Malaysian Natives Vow to Form Human Barricades to Stop Loggers in Rain Forest

Penan tribesmen fighting to preserve their ancestral lands in one of the world’s oldest rain forests are vowing to halt the loggers’ blades with human barricades.

With the last of 128 Penans freed from jail for erecting barriers to stop the hauling of logs out of the jungle, environmentalists said the stints behind bars have not diminished the determination to protect the rapidly depleted forest.

“Erecting obstructions made of wood or other materials is illegal,” said Muniandui Thayalan, legal adviser to the Penans, the last of the nomadic hunters in East Malaysia’s timber-rich state of Sarawak. “But there is no law against standing in the roads.”

In its zeal to modernize the 9,200 Penans, the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has launched a resettlement program aimed at transforming the nomadic hunters into farmers and fishermen in permanent villages, thus ending the feud with logging interests once and for all.

Lashing out at Western critics who accuse him of oppressing the Penans, Mahathir said “romantic” notions about preserving the Penan way of life have to be dispelled.

“The Penans live in the jungle, deprived of medical care with a life expectancy of 40 years compared with 60 years for other Malaysians,” Mahathir said. “This is supposed to be a privilege for them?”

Mahathir said those who champion the cause of the Penans are condemning them to disease and early death. He added that it is time for Westerners to realize that the era of shouldering the “white man’s burden” in the East has passed.

“We’re hoping they’ll settle down,” said Abang Haji Johari, who heads the resettlement program. “We’re offering a far better future than leaving them to become museum pieces.”

“The Penans are the most backward native group in the state,” another official said, noting that the government is setting up schools, clinics and well-stocked agricultural stations in resettlement areas.

At the height of the logging dispute, 128 Penans were jailed for blocking the roads with barriers. They all were freed pending hearings next year.

Forced to stop building obstructions on the dirt roads leading to the logging camps, the resolute Penans show no signs of giving up.

Juwin Lihan, head of the newly formed Penan Assn., says the tribe is desperately trying to preserve a life style handed down from generation to generation by thwarting the loggers who are destroying the people’s livelihood.

“They chop down our trees, the animals have run away, and soil erosion is polluting the rivers and causing the fish to disappear,” he said.

Chief among the Penans’ woes is persuading officials that they are the rightful owners of the land, since they have no documents to prove ownership.

“They want legal recognition that the land they have lived on for generations is theirs,” said Muniandui. “They’re not against all forms of modernization either, but want the right to decide upon ecologically safe options.”

The dilemma of the Penans has attracted the attention of environmentalists, who hope to help them save the 150-million-year-old rain forest they call home. Alarmed botanists note that the area contains the greatest diversity of plant and animal species in existence and plays a vital role in balancing the natural ecology.

Environmentalists warn that tropical rain forests are being depleted at an alarming rate, with an estimated 49 million acres logged, burned or otherwise destroyed annually.

Nowhere are they being chopped down faster than in Sarawak, the world’s No. 1 exporter of tropical hardwood.

Timber and timber products accounted for 13% of the country’s export earnings in 1988, with loggers clearing nearly 600 acres a day.

The government’s drive to direct the Penans into the mainstream of society has generated little enthusiasm.

Those who have abandoned the jungle complain that it is difficult to adjust to a static farming life after surviving by hunting at will in the rain forest they knew from birth.

Ajang Kiew, 35, one of 300 Penans who live on a government settlement called Long Belok, said that since he and his neighbors always have depended upon the wild for food, they are in desperate need of training to become farmers and grow enough crops.

“We lived well and peacefully in the forest until the timber camps came,” said Juwin. “Our forefathers brought us up to live and cope in the jungle.”

“We used bark for clothing, rattan cane for mats and baskets and latex for light,” Juwin said. “Then the timber camps invaded our territory and our lives have changed.”