A reported desperate food shortage afflicting 3,000 Penans in Ulu Belaga, Sarawak, has received scant attention among State authorities and the national mainstream media.

Deputy Federal Minister for Rural and Regional Development Joseph Entulu Belaun, announced on July 30 that six Penan communities, Lusong Laku, Long Avit, Long Kajang, Long Tanyit, Long Malin and Long Midem, are being threatened with famine.

"Their farms had been destroyed by wild animals and they are now depending entirely on food that they forage from the jungle, but the supply is insufficient," Entulu said, after visiting Lusong Laku.

NONE He said his journey to Lusong Laku, with several other MPs took nine hours by dirt track from Bintulu.

Dr George Chan, State Disaster Committee Chairman appeared surprised when reporters asked him about the crisis the day after the news story broke.

"I am very shocked," he was quoted as saying, "it is impossible."

"I think we (had) better check whether the story is true," Chan said. "If nobody does anything to help them in the jungle, they can still survive. The Penans live in the jungle and they have animals, plants, all these things.

"I have been to the jungle and I know," he claimed.

But Chan's experience in the jungle may not have included looking food.

That Chan had no information on this crisis, a full day after the news reports broke, is a little shocking.

According to news reports, Ulu Rejang MP Billy Abit Joo's response included an amusing expression. He was quoted as saying "Shortage of food does not mean the Penans are starving."

http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/33908-sarawak-dcm-shocked-by-claim-that-penans-are-starving-

The government has not seen fit to use its substantial resources to dispatch a Flying Doctor Service (FDS) and Agriculture Department team to the area to deliver emergency supplies, and gather information on the extent of the food crisis.

Hunger in the 21st century

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says that hunger and malnutrition remain the greatest threat to health worldwide.

The report says that hunger weakens the poor and makes them even more vulnerable to infections.

The WFP reports that 25,000 people, mostly women and children, die of hunger and related causes every day.

In comparison, Malaysia's health indicators are robust.

Malaysia's health care system, boasts of exemplary infant and maternal mortality figures in most areas.

sarawak penan community in ba jawi ulu baram 160609 02 Even so, the Penan, and other rural communities in Sabah and Sarawak, continue to suffer from inequitable health care access, 46 years after Malaysia's formation.

The remote communities of Ulu Belaga are many days' travel from the nearest government clinic or hospital. It is not surprising, therefore, that Penan mothers have the highest rate of deliveries without health care, in the entire state.

In late 2004 and early 2005, 18 Penan people in Belaga, 17 of them children, died of measles, an infection readily prevented by adequate vaccination.

Threat to food supply

The Penan rely on the forest for sustenance. They are the most accomplished hunters in Malaysia.

They share the meat they hunt and the sago (na'o) they gather , a custom known as petulat.

"The forest provides us food, like the supermarket does for you," said one Penan leader.

But in the last 25 years, the forests that provide shelter and survival for this shy and gentle community have been invaded by timber companies.

The timber tycoons have been granted huge licenced areas, or "timber concessions", by the political elite.

NONE According to Sahabat Alam Malaysia, "in the run up to the State elections in April 1987, it was made known that most of these concessions were owned by prominent politicians, their families, friends and political allies.

"At a press conference on 9 April 1987, the Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abdul Taib Mahmud revealed that he had frozen 25 timber concessions totaling 1.25 million hectares belonging to relatives and friends of the former Chief Minister, Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub.

"In response, Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub also revealed to the press names of politicians, their relatives and associates.

Blockades put up by the Penan, and other Sarawakian natives are a desperate rearguard action to defend their remaining Native Customary Rights (NCR) land.

Timber blockades are exhausting for the local communities, yet they also cause enormous losses for the wealthy timber companies and their political backers.

Penan in areas like Long Daloh have experienced a lack of food, and their lives are getting worse because of exposure to loggers' intrusions.

Shortage of food is common in forests threatened by logging.

Native communities say the influx of logging tracks and camps drives wild game away.

Local people say the loggers pollute water resources, damage "bystander" trees during logging, and drag felled trees through the forest.

A community leader in a remote Orang Ulu village said, "When the logging track came in, the company people brought in four-wheel-drives with searchlights and shotguns. They hunted day and night. They killed many more animals than we ever did. They hunted all the game until little was left."

Penan communities affected by logging, such as Long Siang and Long Beruang in Baram, experience higher rates of childhood infections and stunted growth than communities protected by logging blockades.

There are clear signs of malnutrition among the Long Siang and Long Beruang children, as evidenced by their lank, discoloured hair, bulging bellies and sores over their legs.

Several children have bow legs.

If the rice crop fails, for any reason, these Penan have no reserves to fall back on, because their food resources in the forests have been depleted.