Another Penan-esque problem?
Posted: December 20, 2009 Filed under: Society 1 Comment »Read this article dated 19 Dec from the StarOnline HERE:
MIRI: Sexually-transmitted diseases (STD) and other diseases have become a serious concern among natives in settlements surrounding the Bakun hydro-electric dam project site in central Sarawak.
The influx of workers from other areas and sexual promiscuity between natives and logging camp workers are the major contributory factors.
Is this yet another case of where ‘development’ shoves marginalised communities to the sidelines?
Penan girls’ sexual abuse probe
Posted: December 14, 2009 Filed under: Society 2 Comments »About a month ago, I posted something HERE, linking to an article found on the StarOnline, quoting our Deputy IGP as saying that he considered the matter ‘closed’, and that he doesn’t want to ‘talk about it anymore’. Again, I quote:
Ismail (the Deputy IGP) said in Kuching that the police had done all they could, but the probe had gone nowhere due to lack of evidence and lack of cooperation from the alleged victims and from the non-governmental organisation that had exposed the alleged rapes.
2 weeks ago, Malaysiakini published an article on their website, titled Helpless Victims of Merciless Sex Predators:
The Penan community is mystified with the slow reaction by the authorities, especially the police, in taking action against the sexual abuse, including rape of the Penan girl, as identified by a national task force.
The report by the Ministry for Women, Family and Community Development, was compiled by a high-level task force, comprising government officials, a police representative and women’s groups and released on Sept 8, almost eight months after the fact-finding mission was undertaken in Penan villages in Baram.
The report confirmed that sexual harassment and exploitation by timber camp workers had indeed taken place and indentified several cases in the report.
[...]
In a recent Malaysiakini visit to Ulu Baram, many Penan leaders expressed disappointment with the police’s lack of teeth in catching the culprits.
Other Penan village heads also confirmed that some of the villages had been visited by the “thugs from the logging companies to ask us to keep the matter quiet”.
At least in one village, a victim’s family was harassed by the police for going public about the rape.
A video was posted together with the article
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The conclusion of the national task force is as follows, English translations my own:
Ahli Jawatankuasa Bertindak Peringkat Kebangsaan Bagi Menyiasat Dakwaan Penderaan Seksual Terhadap Wanita Kaum Penan di Sarawak telah sebulat suara membuat kesimpulan seperti yang tertera di bawah:
(The National Task Force for the Investigation of Sexual Abuse Towards the Women of the Penan Community in Sarawak have unanimously concluded as follows:)
i. Ahli Jawatankuasa Bertindak memutuskan bahawa dakwaan mengenai penderaan seksual di kalangan kanak-kanak perempuan dan wanita Penan oleh orang luar yang berurusan dengan kaum Penan termasuk pekerja syarikat pembalakan dan
peniaga-peniaga memang berlaku;(i. The National Task Force concludes that the allegations of sexual abuse amongst girls and women of the Penan community by outsiders dealing with the Penan community, including employees of logging companies and businessmen have really occured;)
ii. Penderaan seksual ini kebanyakannya berlaku akibat daripada kebergantungan mangsa kepada pengangkutan kenderaan milik syarikat pembalakan dan kehadiran orang luar yang berurusan dengan orang kampung untuk membeli hasil hutan;
(ii. Most of these sexual abuse cases happen due to the victims’ dependence on transport owned by logging companies and the presence of outsiders who deal with the villagers to purchase goods;)
iii. Penderaan seksual sangat tidak diterima oleh masyarakat Penan, namun begitu, mereka sangat terdedah kepada masalah ini disebabkan oleh:
- kemiskinan hidup;
- tempat tinggal yang jauh di pedalaman;
- kebergantungan kepada syarikat pembalakan yang terlalu tinggi bukan hanya dari segi pengangkutan untuk mendapatkan perkhidmatan kesihatan dan persekolahan tetapi juga kemudahan asas termasuk bekalan air, kemudahan generator elektrik dan lain-lain;
- kurang rasa percaya terhadap pihak berkuasa; dan
- persepsi negatif dan prejudis terhadap kaum Penan oleh masyarakat luar seperti malas, suka berbohong dan ketagihan arak oleh masyarakat luar menyebabkan mereka merasa terpinggir dan rendah diri. Ini menyukarkan mereka untuk berurusan dengan pihak luar.
(iii. Sexual abuse is not acceptable in the Penan community, but they are nevertheless very much exposed to this problem due to:
- poverty;
- living quarters located too far inland;
- too high a dependency on logging companies, not only in terms of transport to get health services and to schools, but also for basic facilities including water supply, electricity generators and others;
- the lack of trust towards authorities; and
- a negative perception and perjudice towards the Penan community by outsiders, like lazy, liars and alcohol addicts, cause them to feel outcast and humiliated. This makes it difficult for them to deal with people from outside their community.
iii. Kesemua isu, iaitu penderaan seksual, ketiadaan dokumen pengenalan diri, masalah kesihatan dan keciciran dalam pendidikan di kalangan kaum Penan di kawasan Baram, Miri, Sarawak sebenarnya berkait rapat dengan masalah pembangunan yang tidak mampan dan menyeluruh. Ketiadaan infrastruktur seperti jalan raya ditambah pula ketiadaan kemudahan pengangkutan awam telah menimbulkan kesukaran kepada penduduk Penan untuk berurusan dengan pihak luar termasuk agensi Kerajaan; dan
(iii. All these issues, namely sexual abuse, lack of identification documents, health problems and lagging behind in education amongst the Penan community in Baram, Miri, Sarawak, are actually closely related to the development that is neither solid nor thorough. Absence of infrastructure such as roads, in addition to absence of a public transport system have created difficulties for the Penan community to deal with people from the outside, including Government agencies; and)
iv. Bagi memastikan pembangunan yang lebih seimbang, penglibatan masyarakat kaum Penan perlu ditingkatkan dalam setiap proses membuat keputusan yang melibatkan mereka.
(iv. To ensure that development is more balanced, involvement of the Penan community needs to be improved in every decision-making process that involves them.)
None of this is made up. Everything is in the report and in newspaper articles. And yet, we have the police telling us that the case ‘is closed’ and that our Deputy IGP refuses to talk about it anymore.
We cannot just ‘wish’ this problem away; refuse to talk about it, and imagine that it will disappear.
More than a year has passed, and has anything been done?
*
My views are simple: Something has to be done.
The bureau that started it all..
Posted: December 9, 2009 Filed under: Politics 2 Comments ».. Of course, I’m talking about the BTN, or the Biro Tata Negara, or the National Civics Bureau.
For quite some time now, the issue about BTN being a machinery to ‘brainwash’ the general public has been brought up. Horror stories of how students told that one race is superior over another, of how certain students were given ‘warnings’ to be careful of other races, and the like.
Personally, of course I have no idea whether or not it is true.
However, as I’ve come to understand it, our Prime Minister Najib had made a decision, or rather, the Cabinet made a decision not too long ago, that they would ‘revamp’ the structure of BTN, as it did not gel with Najib’s ’1Malaysia’. From an article dated Nov 30:
The cabinet has agreed to revamp the content of the controversial Biro Tata Negara (BTN, or National Civics Bureau) programmes to fall in line with the prime minister’s 1Malaysia concept.
Speaking to reporters in the Parliament lobby today, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said the decision was made so that the curriculum will be ‘inclusive’ rather than divisive.
Asked if this vindicates critics, he replied: “I don’t know what allegations were made. But I know that the curriculum now should be inclusive to be in line with what PM wants – 1Malaysia. If you only want the course(s) to be for one racial group, then it’s not 1Malaysia.”
I think that sort of got everything unstuck. Here I thought, “So finally they acknowledge the fact that BTN has been divisive.”
But seriously, things are starting to look very very messy. We have here another excerpt from another article dated Dec 1:
[Nazri] also admitted that the programme was used to instil confidence in the Malay community so that they had nothing to feel inferior about.
“Sometimes it was used to support certain individual to probably become leader of the party… that was done before,” he said.
“What I am trying to say is that the module before was to instil confidence in the Malays and now it is to instil the module of 1Malaysia… How can you have 1Malaysia when the course is for Malays and you don’t have courses for other communities, so it is against 1Malaysia,” he added.
Dr Mahathir has a different opinion, from article dated Dec 6:
There is no need to revamp National Civics Bureau (BTN) training modules as in the current form, they were fine for instilling the patriotic spirit among Malaysians, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“No need to revamp…I think it is better to retain the modules,” he told reporters.
Nazri (again!) has this to say to Dr M, from article dated Dec 7:
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz has branded former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad a ‘racist’ for saying that there was no need to revamp the National Civics Bureau (BTN) training modules.”I know Dr Mahathir commented on patriotism and all that, yes, I agree on patriotism but not only for the Malays. It’s for all.
“You must remember that during his time when he was the prime minister, he was talking about (how) we must all think as Malaysians [...] now that he’s not (the) prime minister, you read his blog, it’s bloody racist.
Dr Mahathir (this is starting to become something like a ping-pong game between the both of them, and through the media no less!) responds, from article dated Dec 8:
The former premier is peeved with Nazri for describing the 84-year-old politician as a racist over his stand with regards to the National Civics Bureau (BTN) issue.
When prodded for a response at a function this afternoon, Mahathir, who is still an Umno member, fired: “I must be a racist if Nazri says I am racist. Don’t ever say that I am not. He knows everything. He belongs to a party which is racist… which is Umno.”
“Umno is a party perkauman and is meant only for Malays and nobody (else) can join. So he (Nazri) is in a racist party but says he is against racism. So he should resign from the party,” he added.
From the same article as above, Nazri fires back:
“That is the most stupidest statement that I have heard in my life,” he told reporters in Parliament. “It only confirms what I said was right.”
“When you want to talk about forming the party, he (Mahathir) was involved in forming the party. That is not my problem, that’s his problem. I only joined the system as it is,” he added.
Continuing the tirade, the minister said: “If Umno is a racist party, he was president of a racist party, so he is a racistlah. The argument does not make him less of a racist.”
*If I may say so, this is the ‘most stupidest’ exchange I’ve heard (or rather, read, in this instance) in my life.
Muhyiddin, our Deputy Prime Minister, decides to defend Dr M, from article dated Dec 9 (today):
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that it is rather extreme to label former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a racist.
“So, to label him as a racist is rather extreme. He (Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohamed Nazri Aziz) is my friend too but I don’t know how it (labelling Mahathir) could have come about. Under the country’s political situation today, many people can misinterpret,” he told Malaysian journalists in Tokyo yesterday.
He said it would be better if everyone would adopt the ‘talk less’ approach.
“Ideally, we should not be seen as debating openly. I feel there is no need to debate or enter into polemics on government agencies such as the BTN (National Civics Bureau),” he said.
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Far from being able to laugh or say “Up yours!” to them, I have this vague feeling of utter disappointment.
I’m no supporter of UMNO, or Barisan Nasional for that matter. This much should already be clear to most who bother to read what I have to say. So under such circumstances, where UMNO is threatening to tear itself into pieces, a typical reaction *might* be to be jubilant about it. Here we have two members of UMNO, practically yelling out for the whole world to hear, that UMNO is a racist political party.
My feeling of disappointment, I guess, stems from the fact that our country’s leaders comprise of such characters.
Whether we support them or not, whether we like them or not, whether we acknowledge them or not; like it or not, these are the people ‘up there’ at the moment. And like it or not, we (the general Malaysian public, “we”) get dragged along for the ride.
Maybe all this is needed. For change to happen, maybe something like this has to first occur.
In a way, I’m glad that the BTN issue is being brought up. There were too many dodgy things about it to start off with. The more informed the public is, the better off we are.
But in some weird (you might even call it perverse if you so wish) way, I almost wish the UMNO/BN politicians could have handled this slightly better. After all, whether or not we get that 2-party system going on, or whether or not we manage to swing Pakatan Rakyat to be the government of the day during the next general elections, we still need people of calibre in the places ‘up there’.
Otherwise, what the hell are we doing ‘down here’?
