. "The army and the police came to our blockade and threatened us and told us to take down our barricade. We said 'we are defending our land. It is very easy for you as soldiers and policemen. You are being paid. You have money in your pockets. You can buy what you need; rice and sugar. You have money in the bank. But for us, this forest is our money, this is our bank. This is the only place where we can find food." (Penan spokesman, 1987) The Penan came to national and international attention when they resisted logging operations in their home territories of the Baram, Limbang, Tutoh and Lawas regions of Sarawak. The Penan's struggle began in the 1960s when the Indonesian and Malaysian governments opened up large areas of Borneo's interior to commercial logging. In most cases, the largest and most lucrative logging concessions went to members of the island's political and business elites. With an increase in the global demand for timber at the time, these concessionaries began to procure all marketable trees from their holdings. Since both the settled, semi-nomadic and nomadic Penan communities were and are reliant on forest produce, they were hit hard by the large scale logging operations that encroached on their traditionally inhabited territories. The logging caused the pollution of their water catchment areas with sediment displacement, the loss of many
sago palms that form the staple
carbohydrate of Penan diet, scarcity of wild boar, deer and other game, scarcity of fruit trees and plants used for traditional forest medicine, destruction of their burial sites and loss of
rattan and other rare plant and animal species. For the forest people of Borneo, like other native tribes, such plants and animals are also viewed as sacred, as the embodiment of powerful spirits and deities. Thus, the Penan made numerous verbal and written complaints to the logging companies and local government officials. They argued that the logging companies were located on land given to the Penan in an earlier treaty, recognised by the Sarawak state government, and were thus violating their native customary rights. It was also claimed that logging plans were never discussed with the Penan before felling began. However, these complaints fell on deaf ears. Beginning in the late 1980s and continuing today the Penan and other indigenous communities such as the
Iban,
Kelabit and
Kayan (collectively referred to as
Dayak) have set up blockades in an attempt to halt logging operations on their land. These succeeded in many areas but the efforts were hard to sustain and ended in large-scale clashes between the indigenous communities and the state-backed logging companies, supported by the police and Malaysian army. In 1987, the state government passed the amendment S90B of the Forest Ordinance, which made the obstruction of traffic along any logging road in Sarawak a major offence. Under this law, The confrontations ended with several deaths, many injuries and large-scale arrests of indigenous people. Many of the detained reported being beaten and humiliated while in custody. An independent Sarawakian organisation IDEAL documented such claims in a 2001 fact-finding mission entitled "Not Development, but Theft". However, confrontation with state authorities has not been the only source of conflict for the Penan or the Dayaks. In the late 1990s, in neighbouring Kalimantan, the Indonesian government set aside millions of acres of forest for conversion into commercial rubber and
palm oil plantations. Much of these areas have been traditionally occupied by indigenous groups. Crucially, to provide labour for such developments, the Indonesian government subsidised the relocation of unemployed labourers from other parts of Indonesia (particularly Java and Madura) to Kalimantan. As part of their contracted obligations, these settlers have participated in the clearing of forests. This has resulted in (increasingly) frequent and violent conflicts between the settlers and the Dayak population. Among these were the promise of infrastructure facilities (for those who had been forced to resettle in government encampments due to
deforestation) and the Magoh Biosphere Reserve. The confrontation between the Penan and Sarawak State Government has continued to the present day. The blockade set up by the Penan community of Long Benali was forcefully dismantled on 4 April 2007 by the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), with support from a special police force unit and overlooked by Samling Corporation employees. the Penan continue to fight
development aggression in their
ancestral domain.
Bruno Manser Bruno Manser was an environmental activist and champion of the Penan's plight during their struggle in the 1990s. Manser lived with the Penan for six years; in that time he learnt their language, survival skills and customs. Five years after his disappearance in the rainforest of Borneo, Manser was officially declared as lost by the Basel Civil Court in Switzerland. Personalities from politics, science and culture remembered the life of Manser in a commemoration ceremony held on 8 May 2010.
Response by Malaysian authorities In 1987, Mahathir used the
Internal Security Act (ISA) to jail critics of the regime and to neutralise Penan campaigners. Over 1,200 people were arrested for challenging logging and 1,500 Malaysian soldiers and police dismantled barricades and beat and arrested people. During a meeting of European and Asian leaders in 1990, Mahathir said, "It is our policy to bring all jungle dwellers together into the mainstream. There is nothing romantic about these helpless, half-starved, and disease-ridden people." Malaysian authorities also argued that it is unfair to accuse Malaysia of destroying their own rainforests while the western civilisation continued to cut their own forests down. Preservation of rainforests would mean closing down factories and hinder industrialisation which would result in unemployment issues. Instead of focusing on human rights of Penans, the western activists should focus instead on minorities in their own countries such as
Red Indians in North America,
Aboriginal Australians,
Māori people in New Zealand and
Turks in Germany. Malaysian Timber Industry Development Board (MTIB) and Sarawak Timber Industry Development Cooperation (STIDC) spent RM 5 to 10 million in producing a research report to counter allegations by foreign activists.
The Economist was banned twice in 1991 for articles that commented critically on the Malaysian government. Its distribution was deliberately delayed three times. Newspaper editors would receive a phone call from
Ministry of Information, warning them to "go easy" on particular topic. Few negative reports, such as logging, appeared on domestic newspapers because of the high degree of self-censorship.
Mingguan Waktu newspaper was banned in December 1991 because of publishing criticisms of Mahathir administration. Mahathir defended the press censorship. He told
ASEAN that foreign journalists "fabricate stories to entertain and make money out of it, without caring about the results of their lies".
Logging today Logging continues to dominate politics and economics in Sarawak and the government's ambition on timber from proposed Penan ancestral land also continues. Malaysia's rate of deforestation is the highest in the tropical world (142 km2/year) losing 14,860 square kilometres since 1990. The
Borneo lowland rain forest, which is the primary habitat of the Penan, and also the most valuable trees have disappeared. "Despite the (Malaysian) government's pro-environment overtones, the… government tends to side with development more than conservation." — Rhett A. Butler The government's defence of large-scale logging as a means to economic development has also been challenged as unsustainable, indiscriminate of indigenous rights, environmentally destructive and mired in invested interests, corruption and cronyism. Examples of this have been highlighted by the former Minister for Environment and Tourism
Datuk James Wong also being one of the state's largest logging concessionaires. Most recently, the Chief Minister
Abdul Taib Mahmud himself is under investigation by Japanese tax authorities for corruption over RM32 million in timber kickbacks allegedly paid to his family company in Hong Kong to lubricate timber shipments. Such allegations are not new, as
Malaysia Today claimed in 2005: There is often a mutually beneficial relationship between logging companies and political elites, involving the acquisition of large private wealth for both parties through bribery, corruption and transfer pricing, at the expense of public benefit through lost revenues and royalty payments and at the expense of social, environmental and indigenous communities' rights ... The awarding of concessions and other licences to log as a result of political patronage, rather than open competitive tender, has been the norm rather than the exception in many countries. == Threats to the Penan today ==