Who was Bruno Manser ?
Have you ever heard about Bruno Manser ? Maybe for the young generation have never heard about him yet. Bruno Manser was born on August 25, 1954 in Basel, Switzerland. He was once a very famous among the Semi-Nomadic Penan of Sarawak native. Bruno Manser came to Sarawak as a Switzerland citizen and also known as the protection of indigenous peoples (Penan). He stayed with the nomadic band of Along Sega, who become the Penan figurehead for their struggle. Manser is still regarded by the Penan as somewhat of an idol, named "Lakei Penan" (Penan Man).
What had he done in Sarawak ?
The main reasons why he came to Sarawak is because he want to maintaining the threatened tropical rainforest with their rich plant and animal life, and to campaigning, in particular, for the rights of the peoples who inhabit the rainforests. He also visited many other settled Penan communities in the Upper Baram district. He learned to process food from the starchy sago palm (Mulong), and also learned how to hunt wild boar or animal with a blowpipe, and learned how to live a life that was on the same time ridiculously hard and unimaginably. However, he was declared persona non grata in Malaysia and had to leave the country with a bounty of $40,000 on his head.
What had the Sarawak Government done to stop Him ?
The Sarawak Government had tried everything to stop him because of his and other Sarawak natives’ enthusiasm to protect their forest against what they say are insensitive government and greedy timber barons. Eventually the governments send thousands of military troops in other to search and catch him either he still alive or death. Because of this, he ran away into the thick jungle and disappears. Lot of peoples stated that he died in the jungle due to insufficient of food. But some state that a wild animal in the jungle killed him without any trace left behind. After search expeditions proved fruitless, a civil court in Basel ruled on March 10, 2005 that Manser be considered dead. That is why up until now, the peoples that searching for his body has never been founded.
In your opinion, was Bruno Manser right to stop the government from developing the jungles of Sarawak and to defend the Penan from change?
In our group opinion, the government should accept Bruno plans to protect and preserve the rainforest and defend Penan culture from changed instead of stopping him. If all the tropical rainforest have been deforested or destroyed, how should all the Penan communities to live in such a harsh environment? Most probably, the peoples of Penan native will experience lot of troubles such as insufficient source of food, lot of diseases will attack them, and they feel that their life threatened by the authority. The Penan claim towards the government ; to stop illegal logging or control the rate of logging, and stop the project of oil palm plantation in ancestors land (tanah adat) without permission or respect towards the Penan community.
But in differerent points of view, Bruno should not interframe or get involved in Penan's decision whether they want to allow development or urbanisation in their community. The Penan have their own rights and they deserves the best from the government too. In conclusion, the government SHOULD and MUST respects the cultures and the life of Penan also protect and preserve the forest as we protected one's life....
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