A CHILD is reportedly raped by her bus driver in Petaling Jaya. Government agencies, and an opposition Member of Parliament, call for immediate and strict action. Compare that to the responses or lack thereof that greeted evidence that Penan girls and women were being raped by truck drivers from logging companies in the Sarawak interiors.
sexual abuse
Violence against Penan: How the government ignores indigenous rights
By Ding Jo-Ann
THE phenomenon of indigenous women like the Penan being violated is not peculiar to Malaysia. Indeed, there are parallels in other countries, including a developed nation like the US. In their 2007 report, Maze of Injustice: The failure to protect indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA, Amnesty International (AI) reported that indigenous women […]
Penan girls and women were sexually violated
By Ding Jo-AnnShadowy interior of a Penan home (Pics courtesy of Sofiyah Israa @ Flickr) PETALING JAYA, 9 Sept 2009: Nearly a year after, a government task force report has confirmed that Penan women and children in Sarawak were raped and sexually abused by timber workers. The report by the national task force set up in October […]
The terror of government silence
By Jacqueline Ann SurinPenan child (© Robin Hanbury-Tenison/Survival, pic courtesy of Survival International) DATUK Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil was the perfect picture of concern and care on the front page of The Star newspaper on 28 May 2009. The newly re-appointed women, family and community development minister was photographed at the Serdang Hospital with a five-year-old child who […]
Police deny ignoring Penan sexual abuse cases
KUALA LUMPUR, 19 Nov 2008: Police refuted claims that they are turning a blind eye to alleged sexual abuse involving Penan women. According to CID director Datuk Mohd Bakri Zinin, the police had investigated eleven reports of alleged rapes in the Baram area since 1995. He said only one report involved a Penan girl and […]
