MIRI – Presence of 4 foreigners among protesters on camera confirms foreigners incite the Penan!

It was suspected foreigners are behind many of the blockades set up by Penans in timber camps in the state.

The Borneo Post mentioned many in the disguise of environmentalists and conservationists were noted to instigate and encourage natives to disrupt logging activities though dissembling their role.

Foreigners caught on camera deny non-governmental (NGOs) organizations claims they have never interfered in affairs of the state.   

Mingling freely the foreigners believed to be Australian, Indian and 2 Dutch women organized the protesters to carry signboards, for picture purpose at an access road at Long Bangan and Long Nen in Ulu Baram.

Protesting logging and reforestation

In a coordinated arrangement including timing the foreigners were present at the blockade at Long Nen set up about 6am and the Long Bangan blockade erected about 2pm.

Constructed of wood the simple blockades set up were manned by Penan men, women and children served the purpose of disrupting logging and reforestation activities in the area.

Three major logging companies are operating in the area.

The camp manager lodged a report at the Long Lama police station about the 4 foreigners that they were seen together with natives at the blockade sites.

When contacted Marudi police chief DSP Jonathan Jalin said police were aware of foreigners in the area but the authorities were interested in their intentions of being in the state including the role they played in the affairs of the Penan.

“They were seen with the Penans in Long Lama and we are interested to find out who they are and what they are doing in the jungle with the Penans,” he said.

The protesters handed to a camp manager a list of demands and notice, unsigned, to stop lorries from passing through. The foreigners and 2 journalists from The Borneo Post and See Hua Daily News at the scene received the same.  

The group handed out copies of a news clipping on about 3,000 Penans in Belaga facing dire straits due to crop failure claimed by Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development  Joseph Entulu recently.

The crop failure was due to attacks by beasts from the jungle on their farms and this happened in 5 out of 6 settlements Entulu in the newspaper report said.

Minister of Land Development Dr James Masing attributed it to logging activities, which rendered wild sago and wild games scarce.

Forest reserve

Long Bangan headman Unga Paren when questioned whether foreigners were involved in the blockade denied it while admitting to their presence at the blockade. Saying the blockades were the work of the locals he said the foreigners “are tourists who left after a few minutes.”

 “The blockade can only be removed after all the demands have been met,” said Unga, adding he had no power to stop people from coming to the village.

Unable to contradict the suspicion people maybe using the blockades to their advantage as many had video and digital cameras worth thousands of ringgit looked after by Penans, he insisted the protests were carried out in a peaceful manner.

The locals chose the action due to the lessening jungle produce caused by logging activities and failure to establish a “forest reserve” protecting the land’s natural resources.

Refuting the headman’s claim, the logging camp manager who lodged the police report said “The timber camps operating in the area allocated a large area of forest for the Penans to roam,” he said.

Countering that they roamed Unga said Long Bangan had 400 inhabitants, of which 20 are studying in SK Long Bedian. Most of those who entered secondary schools which were very few dropped out in Form 2 or 3. Those who stayed long completed Form 4.  

Comprising mainly farmers, the villagers planted padi, maize, tapioca, bananas, yams and sago introduced by the Agriculture Department many years ago but they have all been cleared out. Getting medical attention was a difficulty for them as the closest clinics were miles away in Long Bedian or Long Kevok.       

Unga hoped the Flying Doctor Service could be resolved soon and the service resumed as it was a necessity in the area.

Inviting foreign NGOs for talks

Chin Kee Leong reported Ba Kelalan assemblyman Nelson Balang invited the foreign NGO behind the blockades in Ulu Baram for talks. “Let’s meet with an open mind,” he said.

The media arranging a meeting between him as the representative of Ba Kelalan with the NGOs

would promote the role of the media to resolve matters. “I’m willing to meet up with the foreign NGOs who are behind the Penan blockades to discuss what they really want,” the assemblyman said.

Aware foreign NGOs were monitoring him he related an experience when he bumped into a foreigner whom he did not recognize at a hotel, who asked him, “Are you Nelson?”

“I was surprised when the foreigner told me all the places I had been to as if they had been keeping track of my movements,” said Balang, a banker who entered politics due to an interest to meet people and travelling.

Interested in the blockades he said he would not mind getting together with the parties, to discuss on the development of the Penans in his constituency.

“However, I hope they (NGOs) will be reasonable and not insist on the Penans be left alone and out of the development programmes implemented by the government,” he stressed.

The government knew the need to balance development while preserving the environment and ecosystem he said, adding, it would not rush through development heedlessly.

Part of the necessary development process in Ba Kelalan is education and medical care which benefits not only the Penan but the Kelabit and Lun Bawang he said.

They would appreciate the development programme as Bahasa Malaysia was an effective communication channel between the ethnic groups eradicating any problems caused by language.

Rural projects

At a recent working visit to Long Lellang, Balang met some of the Penan village chiefs and gave them minor rural project grants.

To provide shelter for the Penan trekking from villages to seek medical attention at the government clinic beside the airport in Long Lellang, the government had a ground breaking ceremony for a Penan Rest House.

“The people in Long Lellang are very fortunate to have an airport built costing millions of ringgit right at their doorstep, giving them fast access to the outside world,” he said.

As the people’s representative his job was very challenging compared to his previous profession as a banker which involved a lot of indoor work. “It gives me tremendous satisfaction to go around solving problems and getting things done for the people,” he said.

Another development project is building a Bailey bridge replacing the precarious wooden hanging bridge across the river. Assistance can then be brought directly and quickly to the only school in Long Lellang where many receive education.

The government is considering energy sources like solar and wind based besides small practical micro hydroelectric generators with a capacity about 30kV to aid water and electricity problems in the expanding town.

The renewable energy sources are more eco-friendly than the current diesel generators in use.

Refuting claims of social activism

An NGO claimed the 4 foreigners at the blockade in Ulu Baram were journalists.

The 4 foreigners were journalists from the Kuala Lumpur based Agence France Presse (AFP) and were there to interview the Penan in the Tutoh Apoh region disclosed the Borneo Resources Institute Malaysia (Brimas) in a press statement. 

The journalists were at the blockade by “coincidence” claimed Brimas executive director Mark Bujang.

Eyewitness account of the 4 including the women were caught directing and instructing the Penan on actions at the blockade including writing on the placards could not be rebutted satisfactorily.