Indigenous Penan Struggle for Peace and Justice
Logging Blockades by Indigenous Penan People
By Sahabat Alam Malaysia
Utusan Konsumer July 2003
The situation is critical [~]the people are troubled by frequent food shortages, river and air pollution and income loss which in turn produce poverty and ill-health and reduce the people's access to basic housing and sanitation facilities, agricultural assistance, primary education and healthcare services.
In 2002, SAM tirelessly publicised the many problems faced by the Penan communities caused by the encroachment of logging operations into their traditional forest.
Still there was little response from the state to halt logging operations on their land [~] the chief demand of the Sarawak Penan Association's Long Sayan Declaration 2002 which was drawn out during the inaugural Sarawak Penan Community Meeting that was attended by Penan representatives from Miri, Limbang and Bintulu Divisions in June last year.
The lack of swift action is unacceptable, especially given the fact that even the SUHAKAM report on Sarawak released in June 2002 also published similar findings on the people's extremely dismal living conditions.
Thus it was no surprise to us that for the past two months, several Penan communities in Miri and Limbang had resorted to erecting blockades again.
TIRED by the unceasing operations of timber companies which show little regard for their customary land rights, at least seven Penan communities once again jointly resorted to erecting blockades across the roads used by the logging trucks between the month of May and June in Sarawak.
Altogether, five separate blockades were put up in the Division of Miri and Limbang to stop the movement of the timber companies' trucks and press the companies to enter into a consultation process with the people.
Receiving heavy pressure from the state and companies to discontinue their protest, there was reportedly heavy police presence in some of the blockade locations with some of the barricades ended up being dismantled by workers of the timber companies themselves.
By mid-June, most of the blockades had already been taken off the roads. However it is highly unlikely that the communities involved are going to stop putting on pressure on the companies.
The many problems faced by the Penan communities caused by the encroachment of logging operations into their traditional forest have been exhaustively documented. One organization working to help the Penan is Bruno Manser Foundation.
BMF has continued to champion the Penan cause, even after the disappearance of Bruno Manser, the Swiss activist who struggled non-violently for Penan rights and freedoms.
Brought to you by Peacemaker Circle International.
12:52:16 PM 
|
