Police in Sibu are appealing to Penans who have set up a road block at Sungai Seping, near the entrance to the Murum hydro dam project in Belaga, to stop such activities.

District police chief DSP Bakar Sebau said action can be taken against them under Section 143 or 147 of the Criminal Procedure Code for illegal assembly or taking part in a riot.

NONE "We will not hesitate to take action against those taking the law into their own hands by setting up the road block or those inciting others to carry out such action, if there was strong evidence.

“It is best for them to sit with the government,” he said in an email received today.

Bakar said the Penan community in Murum should not allow themselves to be made used of by certain non-governmental organisations and individuals.

He added, for example, while on a routine patrol to the area this morning at about 9.57am, police came across a man in the process of sending food items to about 10 Penan men still manning the blockade.

"The man, a social activist from outside Murum, had initially adamantly refused to reveal his identity to us when approached, saying we have no authority to act against him in the jungle. He later relented when I explained the process of the law to him," he said.

NONE Bakar said the man was identified as Abin Bira, 48, and is a Kenyah from Long Menjawah.

"He is also a member of SCANE (Sarawak Coalition of Associations for Nature and Environment), an environmental and native rights group.

It is not wrong if he had sent the items to the Penans at their longhouse. But he was sending them instead to those manning the roadblock and thus we consider him as having personal interest in the activity," he said.

- Bernama