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 Penan sue Samling and Sarawak Government to regain Land RightsBy BMF BMF 2007-07-05 | PRESS STATEMENT: The Penan community of Long Lamai on the upper reaches of the Baram River in the Malaysian state of Sarawak has filed a new court case against the Sarawak state government and the Malaysian logging giant Samling in order to save their unique mountain rainforests in the heart of Borneo from logging. In the representative action case, five plaintiffs are claiming Native Customary Rights (NCR) to 31,000 hectares of primary rainforest and farmlands in the name of the community of Long Lamai. Long Lamai is one of the biggest and oldest settlements of the Eastern Penan in Sarawak. In 1955, the nomadic Penan group of the area under headman Belare Jabu was encouraged by the British colonial administration to settle at the current village site on the Balong River close to the Indonesian border. Today, the Penan are living from farming, but still depend on the forest for hunting and for collecting various forest products. "The plaintiffs and their ancestors had been living as nomads roaming their Tana Pengurip or Native Customary Rights Land since time immemorial", according to the Penanīs statement of claim filed by Kuching-based lawyer Baru Bian who handles the case. Around 1995, the Samling subsidiary Merawa Sdn Bhd was given a timber licence by the Sarawak state government "without the consent of the plaintiffs who are the rightful owners" of the land. "The plaintiffs have been deprived of their sources of food, fish, medicine, wildlife and other forest products which the plaintiffs need and are dependent upon for their daily subsistence. The plaintiffs have also been deprived of the sources of income from their lands, fruit trees, and other essential trees and crops." The statement of claim also states that the issuance of a timber licence without the Penanīs consent had been "oppressive, arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional". The Long Lamai case is the second NCR case filed by the Eastern Penan after four neighbouring communities had filed a similar case in 1998 which is still pending. The Sarawak government refuses to recognise any land rights of the indigenous Penan communities, which is widely regarded as a severe human rights violation. Samling and other logging companies, such as Shin Yang, Interhill and Rimbunan Hijau, are taking advantage of this situation. In March 2007, the controversial Samling group was publicly listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange with support from Credit Suisse, HSBC and Macquarie Securities. An international coalition of NGOs is pressing these banks to refund the profits made from the Samling listing because of the company's involvement in illegal and unsustainable logging. Both Credit Suisse and HSBC are defending their support for Samling while Macquarie has not made any public statement. For more information, please contact us: Bruno Manser Fonds Association for the Peoples of the Rainforest Heuberg 25 4051 Basel / Switzerland Tel. +41 61 261 94 74 www.bmf.ch Image Links
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