MALAYSIA   

Police arrest eight tribespeople protesting dam

NOVEMBER 07, 2013

Police on Thursday arrested eight tribespeople blocking access to a dam which they say will displace them from their land.

Penans protested at road side infront the
 police makeshift near the Murum dam

Police arrested the eight Penans including two teenagers, took down banners and dismantled wooden barriers on the road to the remote US$1.3 billion (RM4.1 billion) Murum dam in Sarawak state, said activist Raymond Abin.

Abin, an official with the NGO, Save Sarawak's Rivers Network, said some 100 other Penans remained at the site to continue the blockade.

"The authorities find that this is the only way to deal with the people - refusing to deal with their demands," Abin told AFP. "The easy way is to arrest them in order to intimidate and threaten them."

A police official confirmed eight were in custody, but declined to comment further. Abin said the Penans were not told the reason for their arrest.

The Penans set up the blockade in September to demand RM500,000 ringgit for the loss of their land, property and livelihood.

The dam is expected to flood 245 square kilometres and cause 1,500 Penan and 80 Kenyah natives to lose their homes.

Sarawak Energy said the 944-megawatt dam began filling in late September and would be completed within 14 months.

It added that relocation of affected natives was set to be completed by year-end and insisted that displaced villagers were being compensated fairly.

The company dismissed the protest as "instigated" by activists.

The Murum dam is one of a series of hydroelectric facilities planned by the Sarawak state government as it pushes economic development in one of Malaysia's poorest states.

But the building spree in the resource-rich state along the powerful jungle rivers has been dogged by controversy.

Activists allege corruption, while natives complain it has flooded rainforests and uprooted thousands of people.

Hundreds of Malaysian tribespeople have blockaded the construction site of the nearby Baram dam.

While the Baram dam is expected to generate 1,200 megawatts of power, activists claim it will flood 400 square kilometres of rainforest and displace 20,000 tribespeople.

Sarawak's longtime chief minister Taib Mahmud has faced mounting accusations of enriching himself and cronies through a stranglehold on the state's economy, charges which he denies. 

- AFP, November 7, 2013.

Human rights groups fret over fate of protesting Penans at Murum Dam site

BY STEPHEN THEN

A police blockade being set up at the entry point into Murum Dam after more than 200 Penans staged a protest against the Murum hydro-electric dam project. - Pic by Raymond Abin

MIRI: Human rights activists are worried over the fate of some 200 Penans protesting at the Murum Dam site in interior central Sarawak who are running out of food.

Police have "cordoned off" the area near where the protesters are camping.

Representatives of Borneo Resources Institute (Brimas) and Society for Rights of Indigenous People of Sarawak (SCRIPS) were in Murum the last few days to visit the Penans but found themselves unable to enter.

Brimas state coordinator Raymond Abin and SCRIPS secretary Michael Jok went there on separate occasions and told The Star Online that they were stopped from passing through the police barricade.

Jok, a former Catholic priest turned social activist, said on Monday that he and several officials were trying to deliver food to the Penans.

"Police have set up a roadblock preventing people from entering the Murum Dam site where the Penans are protesting against a hydro-electric project.

"We went into Murum in two 4WD vehicles filled with food rations over the past week. We wanted to give the food to the Penans, who are manning the blockade day and night.

"However, the access road leading to the protest site has been barricaded by a police team at the entry point.

"We have to leave the food at the place where the police blocked the road with a makeshift barricade.

"We asked the police to help get in touch with some of the protesting Penans to come and get the food.

"They agreed to that arrangement," Jok said after he made his way out of Murum, which is about 300kms from Bintulu town.

Abin said he took pictures at the police barricade.

"I tried to pass through the police blockade but was told that nobody is allowed in unless with permission for official business.

"I heard that the protesting Penans may set up blockades at other points along the road into the Murum Dam soon.

"They may be tired and hungry but they are determined to fight for their cause even though they are facing harsh weather conditions staying in makeshift camps," he said.

The Penans are from the remaining four settlements in the Murum Valley who are protesting the move to uproot them to resettlement schemes.

So far, three groups of Penans and Kenyahs have already agreed to move out of Murum Valley to the Tegulang Resettlement Scheme.

Abin and Jok appealed to the state government to again look into the grouses of the remaining Murum Penans who have yet to agree to the relocation plan.

Murum is located some 550km south of Miri and the protests there are by the Penans.

In Ulu Baram, the protests are being staged by more than 300 natives from the Kenyah, Kayan and Penan communities against the proposed Baram Dam site located between Long Kesseh and Long Naah some 200km inland from Miri.

The Star Online Published: Tuesday November 5, 2013 MYT 9:47:00 AM 

Penan Long Luar Longhouse gutted in mid-night fire

A one row of 14-door Penan wooden longhouse at Long Luar in Pelieran river at the headwaters of Murum river was reduced to ashes, when gutted to the ground in wee hour of 18th June night.

The fire occurred at about 2.00 am mid-night. The Penans believed that the fire was caused by a spilled kerosene lamp that was accidentally kicked by a boy while in deep slept. The fire spread swiftly and took less than half an hour to raze the whole wooden longhouse.

At the time, most of them were already aslept, however were shaken and awakened by those families and relatives next door to the fire, who has noticed it earlier as it razed.

The fire had mercilessly taken away everything they owned and left them with the clothes on their backs. They could not help to salvage their personal belongings and heirlooms at all as the fire was too flammable. Fortunately no life was lost in the mishap. The fire made more than 60 families (250 people) homeless. The longhouse was built sometime in 1996.

Most of the victims are now taking temporary shelter with relatives at another Penan longhouse in Long Tangau which is situated about 500 metres away from Long Luar. Long Tangau is made up of 18 doors/units. Hence, it could not accommodate a large number of Penans from Long Luar. Some Penan families have to build makeshift huts around the village as well as in the nearby forest.

The costs of the damage were yet to be ascertained. Due to the remoteness of the village, information about the mishap was rather slow. At present, there hasn’t any assistance given to them. They are appealing for immediate help especially on basic items such as foods, cooking utensils and clothes.

Village headman, Madai Salo was with tears as he narrated their sorrow and despair at the fire that had completely destroyed their longhouse.

Long Luar is one of the six (6) Penan villages in Pelieran river area affected by the mega Murum hydroelectric dam project in Belaga District in the central region in the interior of Sarawak. The Long Luar Penans are strongly opposing the dam project. The other Penan villages are Long Tangau, Long Wat, Long Singu, Long Menapa and Long Malim. Also affected is a Kenyah-Badeng village at Long Umba in Danum River. There are about 1,000 Penans in the area are affected by the Murum dam project.

Penans Appeal:

Long Luar Penans are appealing for help. Any assistance and donations to the Penans of Long Luar, be it financially or in-kinds are most welcome. If you need to visit them, kindly contact us for information and logistic arrangement at: scanenetwork@gmail.com or call us Tel: 085 423044

Nomadic Penan Group Appeals for Food in Search and Rescue Operation

Miri: A group of eight nomadic Penan families from Ba’ Puak is seeking help from the public at large for food as their daily necessities had drained out after carrying out almost five months of search and rescue (SAR) operations for one of their men who went missing around the forest in Loagan Bunut National Park last year.

Headman of the group Jepery Moyong, 28, appeals to the general public to help them with foods and provisions to enable to sustain their community SAR operation.

“We would be starving soon and have no choice but to ask for help since we are severely facing shortages of food”, he said.

“In this kind of peat forest, it is not easy to find food and further more we don’t want to cause trouble and accuse for illegal encroachment into the national park”, Jepery lamented.

Emang Moyong, 33, went missing on November 2 after performing at a cultural event organised by Petronas at its gas pipeline project camp site in Tinjar.

He was then purportedly asked to do video filming on the Penan’s way of hunting with blowpipes at Loagan Bunut National Park.

He was said to have being threatened by the so-called film crews. Since then, the Penans have launched a community search and rescue (SAR) operation in the thick forest around the park area.

The Malaysian Police had also carried out a 3-weeks SAR operation sometimes in November and December but were unsuccessful. The police had closed the case as their operations had failed to trace and locate Emang whereabouts.

“We are determined to continue with our search even though the authorities had ceased their SAR operation”, said Jepery.

“We will not stop our SAR operations as we believe that Emang is still alive”, he said.

According to Jepery, the incident that led to Emang’s disappearance was that he had being frightened and being too traumatise he could be hiding from somebody. “This situation can happen to any nomadic Penans as we are seldom in contact with outsiders”, he said.

Emang’s wife Usun Malin, 26 and two children Maria, 8 and Mathew, 6, are still hopeful to find him alive.

“We would only be relieved if his remains are found that is if he had died, and then we will go back peacefully to Ba’ Puak”, said Usun.

The nomadic Penan group of Ba Puak is among the few Penan nomads left in the rainforest of Sarawak. There are about 15 families at their settlement in Long Selulung, Ba’ Puak in upper Tutoh River area in the interior part of Baram District in the northern region of Sarawak.

The Loagan Bunut National Park has an area of 10,736 hectares and was gazetted by the Sarawak State Government as totally protected area on 29th August 1991. It is more or less about 100km from Long Selulung in Ba’ Puak.

Raymond Abin, national coordinator of Sarawak Conservation Alliance for Natural Environment (SCANE) is sympathetic with the plight and distress of the nomadic Penan Ba’ Puak that they are facing at this moment.

He called upon any civil society organisations, government and private agencies and the members of the public to help in the community SAR operation and provide assistance in-kind to the nomadic Penan Ba’ Puak.

He said any assistance given can be done so through Sarawak Conservation Alliance for Natural Environment (SCANE) at Lot 1046 Shang Garden Shoplot, Jalan Bulan Sabit, Miri, Sarawak. Tel: 085 423044 Email: scanenews@gmail.com