Bar Council: Govt must act on reports of Penan girls being raped

The Star

BY LOH FOON FONG
foonfong@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council is disappointed with the Government’s continued lack of political will in ensuring that the welfare and rights of indigenous people throughout Malaysia are protected.

Its president Ragunath Kesavan said the Government’s inaction makes a mockery of its vote in favour of adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007, he said.

“We strongly urge the Government to perform its duty by taking concrete steps to improve the welfare of the indigenous peoples,” he said in a statement Friday.

Ragunath said the Bar Council was disappointed with the Government’s initial refusal to make public the report of the National Task Force established to investigate the allegations of sexual abuse against the Penan women and girls.

He also said they were disappointed that despite the Inspector-General of Police’s pledge of full support for a joint police-NGO investigation mission, the Sarawak police had reportedly stated that the funds allocated for the project were not sufficient for the NGOs participation.

“The sexual abuse faced by the Penans is but one of a multitude of human rights violations that indigenous communities face on an ongoing basis,” he said.

Ragunath said the Bar Council was concerned that many indigenous communities still live without basic amenities and infrastructure and were deprived of their rights to ancestral lands and access to basic services have made them vulnerable to sexual abuse and other human rights violations.

“The Goverment must fulfill its state obligations by formally recognising, protecting and guaranteeing the rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands throughout the country and gazetting such ancestral lands as reserved areas for them,” he said.

The Bar Council also denounced the arrest of 15 Sarawakian indigenous leaders on Sept 16 who were reportedly detained as they tried to deliver a memorandum to the Chief Minister to protest the building of hydro-electric dams that would adversely affect their communities, he said.

The rape of young Penan girls

The star

BY STEPHEN THEN, SHARON LING, LOH FOON FONG, FLORENCE A. SAMY AND R.K. SHYAMALA

Allegations of Penan girls and women being raped and molested by timber company workers in the Baram district in Sarawak have been confirmed to be true.

A special committee set up by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry revealed that at least seven girls and women were raped and molested - confi rming a news report by The Star late last year.

The horror the Penan girls and women went through.

● A girl, 12, was raped by a stranger outside her hostel and by a timber worker when she took a lift in a timber company’s vehicle from her village in Long Kawi to her school in Long Lama. She got pregnant, quit school and married a Penan man.

● A woman from Long Item was raped by a timber worker in 2005 and 2007 and gave birth to a baby girl, now two years old.

● One was raped by an Iban timber worker when she was kidnapped at the age of 13, while visiting her relatives in Miri.

● One was almost raped when she took a lift with her father from a timber company to apply for an identity card.

● In Long Muboi, a student said her 14-year-old friend was molested by a truck driver who gave her a lift to school.

● A 17-year-old girl gave birth to a child and her neighbours claimed that she had sexual relations with the timber workers.

● A group of women said they believed that sex exploitation exists among the Penan women and girls but they were too ashamed to tell their stories.

The Star

Friday September 11, 2009

Panel: Most had problems getting IDs

PETALING JAYA: The national action task force committee that investigated allegations of sex abuse of Penan women in Sarawak found that most of them had difficulty in getting identification documents.

This was due to poverty, the long distance from their villages to town and basic ignorance on the need to get the documents.

It found that many parents were poor and could not provide their children with basic schooling. The lack of transportation had also prevented them from sending their children to school.

The 112-page report noted that health facilities were located far from their settlement and most did not get any form of immunisation and most babies were received by mid-wives.

The committee was headed by then Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Ng Yen Yen.