Allegations of Penan girls and women being raped and molested by timber company workers in the Baram district in Sarawak have been confi rmed to be true.
A special committee set up by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry revealed that at least seven girls and women were raped and molested - confi rming a news report by The Star late last year.
The horror the Penan girls and women went through.
> A girl, 12, was raped by a stranger outside her hostel and by a timber worker when she took a lift in a timber company’s vehicle from her village in Long Kawi to her school in Long Lama. She got pregnant, quit school and married a Penan man.
> A woman from Long Item was raped by a timber worker in 2005 and 2007 and gave birth to a baby girl, now two years old.
> One was raped by an Iban timber worker when she was kidnapped at the age of 13, while visiting her relatives in Miri.
> One was almost raped when she took a lift with her father from a timber company to apply for an identity card.
> In Long Muboi, a student said her 14-year-old friend was molested by a truck driver who gave her a lift to school.
> A 17-year-old girl gave birth to a child and her neighbours claimed that she had sexual relations with the timber workers.
> A group of women said they believed that sex exploitation exists among the Penan women and girls but they were too ashamed to tell their stories.
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