柯索哈2009年11月於普南和平公園啟用典禮上 说:「身為狩獵採集游牧民族,我們普南人,已在巴蘭上游的雨林生活了數個世紀。儘管我們已定居下來,但我們仍倚賴森林供應糧食、原料等;像是用於工藝品的藤、藥用植物和其他森林產物。我們整個文化遺產存在森林中,也需要為子孫後代保存下來。」
In an opening ceremony held in November 2009 at Long Ajeng, deep in Sarawak's interior, close to 200 Penan natives proclaimed the "Penan Peace Park" as their tropical forest reserve (Picture: BMF)
In November 2009, the leaders of seventeen Penan communities had met at Long Ajeng in Sarawak's Upper Baram region to celebrate the official opening of a 163,000 hectare tropical forest reserve. On the occasion, James Lalo Kesoh, the former penghulu (regional chief) of the Upper Baram region, said the Penan intended to preserve the basis of their livelihood and their cultural heritage, which was entirely in the forest. but,Sarawak government rejected Penan Peace Park。
普南族於伐木區宣布和平公園成立 以保護雨林生態
普南族於馬來西亞砂勞越的傳統領域宣告的新雨林保護區稱做「普南和平公園」,可能成為衝突的焦點。
藉由宣告這個在婆羅洲島上的公園,17個普南部落對將土地出讓給伐木公司的砂勞越州政府提出異議。「普南和平公園」區域由馬來西亞伐木業巨頭三林公司(Samling)為全權特許經營。
普南族人表示,他們打算在其區域發展旅遊,並堅持保護他們的傳統權利。
根據布魯諾曼澤基金(Bruno Manser Fund)表示,17日於偏遠的巴蘭河上游、Long Ajeng雨林村舉行的開幕式上,普南族數位領導人一致宣布,他們打算藉由自然保護區,保存僅存的原始森林。
布魯諾曼澤基金總部設在瑞士巴塞爾,此環境暨人權組織,旨在支持砂勞越普南人及其他為保護熱帶雨林而努力的原住民族。
該組織的名稱是為了紀念一位瑞士公民-布魯諾曼澤。80年代期間他為了普南人數次前往沙勞越工作,並共同生活6年。自那時起,這個婆羅洲雨林僅剩的游牧民族領域,一直受到木材業的破壞,直到現在。
儘管幾十年來普南人進行和平示威,政府也承諾公告為保護區,但木材公司仍持續砍伐雨林。
巴蘭上游地區的前行政首長柯索哈(James Lalo Kesoh),於普南和平公園啟用典禮上 表示,「身為狩獵採集游牧民族,我們普南人,已在巴蘭上游的雨林生活了數個世紀。儘管自1950年代末,我們已定居下來,並開始農耕,我們仍倚賴森林供應糧食、原料等;像是用於工藝品的藤、藥用植物和其他森林產物。我們整個文化遺產存在森林中,也需要為子孫後代保存下來。」
自1980年代後期,東普南人反對砍伐屬於他們的雨林,並持續於伐木產業道路設路障、封路,以保護他們的土地免於伐木公司的侵占。
They are calling it the Penan Peace Park, but a new rainforest reserve proclaimed by indigenous Penan communities on their native lands in the Malaysian state of Sarawak is likely to be the focus of conflict.
With the proclamation of the park on the island of Borneo, 17 Penan communities are challenging the Sarawak state government that has given away these lands to a logging company. The Penan Peace Park area is fully concessioned for logging by the Malaysian timber giant Samling.
The Penan communities say they intend to develop tourism in their region and insist on the protection of their native customary rights.
In an official opening ceremony held November 17 at the remote rainforest village of Long Ajeng in the upper reaches of the Baram River, the Penan leaders unanimously declared their intention of conserving their last remaining primeval forests as a nature reserve, according to the Bruno Manser Fund.
The environmental and human rights organization with its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland aims to support the Penan people in Sarawak as well as other indigenous peoples in their struggle to protect tropical rainforests.
The organization is named in memory of Swiss citizen Bruno Manser who traveled repeatedly to Sarawak to work on behalf of the Penan, the last remaining rainforest nomads of Borneo, with whom he had lived for six years in the 1980s. Their native habitat was then and still is being destroyed by the timber industry.
In spite of decades of peaceful protests by the Penan and promises from the government to gazette a protected area, logging companies continue to clear the rainforest.
James Lalo Kesoh, the former regional chief of the Upper Baram region, said at the inauguration ceremony for the Penan Peace Park, "As nomadic hunter-gatherers, we Penan people have been roaming the rainforests of the Upper Baram region for centuries."
"Even though we have settled down and started a life as farmers since the late 1950s, we still depend on the forests for our food supply, for raw materials such as rattan for handicrafts, for medicinal plants and for other jungle products," Kesoh said. "Our entire cultural heritage is in the forest and needs to be preserved for future generations."
Since the late 1980s, the Eastern Penan have opposed the logging of their rainforests and have repeatedly erected logging road blockades and barricades to protect their lands against encroachments by logging companies.