KUALA LUMPUR, 22 Nov 2008: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will release next month its findings of the alleged sexual assaults of Penan women and girls by loggers in Sarawak.
Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said the special task force mobilised to probe into the claim when the scandal came into light in September, had just completed its investigation.
“They have just returned from Sarawak. We have heard two sides of the story. Now we are waiting for the investigation report from the police.
“We will get down to the core of this matter and deal with it in the most transparent way,” she told reporters here today.
She said the ministry’s focus was to ensure the women’s rights were upheld, and this mean conducting DNA tests on the victims to track down the perpetrators if necessary.
The allegation surfaced when Bruno Manser Foundation posted an article on its website saying that it had received information from its Penan sources that young Penan women and schoolgirls had been raped by timber workers in the deep interior of Baram.
On another matter, Ng said the outcome of the Child Act 2001 review which was at the final stage, would be submitted to the cabinet early next year and probably tabled in Parliament by the end of next year.
She said the Act would be amended to include the Child Protection Policy and a major part of the policy was on the setting up of a mechanism to track down missing children.
A children department would also be set up by 2010 to deal with all aspects of children’s rights which included education, healthcare and welfare, she said.
Ng also said she would be leading a delegation comprising of officials from the Home Ministry, Attorney-General’s Chambers, non-governmental organisations and her ministry to the Third World Congress Against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in Rio De Janeiro from 25 to 28 Nov.
She said the conference would address various issues on sexual exploitation of children and adolescents including trafficking of children for sexual purposes, child pornography and child labour. — Bernama
Sent from Bruno Manser Fonds:
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends,
Environmental groups in Papua New Guinea have won an important battle against the Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau. After a decision of the Supreme Court, Rimbunan must stop logging an 800′000 – hectare concession of pristine rainforest.
Please find a report by Malaysiakini (www.malaysiakini.com) on the issue below. For first hand information, please contact the PNG Ecoforestry Forum (www.ecoforestry.org.pg) under the following contact adresss: teff@global.net.pg
Your BMF campaign team
________________________________________________________________
Source: wwww.malaysiakini.com
Blow to Rimbunan: Logging in PNG ‘illegal’
Nov 4, 08 1:56pm
Papua New Guinea’s highest court last week delivered a blow to Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau by overturning its rights to log the country’s vast Kamula Doso forests.
According to environment group PNG Eco-Forestry Forum, the PNG Supreme Court had on Oct 30 quashed the granting of logging rights to Rimbunan for the huge forest area in the country’s Western Province.
The NGO has been fighting through the courts over the past two years to overturn Rimbunan’s rights to log Kamula Doso.
Rimbunan conceded that their logging rights were awarded illegally just before the three-member Supreme Court bench was to begin hearing the case last Thursday.
Environmentalists lamented that Rimbunan had fought the case for two years when it knew its logging rights were illegal.
“For two years, Rimbunan has known that the concession was illegal but waited until minutes before the case was to be heard by the Supreme Court to admit their guilt,” said Sam Moko, Greenpeace Australia Pacific forests campaigner.
“In those two years, it has used the PNG legal system to intimidate the plaintiffs in the hope that the case would be dropped.”
Forum chairperson Kenn Mondiai described the decision as “a major victory for good governance”.
“This decision demonstrates to the whole world what has been going on for far too long, and legally reaffirms the Forum’s claim of widespread illegal logging in PNG facilitated by the government and the logging industry.”
One of world’s richest individuals
Rimbunan Hijau was founded in 1976 by Sarawak timber tycoon cum media mogul Tiong Hiew King, an ex-senator for the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party.
He controls the Chinese Malaysian newspapers Sin Chew Daily and Guangming Daily, as well as The National in Papua New Guinea and Ming Pao in Hong Kong.
Tiong, who has an estimated net worth of about US$1.1 billion, is ranked 840th richest person in the world by Forbes magazine.
In PNG, Rimbunan operates half of the biggest logging projects and directly accounts for one-third of the country’s raw log exports.
Meanwhile, Forum executive director Thomas Paka praised the Supreme Court judges for showing that “the ordinary people of PNG can stand up to corruption and win”.
The 800,000-hectare Kamula Doso concession is considered the jewel in the crown of PNG’s remaining untouched tropical forests with logging companies vying to get the rights to log the area.
International environment group Greenpeace said 90 percent of all logging in PNG was illegal, mainly due to the lack of consent by traditional landowners and the failure of the PNG government to enforce its own forestry laws.
“All existing concessions must be reviewed and any that are found to be in breach of forestry laws should be revoked. There should also be an immediate investigation into the serious allegations of corruption between politicians and logging companies,” said Greenpeace’s Moko.
Rimbunan has been accused by locals and environmentalists of using violence, intimidation and bribery in pursuing its logging activities.
