(AFP) There had been no news from Swiss ethnologist Bruno Manser, who disappeared in the Malaysian part of Borneo and was last heard from in a letter sent a year ago, the Swiss foreign ministry said yesterday.

Manser, 46, a staunch defender of tribesmen's rights and the rain forest, has not been seen since a letter he sent a Swiss friend in May 2000, when he was in the Malaysian enclave of Sarawak on Borneo.

"All options are still open but we have no news," said Daniela Stoffel, spokeswoman for the foreign ministry.

The Swiss ambassador to Malaysia, Rudolf Staub, went to Kuching in Sarawak in early February to discuss efforts to find Manser with the local authorities.

He met local security officials, representatives from the timber industry and others, but "without results", Stoffel said.

Manser is unpopular with the Malaysian authorities because of his defence of the rights of indigenous tribesmen.

He has also aroused the wrath of the local wood industry for his criticism of their methods.

Friends of Manser, who fear he may be dead, planted a tree in Bern yesterday to remind people about the ethnologist.