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updated 2001-01-31
KUCHING, Aug 26, 2000
PENAN PROTESTERS CAN SUBMIT FORMAL COMPLAINT TO SUHAKAM
KUCHING, Aug 26 (Bernama) -- The semi-nomadic Penans in Ulu Baram who
staged a timber blockade last week can submit a formal complaint to the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) if they feel that the logging companies have infringed their human rights, Suhakam said on Saturday.
Its chairman, Tan Sri Musa Hitam, who is a former deputy prime minister, said that there was a provision in the law for Suhakam to take action based on the merit of the case.
"The blockade in Long Kevok, Tutoh has been interpreted as a human rights issue but we have not received any formal report yet," he told a news conference, here.
He said Suhakam would not visit the place, where more than 100 Penans have been protesting against logging activities by three local companies, ntil it has been formally brought to the attention of the commission.
Suhakam was only aware of the so-called plight of the Penans based on media reports and had explained its stand to the Sarawak government and local NGOs on the matter, he said.
Asked if Suhakam would come to the aid of the affected Penans if such a report was received, he said no down-trodden people in the country would not have been assisted by the government in the first place.
According to Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), the Penans claimed that the companies had encroached on their communal land and destroyed their crops.
The protesters also claim compensation because they alleged the companies have been extracting timber indisciminately in their ancrestral land without consulting them.
They also want government leaders in Sarawak and the forestry and district offices to intervene in the dispute.
On the role of Suhakam, set up under the Parliament Act, Musa said the cooperation of the civil service and local NGOs was vital to facilitate its responsibility as an official human rights watch dog in the country.
"Human rights is about human beings treating other human beings in a humane way," he said.
He said the interpretation of human rights, in the context of the federal constitution, was as contained in the universal declaration of human rights.
Sarawak Tribune
Sunday, 27th August 2000
No formal submission on blockage : Musa
By Aden Nagrace
KUCHING - The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has not received any formal submissions on the plight of the group of Penans who recently set up a human blockade at Long Kevok in Miri Division.
Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Musa Hitam told a press conference here after chairing a dialogue between Suhakam and NGOs yesterday that the commission only heard vaguely about the situation through the newspaper reports and had so far not received any formal tabling or submission on the case.
Accompanied by several Suhakam top officials, including Dr Pathmanaban and Dr Hirman Ritom, Musa was in the State capital to present a working paper at the four-day Australian Universities International Alumni Convention (AUIAC) 2000.
He said: "Suhakam has been sensitized very, very rudimentarily. We have a rough idea that it (the blockade) is of concern in Sarawak. The matter has been interpreted to be some sort of human rights issue but we have not received any formal complaints from the party concerned."
Queried further, he said Suhakam was not in the position to go into details for the simple reason that it had not been well-informed about the matter. Suhakam had not discussed or had the case been brought to its intention.
Asked whether Suhakam would visit Long Kevok or take up the case if there were an official complaint, Musa said that would depend on the merits of the case.
Up to Suhakam to decide the severity of case
To another question, Tan Sri Musa said it was up to Suhakam to decide whether any case was big enough, serious enough or not for it to initiate action on its own.
Nevertheless, there is a provision in the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999, under which Suhakam was formed, allowing Suhakam to initiate its own action on any human rights-related issue, he added.
Musa refuted the notion that the Penan at Long Kevok had not been represented in their plight.
"I will not believe any downtrodden people, anywhere in the country to not having any representations. As far as the Penan issue is concerned, I know this issue well even before I became the chairman of Suhakam or Suhakam was formed."
Musa said prior to having dialogue with the NGOs, he and other Suhakam officials had also, earlier in the morning, briefed the heads of government departments on the role and responsibilities of Suhakam.
At the dialogue, he said, apart from introducing Suhakam and explaining its roles and responsibilities, there had been exchange of ideas from both parties.
He said Suhakam would be making a similar visit to Sabah soon. He described the establishment of Suhakam as one of the greatest happening in this new millennium.
He said the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act, 1999 had been unanimously approved in the Parliament during its sitting last April and should therefore be supported by all levels of society.
"During the tabling of the Act, no one objected to Suhakam's establishment. And, now since the Act is already in existence, people from all walks of life must give their fullest support."
The Star
Sunday, August 27, 2000
Musa: No complaints from Penans
KUCHING: Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) chairman Tan Sri Musa Hitam said it has not received any formal complaint about the plight of 300 semi-nomadic Penans living in the interior of Miri Division who had set up a "timber blockade" recently to stop logging activities on their ancestral land.
Musa, who had earlier attended dialogue with government officials and
non-governmental representatives in Sarawak, said: "Nothing formal has been
submitted to us."
When asked whether the commission would (if formal complaints were submitted) visit Long Kevok, Musa said Suhakam was not going to visit the place until it was satisfied that its attention was needed.
"I have been aware of the question of the Penans. I have explained to government officials and non-governmental people this morning about how we look at it," he said, adding that the Penans or their representative were free to submit formal complaints to Suhakam.
A few hundred Penans comprising chieftains, tribesmen, women and children, had erected wooden barricades across a road near the Long Kevok outpost in Tutoh in the far reaches of Miri Division.
Their action was described as being their last desperate attempt to stop the three local companies from entering, felling or extracting timber from the Apo-Tutuh jungles where they live.
They claimed that the companies had blatantly encroached into the communal forests there and had been extracting timber indiscriminately without consulting them.
They also claimed that the companies had bulldozed their fruit trees, desecrated their burial sites and refused to pay any compensation for the damage done.
Todate, no arrest have been made yet on the Penans involved in the blockade by the authorities.