Source: Sarawak Tribune Oct 4 Page 3
ENVIRONMENTALISTS BEHIND PENANS' POLICE REPORTS ?
MIRI - The police report lodged by a group of Penans in Kuching
last Saturday may have been prompted by foreign environmentalist
groups whose influences on the Penans are on the wane.
A police source said foreign environmentalists had previously
been instigating the Penans to erect blockades on logging roads.
"Apparently, they are now frustrated by police successes in
taking down every barricade over the years due to "diplomaatic"
methods employed by the relevant authorities.
The environmentalists are apparently not having much success in
projecting the Penans as victims of the logging industry.
Their latest technique is to portray the Penans as "victims of
persecution" by the authorities," commented the police source.
A group of so-called Penans were in Kuching City last Saturday
to present complaints to the opposition Democratic Action Party
and to lodge several police reports against the Forestry
Department and the police in particular.
They alleged that the Miri police had used "high-handed
treatments" which resulted in the death of a six-year-old school
boy. They also alleged that a few forestry officials "gang-raped"
a 15-year-old girl last year.
In their reports, the Penans also said one Sonny Lout died from
the fatal effects of tear gas which was fired by police to break
up a group of 203 protesting Penans on Sept 23 last year. The
youth allegedly died three weeks after the incident.
Meanwhile, a senior police officer here has expressed his
disbelief. "If the allegations were true, why were the reports
lodged only a year later?" he asked.
Police here have maintained no excessive force was used in taking
down the barricades.
Divisional Police Chief ACP Louis Chin yesterday declined to
comment on the reports. He said he refused to be drawn into a
situation where he had to reply to certain quarters who were
waiting to make the issue a controversial one.
A total of 55 blockades set up by the Penans in Baram District
had been demolished by police since 1987. Several foreigners had
also been arrested and deported.
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