MIRI: Anti-logging protests in the remote forests of Sarawak’s Baram region escalated into physical confrontation when forestry enforcement teams swooped into human blockades set up by ethnic Penan natives defending their ancestral lands.
Two individuals in the Long Tepen settlement were arrested and remanded for allegedly confronting the enforcement officers.
The protesters, however, claimed that the forestry officials started the physical confrontations.
Komeok Joe, head of Penan community association Keruan, described the arrests as an abuse of the people’s human rights.
“The Penans in Long Tepen and elsewhere in the forests have been subjected to victimisation by timber giants whose logging has destroyed ancient native customary forests.
“We have lodged many police reports against the logging operators who trespassed into our forests and chopped down large areas of trees,“ he told theSun today.
“Despite these police reports, logging has continued in Penan forests. That is why the Penan have resorted to human blockades.”
Sarawak native land rights lawyer Roland Engan said the protests are taking place out of desperation.
“They are defending their forests using physical blockades as their appeals for help to the state authorities have been repeatedly ignored.
“The forestry enforcement people must not intimidate the natives who are merely defending their forests,“ he said.
Engan, who is also Sarawak PKR chairman, stressed that he is helping the Penan for their welfare and human rights, and not for political purposes.
The anti-logging protests in Sarawak’s interior have escalated over the past few months, especially in Baram and Marudi districts.
Numerous human blockades have been set up in Telang Usan and Tutoh Apoh regions.
The Penan are original inhabitants of Sarawak, with most still living in the forests.
However, huge tracts in the northern interiors have been taken over by timber firms for logging.
