Sarawak’s Chief Minister faces UK protesters over Penan

July 26, 2010

Chief Minister Taib Mahmud was met by demonstrators protesting at the destruction of the Penan’s rainforest. © Survival

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Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud faced protests by supporters of the Penan in the UK today, while British MPs have written to him expressing concern over the newly documented cases of sexual abuse of Penan women.

Protestors from Survival and other organizations greeted the Chief Minister in Oxford this morning, where he had travelled with cabinet colleagues to give the keynote speech at the Inaugural Oxford Global Islamic Branding and Marketing Forum. The protestors held placards reading ‘Penan tribe say NO to logging’ and ‘Malaysia: Stop destroying the Penan tribe’. The protest forced the Chief Minister to enter the building through a side entrance.

The chairman of the British parliament’s All Party Parliamentary Group for Tribal peoples, MP Martin Horwood, has written to Taib Mahmud on the occasion of the Chief Minister’s visit to the UK. ‘The Penan have frequently been subject to violence and intimidation at the hands of loggers operating on their land… Without recognition of their land rights, the Penan are struggling to provide for themselves, and are left vulnerable to violence and exploitation’.

Mr Horwood urged the Chief Minister to ‘halt logging and other developments on the Penan’s land without their free, prior and informed consent, according to international law’ and to ‘ensure that Penan women and girls are protected from sexual violence and the perpetrators of such abuse brought to justice’.

Download a copy of the All Party Parliamentary Group’s letter to the Chief Minister

Download photos of the Oxford demonstration:

Chief Minister Taib Mahmud was met by demonstrators protesting at the destruction of the Penan’s rainforest. © Survival

Chief Minister Taib Mahmud was met by demonstrators protesting at the destruction of the Penan’s rainforest. © Survival

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