Friday September 16, 2005

16/09/05 (The Star) - PENANS settled in Baram district, northernSarawak, are keen to join oil-palm schemes and have asked for land fromthe state.

Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) commissioner Prof Datuk Mohd HamdanAdnan said they were interested in going into oil palm planting as theyhad seen the success of other Penans in Miri and Bintulu Divisions in suchventures.

He said since the Baram Penans’ request for large tracts of land withnative rights status had not been considered by authorities, they wereready to accept smaller plots from the state.

A Suhakam-initiated meeting in Kuching attended by top state officials andrepresentatives of the Penans Association recently discussed the dozen ofrequests the association had submitted to authorities.

Present were state Health director Dr Yao Sik King, state Educationdirector Datuk Dr Adi Badiozaman Tuah, state National Registrationdirector Abu Bakar Mat, officials of the state Attorney-General’s office,Penan Association chairman Ajang Kiew and Penan community leader andbusinessman Datuk Hassan Sui.

Two other Suhakam commissioners Dr Muhammad Hirman Ritom and Datuk TengkuNazihah were also present.

Issues discussed included health and educational services, personaldocuments like identity cards, and the economic well being of Penans.

Prof Hamdan said there were 7,000 Penans in 30 settlements in Baramdistrict while another 600 were still roaming the jungle in their nomadiclife.

"It will be better for the Penans to settle as a community to getterbetter assistance from authorities," he said.

The state operates several service centres in the interior to providehealth and medical care, and help the tribe in agriculture.

Many Penan children are now in school.