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Penan sexual abuse: Piling trauma upon pain?

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18 Sep 2009

In response to the official investigative report confirming the sexual abuse of Penan women and girls, the Sarawak Women and Family Council appears to be ready to take action – and carry out another probe!

This from The Borneo Post:

Council ready to probe Penan women rape claim
KUCHING: Members of the Sarawak Women and Family Council are prepared to go to the ground to investigate claims that Penan women were raped or sexually exploited following the findings of a taskforce set up by Women, Family and Community Development Ministry.
Council chairperson Datin Fatimah Abdullah said yesterday she was still waiting for the taskforce report from the government and the police.
The taskforce report has indicated that Penan women and students were indeed sexually exploited by timber workers because they are very vulnerable and also partly due to consequences of imbalanced development.

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Interview with … a cow

Anil Netto

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17 Sep 2009

2

Cows have been very much in the news, from the protest in KL to the Buah Pala evictions. On a lighter note, here’s an interview with a difference.

Arrested for trying to hand over a memo?

Anil Netto

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17 Sep 2009

13

The highhanded police action against the 15 activists and indigenous reps in Kuching yesterday was a waste of resources.

All they wanted to do was hand over a petition to state government leaders expressing their concern over the Murum and other dams and the displacement of natives. For that, they were arrested, reportedly for illegal assembly, and later released on police bail.

The CM and his Ministers were too arrogant to even come and accept the memo. The natives have an issue that needs resolving – not arresting. This is the prevailing feeling in town, says a Kuching-based observer.

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Porr to return, reclamation at Gurney Drive?

Anil Netto

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17 Sep 2009

53

Now this is alarming: not only is the 18km tolled Penang Outer Ring Road back on the cards again, the concessionaire is reportedly seeking to reclaim 61ha of land off Gurney Drive and 142ha at Middle Bank, close to the Weld Quay jetties.

When it comes to taking a stand on Porr, is there much to separate the BN from the Pakatan state government?

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‘Anak Bangsa Malaysia’ initiative launched

Anil Netto

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17 Sep 2009

7

Rakyat@work reports on the launch of the Anak Bangsa Malaysia initiative in KL while over in Penang, a smaller group met up to express solidarity:

The launch in KL – Photos by Rakyat@work

The Penang solidary gathering at a nasi kandar restaurant – Photo by Lucia Lai

Just last month, we celebrated Merdeka Day and yesterday we had Malaysia day. Really, it was by far the most subdued and lifeless ‘celebration’ I have ever experienced. Other than uncertainty in our economic challenges, we have also inherited a degenerative political disease which inflicts daily insults and threats to the rakyat. A sense of ‘hopelessness’ is slowly creeping inside our immune system. It is like getting worse day by day. Everything seems to be going backwards.

So, what’s new? Fortunately, a small flame was flickering in the darkness: the launch of a new Anak Bangsa Malaysia initiative.

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No approval for Buah Pala road closure: MPPP

Anil Netto

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16 Sep 2009

15

The Penang Municipal Council has strongly denied that approval was given to Nusmetro to block access to Jalan Kaki Bukit, the road that passes through Kampung Buah Pala. The Council refuted the claim by the firm’s director, reported in The Star, that approval had been given.

Said the council in a statement today:

The road that was closed is a public thoroughfare and any application to close it has to be referred to the Public Works Department and the Land Office for approval.
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15 arrested in Kuching over large dams memo

Anil Netto

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16 Sep 2009

7

1547: 15 activists and indigenous people were arrested in Kuching at 2.30pm as they tried to submit a memorandum to Sarawak state government leaders at Wisma Bapa Malaysia.

The group included Penan, Iban, Kenyah and Kayan representatives of indigenous communities that will be displaced by the Murum and Baram dam projects.

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Rebutting Jabu’s claims about the Penan

Anil Netto

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16 Sep 2009

9

Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu made some claims about the Penan while lashing out at NGOs. He said the NGOs were taking advantage of the plight of the less than three per cent of the Penan population who were still nomadic. This excerpt from the Borneo Post:

“They (negative NGOs) are living off the misery of the few, and manufactured lies. This is what we must fight.
“I have known the Penan community for more than 40 years. They are striving for advancement. Only less than three per cent are still nomadic.
“And it is this three per cent that the negative NGOs speak up for. Is this a fair representation when we have another 97 per cent of Penans who have settled down?” he asked.
He said most of the Penans were successful people after they had followed government programmes to get them out of poverty.
He said the role model for the Penans was entrepreneur Datuk Hasan Sui while the role model for the Penan villages was the one at Suai in Ulu Niah where most of its residents were driving twin-cab 4WDs.
“As the Penans are members of the Dayak community, I do not want to see them being exploited,” he said.

And now the reality, which I learnt from a reliable source:

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“Penang” tak boleh!

Anil Netto

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16 Sep 2009

32

Yesterday, I wrote “Penang boleh!”

I spoke too soon. It should be “Penang” tak boleh! Apparently, any group, publication or event that wants to use “Penang” in its name must now get approval from the state government?

What???

“People should know that ‘Penang’ is not a name that they can simply use,” the Chief Minister is reported as saying in theSun. “The Penang government is the sole authority to decide whether anyone can use the state brand.”

What nonsense is this? Who appointed it the sole authority? The name of a place belongs to its people, not to the state government. Just because of a few abuses, it wants to control the usage of the place-name and claim ownership over it.

And since when has Penang become a “brand”? (Want to copyright and patent it?) Such giveaway words reflect a corporate-business mentality, not a people-centred mind-set.

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