Isu Penderaan Seks Gadis Kaum Penan oleh Pekerja Pembalakan di Kawasan Baram Perlu Disiasat Segera oleh Pihak Polis

Baru-baru ini, Pihak Media Tempatan telah menyiarkan mengenai laporan NGO di Switzerland dalam laman web, Bruno Manser Foundation (BMF), dakwaan penderaan seksual terhadap wanita Penan dalam daerah Baram.Berikut adalah laporan yang disiarkan oleh Pihak BMF tersebut :



Original BMF media release (15 September 2008)

Penan women from the Middle Baram area of Sarawak are launching a cry of alarm to the international community over cases of sexual abuse by logging company workers in the East Malaysian state's rainforests.

The Penan are accusing workers from Interhill and Samling, two Malaysian logging companies, of harassing and raping Penan women, including schoolgirls. "I want to make it known that we are being sexually abused by the timber company workers on a regular basis", a Penan woman from Sarawak's Middle Baram region said to the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF).

According to research undertaken by BMF, the perpetrators are frequenting several Penan settlements in the Middle Baram, looking for women. The company workers are based in logging camps in the region and are usually drunk when they arrive at the villages. "When we hear their off-road vehicles coming, we just leave everything as it is and flee into the forest", the Penan source said. "They come on an almost weekly basis, but the situation is worst during the school holidays when they know the students are in the villages." In other cases, school transports operated by company vehicles had been arranged in such a way that schoolgirls had to stay overnight at a logging camp, where they were abused.

The Penan communities are reporting several cases of pregnancy as a consequence of abuse by company workers. They also accuse the loggers of using armed "gangsters" to intimidate them and of handing out alcohol to the young Penan. Complaints by the Penan to those in charge of the logging camps and to the Police have so far had no effect.

The Bruno Manser Fund is asking the Malaysian government to start a formal enquiry into these serious criminal offences. In particular, the government is being asked to ensure that the victims are protected and that the harassment of Penan women by company workers is brought to an end immediately.

(15 September 2008)

Menurut laporan ini bahawa gadis kaum Penan telah mengalami penderaan seks yang dilakukan oleh pekerja Balak di kawasan Baram. Dalam isu ini diharapkan pihak polis boleh mengambil tindakan dengan segera untuk menyiasat kes yang didakwa oleh pihak media. Dalam pada itu,Menteri Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat, Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen akan menubuhkan jawatankuasa bertindak bagi menyiasat dakwaan kes penderaan seksual wanita kaum Penan oleh pekerja syarikat pembalakan dan tidak akan membiarkan perkara seperti itu terus berlaku kerana ia membabitkan wanita dari kaum minoriti yang memerlukan perhatian.

Dalam kes ini diharapkan pihak yang tertentu yang mengetahui kes ini perlulah berkerjasama dengan pihak polis dengan melaporkan kes ini dengan benar kepada pihak polis bagi siasatan yang mendalam dan lebih lanjut. Janganlah membiarkan kejadian ini terus berlaku kerana perbuatan penderaan seks gadis kaum penan adalah tidak berkemanusian dan adalah satu dosa yang besar. Biarlah kita sama-sama membanteras kes ini dan jika terdapat sebarang maklumat boleh menghubungi 999 atau Menteri Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat di talian hotline 15999. Biarlah kita sama-sama Berganding Bahu untuk Kesejahteraan Keluarga kita.