ZURAIDA Kamaruddin has sought the Sarawak chief minister’s help in ensuring justice is served in cases of rape and sexual abuse of Penan women and girls by timber workers a decade ago.

The housing and local government minister, who paid a courtesy call on Abang Johari Openg this morning, is seeking closure following a 2008 federal government task force report confirming that women and girls from the state’s last nomadic indigenous group frequently fell victim to timber workers.

The report stated that children as young as 10 were sexually abused, and students hitching a ride to school on timber companies’ vehicles were “frequently molested” by the drivers.

“I said to him (Abang Johari), ‘please look into this Penan case. We have to take action against those perpetrators’,” said Zuraida.

“They have still not been brought to justice, even though we have the names of the perpetrators.”

The PKR Women chief, who has made championing the cause of abused Penan women among her priorities, said she also asked the chief minister “to look into it more seriously this time”.

“If it is wrong, we have to make it right.”

She said Abang Johari expressed his commitment to the issue, and that the relevant authorities “have to sit down and see what further actions we can take”.

The government had formed a task force to investigate allegations of rape and sexual abuse of Penan women and girls in the Baram district, and its report, prepared mostly based on interviews conducted by ministry officials and women’s groups, was completed in November 2008.

Apart from documenting individual cases of rape and sexual abuse, the task force also found that the Penan were especially vulnerable because of their low socioeconomic status, and lack of access to government and healthcare services.

The factors identified as contributing to their vulnerability included their overdependence on timber companies for transportation and other services, poverty and the remote location of their villages.

The report also cited the Penan’s distrust of the authorities, and their low self-esteem as a result of prejudices against the community. – June 21, 2018.