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Published: Friday September 25, 2009 MYT 4:48:00 PM
Updated: Friday September 25, 2009 MYT 4:50:10 PM

Measures needed to prevent Penan girls’ rape

By SHARON LING


KUCHING: The Sarawak Women and Family Council wants measures to be put in place to prevent any further sexual abuses of Penan women and girls in the interior.

Its chairman Fatimah Abdullah said the council recommended that programmes on legal literacy, personal safety and sex education be conducted among Penan schoolchildren to educate them on their legal rights and how to protect themselves.

“This we propose to be done through the Women’s Bureau. The bureau already has such programmes but now we have to intensify these efforts, especially in high-risk areas,” she told a press conference after chairing a meeting to discuss the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry’s special task force report on the rape allegations at her residence here Friday.

Fatimah said the council concurred with the report’s conclusion that allegations of sexual abuse against Penan women and girls by outsiders, including timber workers, did occur.

She said it also agreed with the report’s recommendation that student management assistants be appointed to accompany Penan schoolchildren on their trips to school and back.

“On our part, we propose that the Education Ministry increases the allocation for this purpose so that more such assistants can be appointed for remote schools with Penan students.

“The assistants must accompany the pupils whenever they travel to and from their villages to school at the beginning and end of each term,” she said.

She said the council also wanted the ministry to provide four-wheel drive vehicles to remote schools accessible by logging tracks as this would reduce the students’ dependence on timber vehicles for transport.

In addition, she said the ministry should appoint remedial and counselling teachers to help Penan students as they had a high dropout and low passing rate.

Fatimah, who is also an assistant minister in the Chief Minister’s Department, said the council’s recommendations would be submitted to the state Social Development and Urbanisation Ministry for further action.

Meanwhile, a group of women led by Wanita PKR chief Zuraida Kamaruddin failed to hand over a copy of the report and a memorandum to Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Friday morning.

They arrived at Wisma Bapa Malaysia in Petra Jaya here at 9.30am but were prevented from entering the building by security personnel who shut the gate. After about half an hour, they handed the report and memorandum to one of the security guards.

In the memorandum, Wanita PKR urged the state government to immediately implement the report’s recommendations, including providing transport and appointing “trusted vehicle drivers” to bring Penan students to school and back to their villages.

They also urged the police to work together with NGOs to conduct a joint investigation into the rape allegations, meet the Penan rape victims and ensure that the culprits are prosecuted.

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