ALERT - Imminent police action against 5 Penan Blockades

ALERT - Imminent police action against 5 Penan Blockades

SAHABAT ALAM MALAYSIA ALERT

SAM would like to alert concerned parties on five Penan blockades which
have been recently set up by four villages and one nomadic community in
lower Baram river basin, Miri Division, Sarawak. The villages involved
are Long Lutin (Sungai Patah), Long Sayan and Long Belok (Sungai Apoh)
and Long Kevok (Sungai Layun, Tutoh) while the nomadic group, whose two
representatives were in Marudi to report on the matter to SAM, is from
Ba' Bevan, Sungai Si'ang, Tutoh.

The Ba' Bevan people are blockading against KTS Logging, while Long
Sayan and Long Kevok are blockading against RIMBUNAN HIJAU and Long
Lutin and Long Kevok villagers are blockading against SAMLING.

This alert would like to draw your attention that police personnel from
Marudi have reportedly been fetched to Long Kevok as of today. We have
reason to believe that the Long Kevok blockade, which began in the
middle of this week, is being treated more urgently by the authorities
since it is set up on a main logging route used by several companies.

We hope that this decision will not lead to any untoward incidents for
the community members.

SAM is gravely concerned over the fast speed in which the authorities
tend to react against peaceful protests by logging-affected communities
and their lack of response to protect the peoples' rights prior to them
resorting to protests. That new blockades are being set up barely one
week after the long-standing Long Benalih blockade against a SAMLING
road was dismantled by the authorities for the second time in the year,
indicates that the governance and legal framework of the forestry
sector in Sarawak is in serious need of reform.

We should also further note that the Apoh-Tutoh villagers are
blockading not only to prevent further logging encroachments into their
land but also to protect it from being accessed by new plantation
schemes.

It is well-known that logging operations in most parts of Sarawak have
reached their final stages with the issuance of numerous plantation
licences from the Forests Department and the Department of Lands and
Surveys since the late 1990s. If the people's protests are not heeded,
then close to a fourth of Sarawak land area may be converted into oil
palm and wood monoculture, which will strip off the people's land
rights, resources and livelihood forever.

We ask for your solidarity for the people during the weeks to come. A
statement on the matter will be issued by SAM next week.





______________________________

____________________________
Theivanai Amarthalingam
Legal Advisor
Consumers' Association of Penang [CAP]
& Sahabat Alam Malaysia [SAM - FoE Malaysia]
No. 10, Jalan Masjid Negeri
11600 Penang
Malaysia

Tel: +6 04 829 9 511
Fax: +6 04 829 8 109
Email: theiva.lingam@gmail.com

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that
matter" - Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.