Zuraida: Relook sexual abuse cases against Penan girls, women

KUCHING: Perpetrators of rape and sexual abuse cases against Penan girls and women in the Baram interior of Sarawak over a decade ago must face justice, says Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.

The Sarawak government should relook the cases so that legal action could be taken against the culprits, she said.

She also noted that a special committee set up by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry in 2008 confirmed that such incidents did take place, after documenting several cases of rape and molestation committed by timber workers in Ulu Baram.

“It has been 10 years since and the perpetrators have yet to be brought to justice.

“It is high time those responsible for the crimes face legal consequences for their conduct,” she told a press conference during a working visit to Sarawak yesterday.

Zuraida raised the matter during a courtesy call on Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg earlier.

According to the committee’s report, one victim was raped by timber workers after hitching a ride in the firm’s vehicle to go to school.

Another victim was raped twice, in 2005 and 2007, by a man she recognised as a timber worker at a logging camp.

It was also reported that school- girls were often molested by lorry drivers while travelling to school in timber company vehicles.

It documented one incident in which a lorry driver groped the breasts of a 14-year-old girl.

Another incident involved a lorry driver who tried to molest a group of 10-year-old girls but they managed to escape.