PENAN INJUSTICES
ACCUMULATE
Forest Blockades Continue On 8
September, FoE Malaysia played host to a
meeting of Penan leaders from different
villages. The participants reported similar
accounts of unjust development that
continues to benefit the privileged few
while destroying the environment and
violating their rights as forest
peoples.
Sarawak, home to the Penan and other
tribal peoples, has been ravaged over the
past two decades by the logging of ancient
forests for short-term profits. Sahabat
Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth) has
long collaborated with these peoples in
their battles to preserve their homelands,
and has participated in a series of
non-violent blockades organized by the
Penan in an attempt to hinder logging
activities.
Promises by the Sarawak government to
improve the plight of the Penan have not
been fulfilled. In the early 1990s, the
government promised to set up biosphere
reserves for the Penan so that their
traditional lifestyles could continue
unhindered. The establishment of a
so-called "Penan Fund" was also promised.
However, the Penan have yet to receive any
real financial benefits, and the promised
biosphere reserves have also not
materialized. Meanwhile, logging in the
Penan forests and disruption of the
people's lifestyles continues unabated. The
numbers of the Penan are fast dwindling,
and only about 10,000 of these peaceful
people remain in the Sarawak interior.
Financial Promises Broken
Penan leaders at the meeting said that the
various financial commitments made to Penan
communities by companies and the government
have mostly been ignored. In Kampung Baru,
for example, the logging company operating
in the area recently decreased its annual
compensation to the village from RM3,000
(US$800 ) to RM1,250 (US$330 ). The excuse
given to the people was a downturn in the
economy. In another case, the people of
Long Itam reported that the timber company
operating in their vicinity has refused to
pay any compensation whatsoever. Game,
fish, sago, rattan and other forest
products are now scarce in the village's
communal forest, which had long sustained
the inhabitants.
Several testimonies by Penan leaders
also mentioned the devastation of ancestral
burying grounds, and the refusal of logging
companies to deliver the promised
compensation for these losses. In the early
1980s, the old graveyard containing the
ancestors of the Long Len community was
destroyed by logging activities. Although
the involved company promised to compensate
villagers at RM1,500 for each grave
destroyed, this payment has never been
delivered.
Chief Juwin Lihan of the Long Lawin
community described how one logging company
has operated for 30 years in his area
without paying any compensation to
villagers. Other companies in the area that
paid RM5,000 (US$1315 ) annually in 1997
have reduced this amount to a paltry
RM1,250 (US$330 ), again using the economic
downturn as justification. Protests by
villagers about the new rates have proven
futile.
Another Penan representative, Chief Alah
Beling, talked about the housing subsidy
provided by the government for dislocated
villagers to resettle in Long Belok. The
amount provided was clearly insufficient,
and people could not purchase enough
material to construct their longhouses. The
poles they cut and laid by the roadside
were eventually stolen. To date, these
Penan have yet to receive an adequate
subsidy despite repeated complaints to the
authorities. Another representative told
the meeting how villagers were promised a
longhouse at Long Len that has never
materialized. At one point, zinc for
roofing and nails were delivered, but the
construction never began. The wood planks
cut by villagers were wasted.
Inethical Tactics
Some Penan leaders reported that the
logging companies make use of unethical
tactics. Chief Wan Supe' described how
villagers in Long Latie were often
pressured to accept development projects
that were described to them as inevitable,
and given suspicious applications to
sign.
Several Penan reported that surveyors
entered their lands without first
consulting with villagers. Chief Pada
Jutang described how a team of surveyors
entered the communal forest of Kampung Baru
in June 2000 and told the people that the
land was being surveyed in relation to its
future conversion into a Village Forest
Reserve. Chief Pada related that the
villagers were not convinced, as their
long-standing application for governmental
protection for their village has met with
no response.
Ongoing Blockades
Chief Ajang Kiew, president of the Penan
Association of Sarawak, told the meeting
that his village, Long Sayan, carried out
its first blockade in 1996. Six villagers
were arrested and later released without
charge. They have now filed a suit against
the police and the Malaysian government for
wrongful detention. Non-violent blockades
on logging roads were also set up in
January 1998 and June 1999 to protest the
violation of an agreement reached between
the villagers and logging companies.
No Change
In 1987, over 100 Malaysians, including
the head of the FoE Sarawak office and two
other Friends of the Earth activists, were
arrested under the Internal Security Act
for campaigning in Sarawak. At the same
time, 42 blockading Penan and other tribes
in Sarawak were arrested. FoE groups around
the world reacted furiously to both waves
of arrests, and lobbied their governments,
pressured timber companies, and organized
actions until all activists were finally
released.
The world needs to know that things have
not changed in the past decade, but rather
have deteriorated for this peace-loving and
vulnerable indigenous tribe.
Meenakshi Raman, FoE Malaysia
