Penans with cars and big houses?
By Sim Kwang Yang
The Sarawak Environmental advisor Dr. James Davos Mammit has parroted Alfred Jabu’s attack against NGOs,
James has a PH D I think. He is also an old schoolmate from St. Joseph’s in Kuching. I think he was a few years my junior.
But too many years of politics in BN must have dulled his intellect. His attack against the NGOs is really a bad reflection of the standard of his political narrative. Surely, he can have something more original to say, like “I feel sorry for the Penans, and will seek way to get to the truth of the rape of Penan girls.”
But then, as the state environmental advisor, James would probably be fired by his boss the termite, if he shows any sign of support for the Penans.
I wrote an article entitled Will the Penans with cars and big house stand up and it was published on the Malaysian Mirror. It was on the comment made by Shahrizat, the Minister for Women, Family and Community Development. The next day, the ministry Director General replied to my article. I reproduce below both articles for your entertainment.
Will the Penans with cars and big houses stand up!
The Women, Family, and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil was clearly wrong to slam the 27 NGOs who demonstrated in front of the prime Minister’s Department Wednesday morning.
Her Ministry was a few months late in releasing the report of the task force set up to investigate police reports of logging workers raping the Penan girls lodged in October last year. She failed to release the report promptly, and did so only when the Keadilan Wanita Chief Hajjah Zuraidah Kamaruddin and her gang demonstrated in front of her office over the matter.
So far, no authority in both Putrajaya and Kuching has announced any plan to act on the task force report, as if they are in denial still even when the facts of the rape have been established.
In Kuching, the Deputy Chief Minister and the state Minister in Charge of Penan affairs Alfred Jabu was even more ludicrous when he suggested that the task force report might have been influenced by NGOs. He is obviously more interested in demonising the NGOs than in protecting and preventing Penan girls from being raped.
