Published: Sunday November 15, 2009 MYT 3:45:00 PM
Sarawak police get the thumbs down over Penan girls rape cases
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: Indigenous-rights organisations in Sarawak have given the police ''two thumbs-down'' for the way they had ''flopped'' in their investigations into the sexual-abuse of Penan girls and women in logging concession areas in northern Sarawak.
The Sarawak Indigenous Rights Association yesterday said members of the association, which includes the Sarawak Rural Women Organisation, are extremely disappointed with the manner in which the police had closed the Penan cases without bringing justice to the victims.
Sarawak Indigenous Rights Association president Michael Jok said Sunday the police had performed miserably in investigating the sexual abuse cases affecting these Penans who are living in the deep interior.
''Justice was not served. The manner in which the police have closed their investigations into these cases showed that the police are not interested in truly resolving these sexual abuse cases among the Penan girls and women.
''The police seemed to be in a hurry to end their investigations into these cases. This hasty decision will send a wrong message to the loggers.
''It has given the police a very bad image. Already, the public have a bad impression of how the police had handled such cases involving the Penans before.
''The latest announcement by the Deputy IGP and the state police commissioner that the police will not look into the issue anymore has only served to damage their image further.
''We (his association) do not agree with the decision by the police. We feel there is enough evidence to at least bring some alleged offenders into the public.
The report from the ministry (Ministry of Women and Family Development Affairs) contains the names of certain loggers from certain logging companies who were said to have raped the Penan girls.
''Why is it that the police have not carried out investigations in the timber camps of these logging companies to trace these alleged offenders and rope them in for official investigation?'' he told The Star.
Jok, a former Catholic priest turned social activist, was commenting on how the saga over the Penan rapes had reached a dead-end after the police announced that they had closed their investigations without any prosecution.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar and Sarawak police chief Commissioner Datuk Mohmad Salleh had confirmed that the police had closed their investigations and will no longer probe the sexual abuse reports.
Both said the police investigations had reached a dead-end due to ''lack of evidence and lack of cooperation from the victims and from the NGOs that had made the rape reports''.
This despite the fact that minister Datuk Seri Sharizat Jalil had confirmed in the Dewan Rakyat that her ministry had found that Penan girls and women had indeed been raped by loggers.
Jok said Sunday his organisation would meet soon to discuss the latest steps to be taken by its members with regards to the police failure in handling the Penan cases.
He will also contact his counterparts in other human-rights organisations in the state and country to discuss the matter.
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