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Some
40 families live in deplorable conditions in a hamlet in a remote district of
Sarawak state and have no access to basic amenities such as electricity and
water, said Denison Jayasooria, a commissioner with
the government-backed Human Rights Commission.
He
told the national news agency Bernama that several
members of the commission made the discovery during a visit last month to the
Penan longhouses, large communal homes on stilts where several families live
together.
The
Penans, among the last people on earth living
exclusively from hunting and gathering, have been marginalized for decades and
their survival is under threat as the state government continues to award
forest land to companies for logging, palm oil plantations and reforestation,
he said.
The
Penan live in small settlements in the mountains of northeastern
They
hunt wild pigs and deer with spears and blowguns, and pick wild fruit. Some 300
live still more primitively, keeping on the move as forest nomads.
The
Malaysian government says it wants to bring them into the mainstream, offering
them homes with running water, schools and work.
Source:
Associated Press