Fund claims oil palm company logging Mulu forest

KUCHING: The Bruno Manser Fund has claimed that a Malaysian oil palm company is logging a forest area in the immediate vicinity of the Mulu National Park.

It claimed members of the Penan and Berawan communities had said the loggers were increasing pressure on the forest.

“The communities also provided new footage and pictures of logging activities on the ground,” the fund said in a press statement yesterday.

According to Penan leader Komeok Joe, the community needs the forest for food and to pursue its traditional way of life.

“If the company doesn’t stop logging and keeps converting our forest into an oil palm plantation, we the Penan will have no way to survive,” he is quoted as saying in the press statement.

“The Sarawak government must intervene immediately and stop the destruction of the Mulu forest. Our Native Customary Rights (NCR) over the forest must finally be recognised.”

According to the statement, Berawan leader Willie Kajan said the Kampung Melinau community had filed a police report against the company over the alleged desecration of a 300-year-old Berawan and Tering gravesite in the forest.

The fund claimed that as of Thursday, 16,000 people had signed a petition calling on the Sarawak government to revoke the company’s concession and to issue a moratorium on the conversion of forests into oil palm plantations.

The fund also called on the Sarawak government to recognise NCR in the area and immediately halt logging.