Penans protest against logging in Upper Baram

By Stephen Then

MIRI: A group of about 120 semi-nomadic Penans from two longhouses in the Upper Baram region have launched another round of anti-logging protests against a timber company for trespassing into jungles which they regard as their ancestral land.

The group, comprising men, women and children, have erected a blockade across a timber track leading to the longhouses at Long Sayan and Long Belok in Sungai Tutoh.

The blockade was set up last Friday and had been manned day and night by the Penan protesters, led by their paramount chief Ajang Kiew.

Ajang came down to Marudi town to get supplies and foodstuff.

He said in an interview that the road was barred to prevent the timber workers from entering a disputed forest region.

"The company has sent in more than 30 bulldozers and tractors and other heavy machineries to cut and remove trees from jungles which we have been living in for years.

"We depend on these forests for our survival as we have no land of our own. We have no choice but to stop them by force. We have to resort to blockades as the company workers have refused to listen to our appeals,'' he said.

Ajang said there had been no physical confrontation between the Penan protesters and the timber workers so far.

"The company failed to honour an agreement which it signed with the villagers in the two longhouses three years ago.

"On Oct 15, 1997, we (Penan villagers) signed an agreement with the company stating that the company should not enter our land without negotiation with us.

"The agreement was to protect our water-catchment area and the communal forests reserve which we depend on for our survival,'' he said, claiming that the logging operations had polluted the water supply.

Ajang said his people were facing shortage of food due to the depletion of wildlife and jungle products caused by the logging.

"We appeal to the Government to help us and give us legal protection and recognise our native customary rights over our ancestral land.

"The timber company must pay us compensation for the damage done to our land. We will continue the blockade as long as we have to,'' he said.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia field officer Jok Jau Evong said its members were monitoring the situation to ensure that the stand-off did not erupt into an ugly incident.

It is learnt that a team of police officers from Marudi have gone to the disputed area to try to resolve the dispute. There have been no arrests yet.