Difficult for Penan women to get legal redress
KUCHING: It will be difficult for Penan women deep in the interior of Baram to seek legal redress after they have been abandoned by timber loggers who married them according to their customs and traditions, a lawyer said yesterday.
“The so-called marriages are not registered with the registrar of marriages,” said Harrison Ngau.
“They are just marriages of convenience.”
He said registering marriages could also be a problem since many Penan women did not have legal documents such as birth certificates and identity cards.
He said many Penan women had come seeking advice after being abandoned by their husbands.
“There is nothing I can do, except say that they should have investigated the backgrounds of those they were about to marry.”
He said the village elders needed to be strict in these matters, or there would not be an end to the exploitation.
He said the problem with the Penans was they were too trusting.
He said he told the Penan elders that they must be wary of outsiders taking advantage of them.
“They are innocent people, and they think the loggers are good people,” he said, adding that local Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) churches had been helping the Penan community.
According to Ngau, cases of “cowboy marriages” not only involved the Penan community, but also the Kelabit, Kenyah and Kayan communities in Baram.
“I have heard the Kelabits, Kenyahs and Kayans talk about women being left behind by men from logging areas.”
He added that these women were forced to take care of their children on their own, and some did not even know who their children’s father was.
Borneo Resources Institute of Malaysia (Brimas) project director Raymond Abin said there were cases of Penan women and girls being sexually assaulted by loggers in the deep interior of Baram.
“I have heard of such cases, but I do not know how widespread they are.”
He said Brimas, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which had a close relationship with the Penan community, would go to the ground and gather evidence of sexual abuse by loggers on Penan women and girls.
He said Brimas wanted to verify allegations made by the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), a Swiss-based non-governmental organisation, that loggers had harassed and raped Penan women and girls.
Abin said there was truth in BMF’s allegations.
“We need solid evidence to present cases of sexual abuses to the state government,” said deputy chief minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu, who is in charge of Penan affairs,
Alfred had recently denied that sexual abuses had ever taken place
Abin said Brimas would report its findings to the Human Rights Commission of Malay-sia (Suhakam).
"We want Suhakam to conduct a public inquiry into the sexual abuse against Penan women and girls by loggers.
“The exploitation of the Penans has to be stopped once and for all.”
[b]On Jabu’s statement that the sexual abuses had never taken place, Abin said the minister should have met the Penan elders at a proper forum.
“From what I know, Jabu had met the community leaders from Baram where some of them spoke in praise of the government.”
He said he did not think that the community leaders would be brave enough to speak about sexual abuse at such a gathering.
Abin said Jabu should meet ordinary Penans and learn the truth behind the allegations.
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link:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/National/2368240/Article/index_html
