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Extracted from Malaysiakini
'Penan rape' circular: Samling denies allegations
Hazlan Zakaria
Sep 16, 10 |
Logging company Samling
Global has denied claims by indigenous rights NGO, Bruno Manser
Funds (BMF), that a circular it sent out to timber workers in the Baram region
last July, was admission of its staff involvement in the alleged sexual abuse
of Penan women.
"BMF's allegations are baseless," said the
firm in a statement emailed to Malaysiakini by
its corporate communications representative.
Admitting that it did indeed send out such a circular, Samling,
however, said that it was standard practice and is issued regularly as a
reminder to its employees that the company does not tolerate any criminal act
or inappropriate behavior from them.
"We have in place strict policies regarding staff-native community
assistance and engagement. We regularly issue circulars to our staff to ensure
policies are enforced. The purpose was to protect the communities as much as
ourselves," the statement added.
Samling also claimed that it had been made clear to all staff that those
suspected of criminal activities will be handed over to the authorities to be
dealt with accordingly.
Though the circular was issued on July 9 scant days after The Penan Support Group
(PSG) released a report claiming systematic sexual abuse by
loggers, it may be a damage control measure to reduce Samling's
exposure to more allegations of misconduct by its employees.
BMF, however, is claiming that the circular sends a different message.
"While Samling had previously
denied the involvement of its staff in the sexual abuse cases,
this circular indirectly acknowledges that Samling staff are indeed involved and that the group management is
concerned over their insufficient control of their employees' conduct,"
said the NGO in its press release posted on its website.
BMF is contending that the leaked document provides strong evidence that the
presence of Samling staff in Penan areas constitutes
a continuous threat to the native communities, and particularly to girls and
women.
The NGO is asking the
Leaked circular forbids visits
The circular, which was leaked to BMF, was issued by the general manager of Samling's Forest Operations in
The directive informs them that they are "forbidden to visit any Penan
village or transport any Penan except with the permission of the camp managers
concerned."
Any employee found to have disobeyed this order faces the threat of summary
dismissal.
Samling has also been accused by the BMF of
continuing to bully the Penan community into submission to silence their claims
of sexual abuse of Penan females by the firm's workers. This was apparently by
the threat of withdrawing
transport services to the Penan if sexual abuse allegations were not
retracted.
The logging giant, however, claimed it had no knowledge
of any such threats or demands made against the Penans.
It is not clear if the circular had anything to do with the logging firm's
purported threat to stop transportation services to the Penan.
Samling and the Penans have
been embroiled in a finger pointing match after reports of sexual abuse cases
in the Baram region surfaced. The Penan have claimed
that a number of their women and girls were sexually abused by loggers who
offered them transport in the remote
Samling and the Sarawak government have asked the
Penan to substantiate their claims, accusing the indigenous community of
fabricating tales, while the Penan with the support of NGOs are adamant that
the incidents did take place.
The matter even became the subject of a federal government fact finding mission
which found damning
evidence of timber workers sexually abusing Penan women.
However, police and the