At a Gaia meeting last night with Skye, we developed a plan to collect
statements, in both local dialect and interpretted in English, of
Aboriginal responses to the SOS SARAWAK STATEMENT and quotes from the
Dayak men that Anya had interviewed. It is our intention to
encourage and support a solidarity movement amongst as many indigenous
groups as possible around the world in response to the crisis facing
the tribes in Sarawak. We feel that this move would not only be
empowering for the people concerned, but also a very powerful
statement to the rest of the world.
This collection of statements can either be taken over to Sarawak by
an indigenous person (ie Burnam Burnam) and presented to the Dayaks,
Malaysian and Sarawak govts., and media (worldwide)...or we can get it
up there some other way. There's no need to stress how quickly we
have to coordinate this...so can we have your support and assistance?
Please present copies of the accompanying statements to local
indigenous spokespeople and fax it to other indigenous groups you may
have contact with worldwide, requesting a written response of any
length, both in native tongue and English. Please send them to Cam
c/- SRAGKYLIE (through Pegasus by Monday 8 July). We are also trying
to arrange a central point to phone in for taped verbal responses of
15 seconds or less to be produced and sent out to radio stations and
others in Sarawak and worldwide. Kylie will try to set up something
to receive them. More soon.
We are also photographing a protest in support of the Dayaks being
held today by the fringedwellers at Lockridge, Western Australia, and
those photos can accompany this material. Also, could you suggest to
local indigenous groups that maybe they have ideas for actions, as
well, that can get local media coverage.
May we also request some funding assistance to help cover costs?
For GAIA and her tribes,
Cam
*****************************************************************
Pleas from the Dayaks April 1991
As recorded by Anya Light
***************************************************************
Jangin, Kelabit tribe, Long Napir
"We are fed up. When we make blockades nothing changes, but we must
go through alot of suffering, going to jail and being separated from
our families. If the company comes here again, of course we will try
to stop them, but we also want to find other ways to take action. We
want more help from the outside, like war time when many people came
to help us. We are prepared to fight for this land."
Maleng, a nomadic Penan from the Adang region
"I don't want to go to court again, why should I go to court if I have
done nothing wrong? I am not a criminal. I can swear right here that
I am not guilty, but I will not go again. I have gone twice already
and the court case has been cancelled. The problem is not downriver,
so why should the court case be there? Why don't they come up here,
then I will be happy to speak to them. How many times do we go to
court and nothing is solved. We travel all the way downriver and then
to bring God's word into the court and swear once and for all the
truth of our situation, and then the problem could be solved."
Along Saga, headman of Long Adang
"I met with Jabu (Min. for Agriculture & Community Development) twice
and the Resident Officer once but we didn't really have a good talk
because when I approached them they walked away. They said that it
would be good if we were to settle down, because only then would we
get assistance. We say we do not want to live like this, and I said
'as long as you are standing there representing the Malaysian
Government then we don't believe you want to help us.'
"(He said he would help) us save this area of land and writea letter
to the company that was going to lot it. This was not true, though,
because some time afterwards I talked to the workers of the company
and they had heard nothing about it.
"Jabu said that he was the Datuk, he was the boss and he was
representing the government who owned this land. I said that this
land has been used by the Kelabit and Murut tribes before but not by
the Malaysian Government. I asked if he had informed any of them that
he was planning to come. I said, if you really are the Sir, the Datuk
and the law holder then we are confused. To us you hold no law, if
you do then you would at least have informed us of your coming here
before you came - that's why we don't believe you when you say this.
I then asked him to drink water from the Adang river to see how he
liked it (it is muddy from the logging operations upstream), then talk
about why you are here. The other officers there told me not to talk
like this to such an important man, but I told them I must say this.
"Jabu took my hand and led me to the edge of the forest, saying, 'You
see, we have not destroyed your forest here, we are not destroying it,
we are just making a fish pond.' I said, 'These are not your fish and
this is not your river. You have no right to be here.' I then asked
him to stop the company from destroying our forest. He said he would
try, but that the land belongs to the Government. I didn't believe
him when he said these things; I know that he just flies from place to
place by helicopter, going fishing and hunting, not helping the
people. He told me he would write to the timber company, but the
timber company people said that they had not received a letter."
"I was still angry at the minister for coming to our place and saying
it was their land and taking all our fish from the river. I said 'I
will burn your office here because it is made from timber, from our
trees. Why don't you stay in your office in Kuching, you can't stay
here because this is not your land. Even the boat there in the water
I will burn, because this too...
"Then Jabu told me to hold out my hands, like this (demonstrates
holding his arms out parallel to his body). He put a bag of rice and
a bag of sugar in my arms and then told me to just stand there while
he took a picture. I threw away the rice, I threw it down to the
ground. I said 'We don't want you to take a picture of us, we don't
want you to pretend that we want this kind of help when all we want is
our land. What good is this rice to us, I will throw this rice and
your camera into the river. All we need is our forest.' Again the
other officers told me not to speak in this way. I said 'If what I
say is wrong, I will fall on the ground right here. If what I say is
right then Jabu will fall.'
"For three weeks I waited there (at the fish pond research station)
for a meeting with Johari (Minister for Industrial Development) but he
never came to discuss this matter of our lands.
"Who but theives come to a place without asking or even telling the
owners first. I call these people who have come to our lands theives.
They are using nets not only to catch the fish, but to catch wild
animals: deer, mouse deer, gibbons, and many different kinds of
birds."
Headman of Long Tegan, semi-settled Penan
"We ask for help from you. In World War Two when the trouble came,
many villages were left, all the people ran away and hid. It was when
help from the outside came that we could protect our land. We have
had our authority taken away, we are not allowed to have guns, we are
powerless. The only way we can fight is through our mouths, but we
are like the mouse deer, we don't have teeth to bite."
Aji, Headman of Long Sebayang, semi-settled Penan
"Our life was peaceful before, but now we are sitting here feeling
angry and frustrated...We are not like this, it is others who make us
angry. Others come into our land and disturb us and that is why we
have problems, that is why we are angry.
"It is our land. If we win the case and can keep our land then we
will leave them alone. But if they don't, and if they try to enter
our land again, we will make blockades and appeal for more support."
**************************************************************************
SOS Sarawak Statement
**************************************************************************
The biological and ecological value of tropical forests for
the entire planet and the global consequences of
deforestation transcend political boundaries and short term
economic uses. We therefore feel that we have a responsibilty
as individuals that transcends our countries of origin and
extends beyond the narrow perspectives of the current global
balance of power. This is not ecocolonialism, but a
recognition that all of us share an equal responsibilty for
the worlds environmental problems, not only for our generation
but for all generations to come. We are by no means "against"
Malaysia or Sarawak; we are for all life.
The so called "developed" countries, whose own timber industry
has laid waste to virtually all of it's own original forest
cover, have since turned to the tropical regions for their
timber supplies. In Thailand, the Philippines and even
Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah, the legacy of destructive
logging is obvious and a cause for alarm. Dry, eroded areas
resembling deserts, degraded secondary forets and exotic
monocultures replace pristine, irreplaceable tropical forests.
No longer can the forest sustain the diversity of species and
be the source of life for native people.
In pointing out the needless destruction in Sarawak, we are by
no means condoning the logging of native forests in the rest
of the world; we are rather acknowledging the role of Sarawak
as a window to the situation globally. It cannot be denied
that just as the functions of native forests are global, the
timber trade extends far beyond the confines of the exporting
nation.
In Sarawak and around the world, the timber industry continues
to make allegations which have consistently been shown to be
false. In Sarawak, it is not the activities of native peoples;
who clear small plots of land for farming, leaving the
majority of the forest intact ; who are responsible for
destroying the forests, it is the timber industry itself that
is responsible by carrying out the fastest rate of logging
in the world.
The myth of "sustainable" logging in Sarawak has been amply
exposed by high level international missions, such as the
ITTO study mission headed by Lord Cranbrook in 1989. The
recommendations put forward in this report were agreed to in
principle by the Malaysian Government. One of these
reccommendations was a reduction of log exports to 9 million
cubic metres per year. Recently it was exposd that the amount
of exports from Sarawak actually rose to 18 million cubic
metres in the very year of the mission. The Minister for
Primary Industries, Lim Keng Yaik, has since stated that this
amount can be sustained for the next three years before any
reduction of what he states is a well managed timber industry.
There has been an increase in log exports in the last year.
The myth that the benefits of logging reach anything like the
whole population of Sarawak is a blatant attack on the
traditional owners of that land. Most of these people have
never agreed to indiscrimate logging on their land and have
consistently indicated this, as they are now, by erecting
blockades and lodging other forms of strong opposition to the
logging operations.
Holders of logging concessions (often politicians and their
relatives), and the timber companies themselves (usually
Chinese enterprises) recieve the lion's share of the profits
of this exploitation. The bulk of the 50 000 employees of the
logging industry recieve paltry wages and work in extremely
dangerous conditions in an industry that may only be viable in
it's current state for another 5 years. It is clear to every
visitor in Sarawak that basic services, such as adequate
roads, social services and hospitals are in a terrible state,
despite the huge profits being made in the timber industry and
oil industry alike.
The hundred million year old tropical forests that still exist
in Sarawak are worth far more than short term profits. We urge
the timber industry not to be controlled by the voracious
appetites of importing countries for tropical timber,
especially when it can be seen that this timber is often being
used in extremely wasteful ways. In Japan often it is used
simply used once or twice, then thrown away in the case of
concrete formwork panels.
We support any initiatives to have value added timber and
forest products, even to the extent of compensation for that
which has already been wastefully destroyed. Although we
acknowledge the fact that there has not been a single example
of true sustainable forestry commercially practised we believe
there are methods of extraction which have a much less
destructive impact and provide far greater benefits to the
people, such as the use of small portable sawmills. Sarawak
can have a viable timber industry for local needs and for high
value processed timber.
We also support (under the direction of the local people) the
marketing of alternative forest products and income sources,
such as medicines and alternative tourism, provided the
profits are shared equally amongst all the people who are
livimg in Sarawak.
Whilst we freely admit to and condemn the terrible conditions
of indigenous peoples in our own countries of origin, and
pledge our support for their struggle for self determination
and land rights; we also recognise the extreme conditions of
the native people in Malaysia. If the Malaysian Government has
condemned the violation of human rights of indigenous peoples
of other countries, it would seem paramount to expect the
Malaysian government to respect the rights of their own
indigenous peoples.
Many indigenous people around the world recognize the extreme
and urgent plight of the tribal people of Sarawak and give
their support, especially those who are facing the most
hardship, the nomadic and semi-settled Penan.
It has been intersting to note that the special case of the
Penan has been highlighted by the Sarawak government, and
attempts made to bring these people into the "mainstream" of
development. They themselves have reported that they haven't
seen the $4.4 million ringitt said to be set aside for the
Penan. They have not been consulted when projects, such as
longhouses, were set up for them, in fact they wonder what use
these houses are when they can't find enough food to eat. They
were never told of reserve areas supposedly set aside for
them, which have now been found to be logged.
However the issue is much more complex than the very urgent
issue of the Penan. Blockades continuously set up throughout
Sarawak by many other tribes, point to the very real problems
of the 220 000 tribal people who are dependent on the forests.
We entreat the Sarawak and Malaysian governments to listen to
them, too often they have not had the chance to speak or were
not even consulted on matters that affect their very survival.
We consider this to be far more important than Malaysian
Government delegations travelling the world speaking to
outsiders about the supposedly "well managed" timber industry
in Sarawak and spreading false reports indicating that it is
the tribal people themselves who are to blame for the
destruction of the forests. We fully support their demands for
the recognition and protection of their rights to their land
and call with them for an immediate halt of logging on their
these areas. We support their wish to save their forest. We
pray that the Sarawak and Malaysian governments do truly
observe the pattern of genocide globally and ensure that
it does not continue to repeat itself here.
Our purpose in this visit to Sarawak, is a small part of the
many years of the outcry, both local and international, over
the needless destruction in Sarawak. It is meant to highlight
a situation which may already be too late, but which we can no
longer accept. This smokescreen of mistruths, while children
go hungry and a priceless world heritage is destroyed must be
exposed.
For the future generations,
For the forests.
SOS Sarawak.
(June 20 1991) SOS team 3J3