Chief refuses to give in

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KUCHING: Two rounds of talks have failed to persuade the Penans at Long Bangan in the Tutoh-Apoh area of Ulu Baram to dismantle the barricade they had erected to stop loggers from working on a concession area near their settlement.

The talks on Friday were held at Long Bedian and Long Bangan itself.

Long Bedian, a Kayan settlement about an eight-hour drive by four-wheel-drive vehicles from Miri, is the home of Telang Usan's state assemblyman Lihan Jok -- the chief negotiator appointed by the government to the talks.

Long Bangan is another two hours by logging track from Long Bedian.

The talk at Long Bedian failed to make headway as the Long Bangan Penan chief, Unga Paren, was not present.

In the second talk at Long Bangan, Paren refused to budge on his four-key demands to the government.



In the talk, he made it clear of his people's feelings on the ongoing logging activities in the area.

He said they had caused the destruction of the forests, which they had depended on for food.

Paren also said the timber companies there had "cheated" the Penans with the development of their communal forests. Jobs, Paren said, went to foreigners instead of his people.

Other key demands were that timber companies respect their rights and to discuss with them prior to any work being carried out on their native customary rights (NCR) land and that the government create a forest reserve free from outside intrusion.

Miri Division Resident (chief administrator) Dr Ngenang Janggu, who was part of the government negotiating team, said no agreement could be reached as the issues on NCR rights and the creation of the forest reserve needed to be referred to the state government for a decision.

Dr Janggu is also the chairman of the Miri Division Penan Affairs Committee.

The Penans had erected barricades at Simpang 4, Long Beluk and Long Bangan on Aug 20 to disrupt the operation of four logging companies in Tutoh-Apoh.

However, the barricade at Long Beluk had been dismantled after the Penans reached a negotiated settlement with the timber company operating there.