KUCHING, Feb 14: The Penan community from Ba Abang village in Middle Baram has once again set up a blockade against logging in their area by a timber company and have demanded for a new headman to be elected by the community to better represent the interests of the locals.
In a joint statement which was released by Bruno Manser Fonds, former headman of Ba Abang Panai Irang said that the last blockade was stopped a fortnight ago to file a police report in Miri on Feb 1, 2023.
“The protestors are demanding that the company stop cutting down trees and destroying land without consent,” he said in the statement yesterday (Feb 13).
According to the statement, the community has been struggling with the logging company since 2016 and the situation worsened when Panai was replaced by a government-appointed headman who allegedly supported logging activity.
It added that after the community learnt of this, several community leaders then applied for a judicial review to overturn the decision to unilaterally appoint the new headman Arun Nyaling. They hope the judicial review will be heard in court soon.
“What we are experiencing now in our village is very sad. The relationship among villagers is far from what we want. We need to choose a new headman and decide for ourselves who is worthy to be our leader,” Panai explained.
Nick Kelesau of the Penan organisation KERUAN agreed that the local communities should be able to elect their own headman.
“We work with many Penan communities and encounter the same problems again and again. Many headmen are appointed by the government who do not represent the interests of the local people,” he said.
KERUAN also demanded that logging should be stopped immediately until the new headman is elected by the community, given that many community members do not agree with the government’s appointment.
In addition, they also claimed that the Ba Abang logging concession has not been certified by the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCS) to date, although all Forest Timber Licences are supposed to be certified by MTCS by the end of 2022. — DayakDaily
