Bruno Manser Fonds
Heuberg 25
4051 Basel
Switzerland
phone +41 61 261 94 74
fax +41 61 261 94 73
updated 2001-01-31
The Star, 12 July 2000
Change lifestyle and join society, rep urges Penans
By Stephen Then
MIRI: Settle down. Stop the nomadic and uncertain life and allow us to help you enter mainstream society.
That was the message the state authorities conveyed to the few hundred semi-nomadic Penans in the jungles of Ulu Limbang and Miri Division who are slowly being affected by timber and land clearance at their settlements.
State assemblyman for Ba'kelalan Dr Judson Tagal said yesterday the state government was sincere in wanting to help the last of Sarawak's nomadic Penans.
"They have to start learning to adapt and live a more organised and settled life or else even 10 years from now, they will continue migrating all over the jungles and end up being faced with similar problems (being affected by logging and land-clearings).
"At present, the semi-nomadic Penans have no land of their own. The land they claimed to be theirs are contentious as they keep on migrating all the time," he said.
Dr Judson was asked to comment on the plight of two groups of nomadic Penans in Ulu Limbang and Ulu Baram who claimed they were being overrun by logging operations in their Ulu Madiit and Ulu Magoh settlements.
They have appealed to the state government to intervene and stop the logging and have signed a joint petition addressed to the Chief Minister's Office in Kuching and the Limbang Residents Office.
The disputed area is part of Dr Judson's constituency.
Limbang Division Resident Ubaidillah Haji Abdul Latiff, when contacted, confirmed that the area being disputed was a licensed logging concession area.
"We are trying to ascertain the size of the Penans' settlements and the areas they claimed to occupy but the companies involved have valid licence to conduct logging there," he said.
Dr Judson said the government has allocated communal forests for the use of the natives who have settled down, but not for nomadic purposes.