Thursday October 1, 2009
Penan woman: I was not raped
By SHARON LING and STEPHEN THEN
KUCHING: A 22-year-old Penan woman has lodged a police report claiming that she was tricked into going to Kuala Lumpur and telling the police that she had been raped by a logger.
The woman, from Long Item, said two men approached her at home last October and offered to bring her to Kuala Lumpur to seek treatment for her daughter, who was ill at the time.
“However, one of the men, a Penan, told her that the reason she was in Kuala Lumpur was not to get treatment for her child but to lodge a police report.
“Once in KL, she was forced to lodge a report saying that she had been raped,” Sarawak Deputy Commissioner of Police SAC I Datuk Hamza Taib told a press conference at the state police headquarters here yesterday.
The woman lodged another report at the Long Lama police station last Saturday claiming that she was duped into going to Kuala Lumpur to lodge the report.
“According to her, the rape did not happen,” he said, adding that police had identified the Penan man who brought her to Kuala Lumpur and would call him for questioning soon.
SAC I Hamza also said police had read the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry’s special task force’s report on the Penan sexual abuse issue and had asked for details regarding the eight cases documented in it.
“Since the report uses pseudonyms, we need verification but so far the task force has not given us the details we need to carry out investigations,” he said.
He added that since the sexual abuse of the Penans was reported by The Star last year, police had investigated cases of rape and molest in the Baram district.
He said no further action could be taken on three of the cases due to lack of evidence while the fourth was still pending as police had yet to identify the victim or witnesses.
In Miri, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) said there was a strong possibility that some Penan women from Ulu Baram who were said to have been raped by loggers were living under tremendous pressure.
SAM field officer for Sarawak, Jok Jau Evong, said the women might have been pressured to make public statements that they have not been raped or victimised.
“The pressure would be difficult to live with.
“They can easily buckle and deny being raped or victimised under these circumstances.”
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