KUCHING - A Sarawak PKR leader, Dominique Ng, has described as shameful the violation of the NCR land of the Penans and the fundamental rights of ethnic minorities.

“The shameful violation has seriously impaired the international image of Sarawak and Malaysia” said Ng when responding to the current protective blockades mounted by hundreds of Penans over their forest territories at Long Belok, Long Nen and Long Bangan.

“The ancestral or NCR lands and forests of our Penan people must be returned to them,’” he said, adding that the state government must immediately instruct logging and plantation companies concerned to stop logging in the Baram district and pull out completely.

Don't usurp their rights

He said Baram forests have been the habitat of the Penans for centuries, and no one should usurp their rights over their NCR inheritance.

“For the last several decades, the NCR territories of the Penans have been severely encroached upon by logging and plantation activities, destroying the greater part of the forest habitat upon which their entire survival so critically depends. At stake is not just Penan individuals and families, but the survival of an entire ethnic minority group.

“For all their lip-service of care, the government’s record is one of deliberate neglect. Without the tropical forests, the Penans are losing their natural food source. This is amply proven recently when about 3000 Penans were on the verge of starvation for some three months before the disaster was reported.

The destruction to their ecosystem has thus taken a devastating toll on these natives of Sarawak,” said Ng who is also the state assemblyman for Padungan.

The government, he said, has compromised all the people of Sarawak, who will find it difficult to face the international community on both fronts of human rights and environmental protection to combat climate change.

“The violation of the Penan’s NCR jungle territories has threatened their security, no less graphically illustrated by the rape and sexual harassment suffered by the Penan womenfolk and students as reported last year.

Proud national assets

“What has the criminal justice system done to restore their dignity and return justice to them? Do you expect them to accept their impending doom without a determined fight-back? asked Ng.

He described the Penans and Borneo’s tropical forests as two proud national assets, saying that “we have been endowed by heaven with our rich and beautiful forests, and the Penans.

“They who are the foremost protectors of our forests are fighting to keep our forests evergreen and our air pristine clean. Their courage at the frontlines, protecting both their livelihood and the environment, deserves our highest respects. We stand with them in our total solidarity,” Ng stressed.