The Miri-based Borneo Resources Institute Malaysia (Brimas) has appealed to the police to exercise restraint when dealing with the Penan community.

The appeal came in the wake of a Dec 8 incident which the NGO has described as unrestrained action. That day, Long Lama and Marudi police, assisted by a timber company workers, tore down two barricades built by the Penans in Pa' Tik, upper Tutoh River in the interior of the Baram in northern Sarawak.

Brimas programme director Raymond Abin (photo) said in a statement that "the relevant authorities should act more professionally and not act arbitrarily without conducting proper investigations into their (Penan) grievances."

The Penans are nomadic and semi-nomadic and live in isolated settlements in remote parts of the Baram.

According to Brimas, the blockades were built across main logging roads belonging to Shin Yang Company on Dec 6 to stop further logging operations within what the Penans claim are their customary land area and community forest reserve.

Refused to listen

Raymond claimed the Penans then tried to appeal to the police to help protect their forest and resources from further destruction by logging activities in the area.

He added the police "refused to listen and the Penans claimed that the police even threatened to arrest them and told them that soldiers would be dispatched to the area if they continued to disrupt the logging operations there".

The Brimas statement claimed that the Penan village chief Melai Na and his people then resorted to the road blockades after numerous appeals made to the company on problems faced by the Pa' Tik Penans arising from the logging activities were ignored.

The Penans claimed logging operations there had caused destruction to their forest resources and livelihood.

The statement also claimed the Penans had complained that the source of their gravity fed water supply had been damaged and their water was polluted with sludge.