"Malaysia’s Indigenous Penan block roads to end logging in Borneo", 15 October 2021

Indigenous Penan tribespeople have set up road blocks to stop a timber company from logging on land in Malaysian Borneo that they consider part of their ancestral heritage.

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Both the Long Ajeng and Long Pakan villagers claim that timber giant Samling illegally encroached on Penan land, logging trees without their consent. The headmen of these villages say they immediately filed police reports after discovering the encroachment, and only established the blockades after authorities failed to take action to stop Samling.

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Samling’s license to log in Long Pakan was renewed on Aug. 27, but the company says it has not started working in the area, and, according to a company statement “has only begun to transport logs from outside of the area for the purpose of building a bridge over Sungai Patah.”

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Samling says the accusations it has encroached on NCR lands are “malicious and without any truth or basis.”

The company says it has received the consent of the majority of the villagers, in line with the requirement under Sarawak laws to obtain prior informed consent of landowners. “We have thus far obtained the consent of 56 Ketua Bilik [heads of households] of Long Pakan,” the company said. “Unfortunately, the Ketua Kampung [headman], Pada Jutang, was not one of the 56 who gave their consent.”

Pada Jutong’s granddaughter, Puan Julia Michael Singa, told Radio Free Sarawak it’s not true that 56 villagers gave their consent.

The company also says a group of villagers who support logging, led by one Joshua Gabeng, filed a police report against their neighbors and asked the police to dismantle the blockade.

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