Hotel owner accused of ‘destroying’ Borneo forests

The Penan community in Sarawak's Middle Baram have mounted a blockade against a logging firm that owns the five-star Pullman Hotel in Kuching.

KUCHING: The owners of Kuching’s five-star Pullman Hotel, Interhill Group, have been accused of “aggressive and environmentally destructive logging practices” in the Middle Baram region.

A member of the commercial group, Miri-based Interhill Logging Sdn Bhd holds the license to log the forests in Middle Baram in the Miri division of Sarawak.

The Penan community in Middle Baram have been at odds with Interhill from as far back as 2006.

Last Thursday, after several failed attempts at ‘negotiating with Interhill’, 70 Penan tribesmen from the Ba Abang and Long Kawi communities in Middle Baram started blockading a logging road to prevent the further felling of their rainforest.

According to the Swiss-based Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), the blockade was erected near the Ba Bunau river within the community claimed native customary rights (NCR) land.

The Penans are an iconic community in Borneo and have steadfastly stuck to their nomadic ways.

They have perhaps fought the hardest and longest to prevent the destruction of their rainforest habitat by greedy and relentless logging.

The Middle Baram region sits in Borneo jungle, the world’s oldest and most bio-diverse environment on earth.

Interhill defied French Accor’s call

According to a statement released by BMF today, Interhill is the owner of the five-star hotel Pullman here. The Pullman Kuching hotel is operated by the French Accor group.

“The Penan community is accusing Interhill of aggressive and environmentally destructive logging during the past months.

“The Penan have made several attempts to try to negotiate with Interhill people but have failed,” the statement said.

“They (Interhill) was accused of similar conduct in 2009,” it said.

The statement also noted that French Accor has commissioned an independent study which had confirmed and shown that Interhill had been involved in illegal and unsustainable logging practices.

“Following pressure from Accor’s sustainability department, Interhill promised to better its conduct but has obviously failed to live up to its promises,” it noted.

According to BMF, they were informed by the community that Interhill had called the Sarawak police and forestry department officials to dismantle the blockade.

But the Penan are unfazed and currently upholding their protest.

Court battle

In December 2009, six Penan communities of the Middle Baram region jointly filed court cases to claim their NCR land titles and asked for the logging licences issued by the state government to private enterprises to be declared null and void.

The cases are currently pending at the Miri High Court.

Meanwhile BMF has called on the Interhill management to instruct their staff to immediately stop the destructive logging of the Penan forests.

“Interhill should send a high-ranking delegation to the blockade site to apologize for the company’s conduct.

“We are particularly disappointed to learn that Interhill failed to live up to the promises made to the French Accor group and to the international community two years ago, ” it said.

Source : FMT