the last tribes of nomadic hunter-gatherers on earth) from 1983 to 1989.
Manser is subsisting on only a spoonful of honey and a cup of bouillon each day. During this time he has made continuous appeals, particularly to the European Parliament and his home country of Switzerland, for an immediate moratorium on imports of tropical timber from this source.
Logging in Sarawak is unsustainable and has a severe impact on the human rights and very survival of the indigenous peoples.
Meanwhile 1000 people of the Penan tribe continue a blockade on a logging road in the Upper Selaan in the Baram area. The area represents the last remaining primary forests which the Penan depend upon for their survival.
They are being harassed by police, armed soldiers and employees of the logging company. It has been reported that the Penan said that they are ready to die to protect their ancestral land and culture.