Defiant forest communities announce they will
continue to fight the Samling corporation's activities within
the "Penan Peace Park" on Borneo
LONG SABAI, SARAWAK / MALAYSIA, April
26, 2010, --/WORLD-WIRE/-- Two logging road blockades
erected by Penan communities have caused a Malaysian timber
giant, Samling, to withdraw its bulldozers from the Penan's
rainforests on the upper reaches of the Akah river in Malaysian
Borneo.
The blockades had been erected in March 2010 near the villages
of Long Sabai and Ba Kerameu at two strategic locations. The
communities had announced that the Penan were willing to fight
for the conservation of their last virgin jungle.
According to Penan sources, the blockades have caused the
Samling corporation to withdraw its bulldozers from the disputed
community lands of Long Sabai and Ba Kerameu. The two
communities are part of the Penan Peace Park, a
self-administered 163,000 hectare nature reserve launched in
November 2009.
However, the Penan are reporting that Samling continues to
trespass on their lands in other regions. Two written warnings
have been issued against Samling subsidiary Jerinai to stop
logging in the Ba Jawi watershed, a high conservation value
rainforest near the Indonesian border. Furthermore, the company
has recently taken up helicopter logging within within the
communal boundaries of Long Ajeng in the Upper Baram region.
Samling is a Hong Kong-listed timber giant with its operational
headquarters in Miri, Sarawak. The corporation has a track
record of environmentally destructive and illegal logging in a
number of countries, including Cambodia, Guyana, Malaysia and
Papua New Guinea. Its principal bankers include the Australia
and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) as well as The Bank
of Tokyo - Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.
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