Murum Penans under threat - Star

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by Stephen Then

stephenthen@thestar.com.my

BELAGA: Many Penan families living in the Belaga district of central Sarawak have been affected by the clearing of jungles for the construction of the RM3bil Murum Dam.

The jungles being cleared for the dam, located 70km inland from the Bakun Dam, have a large population of Penans, many of whom have lived in isolation from the outside world for centuries.

The clearing of the jungles has affected their food supply and they have been forced to migrate in search of food.

Catholic priest for the Belaga parish, Sylvester Ding, recently came across a group of semi-nomadic Penans who had wandered out of Murum while searching for food.

“A community made up of some 20 Penan families from Murum have now moved out from the dam area because they are short of food. We found them wandering near the Bakun resettlement site in Sungai Asap.

“They are now taking temporary shelter in a long-house,” said Ding.

He added there might be more needy Penans who would be forced to migrate once the dam construction was in full-swing.

He hoped the Government would look into the plight of the Murum Penans. There are some 1,800 Penans living in eight long-houses along the Murum River who will have to make way for the construction of the dam.

The Star found that the access road into the Murum Dam site has already been paved. The construction of the site office is in progress and the terracing of the hillslopes on both sides of the Murum River is being carried out.

Group reaches grateful Penans after rough, three-day journey - Star

By STEPHEN THEN

LONG TANYIT: After three days of hard work, a team of people managed to bring more than 10 tonnes of food to some 1,500 Penans who are facing acute food shortages in the Kapit Division.

About 10,000kg of rice and other essential foodstuff such as canned food, milk powder, sugar and salt arrived here and the nearby Long Lidem, Long Kajang and Long Abit.

These isolated settlements are more than 12 hours drive along a timber road from Bintulu town.

Essential item: Penan folk and children receiving packets of rice from relief aid workers in Long Lidem.

The food was delivered using a heavy-duty timber truck and a convoy of six four-wheel drives. The team was greeted with smiles, hugs and handshakes.

Long Tanyit chief Salu Ugat said he was grateful to God for answering the people’s prayers.

“Food shortages here are serious. It has happened several times this year already. We waited weeks for this food supply,’’ he said.

Long Lidem chief Naran Pua said the people were surprised that the team managed to make the journey.

“We thought we are being attacked when we suddenly saw the lorry and the 4WDs coming. This is the first time we are getting so much food. We have been facing food problems for six years,” he said.

Kind-hearted souls: The team of volunteers who made it to the settlements. With them is Father Ding (wearing batik).

The Miri Catholic Church, which is coordinating the relief aid collection, had two weeks ago received appeals for aid, saying the Penans had run out of rice and other food items.

Twelve volunteers from the Malaysian Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association, a non-governmental disaster and relief aid organisation, flew in from Kuala Lumpur after reading about the Penans’ plight.

The team, led by volunteer Captain K. Balasupramaniam, arrived in Bintulu on Wednesday and travelled to the Sungai Asap Resettlement Scheme in Bakun.

He met up with Reverend Father Sylvester Ding, who is coordinating the deployment of the food aid, and a village head Penghulu Saging Bit.

From Bakun, the team sought the help of a timber firm to help send 1,600 bags of rice and hundreds of boxes of dry food. The journey along the timber roads was difficult. The team faced problems like vehicle breakdown, bad weather and delays resulting from permit requirements to enter a logging concession area.

The team will now focus on bringing food supply to the Lusong Laku Penan settlement, SK Lusong Laku and the teachers living there.

The Penans in the Sarawak interior have been cut off from the outside world after a timber giant dismantled an iron bridge across the Sungai Linau because the area was going to be flooded for the Bakun Dam.

It is learnt that the company had placed several pieces of logs across the river for the people in Lusong Laku to use as a temporary bridge.

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Obscure Borneo Tribe to Get Citizenship

By STEPHEN THEN

stephenthen@thestar.com.my

MIRI: A minority ethnic group living in obscurity in the deep interior of Sarawak in the island of Borneo, called the “Sabans,” will be given citizenship status despite being left out of the state government’s official citizenship list.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz said he had learned about the plight of the Sabans, most of whom are living in rural northern Sarawak, at the start of his four-day official visit to Sarawak.

Officials at the Miri High Court chamber here also briefed him on the plight of other stateless natives like Penans with no birth certificates or MyKads.

The Sabans number between 5,000 and 10,000, and like the Penans, are facing a number of problems related to their personal documents.

Nazri said he would meet with Sarawak leaders and seek their cooperation to solve the woes faced by these minority folk.

“I will speak with Datuk Seri Awang Tengah (State Minister of Public Utilities and State Second Minister of Planning and Resources Management) and inform him of the problem.

“This ethnic group can be recognised as citizens once the state government includes them by making some amendments to the state constitution. There is no need for the Federal Constitution to be amended.

“This is a problem confined to Sarawak. It is not widespread and can be dealt with,” he said after visiting the court complex with a delegation of senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Department.

Mobile Court officials who have been visiting the interior of Sarawak regularly in the past two years have found tribes like the Sabans who face problems because they are not officially recognised as Malaysians.

Nazri said he was very happy with the role of the Mobile Court in helping the rural natives living in isolated regions in Sarawak and Sabah, and praised Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Melanjun whose brainchild it is.

Nazri will travel some 1,000km in his Sarawak trip. After Miri, he will visit Bintulu, Sibu and Kuching.