Tuesday, October 21, 2008
What Penan rapes?
First draft October 20, 2008;File doc KNIGHTpenan rape
Edited October 22;
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“I am of the opinion that efforts must be taken to educate the Penans about rape. The most important question: Which is rape which is not?” – Christhoper K. Knight
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What Penan rapes?
http://knightadventure.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-penan-rapes.html
By Christhoper K. Knight
News from the Sarawak rainforest: A Penan girl was gang raped while she was on her way to school; Penan girls gave birth to children fathered by their rapists; Penan girls drugged and raped; Penan girls treated like sex slaves; Penan girls fled into nearby woods when timber workers arrived in their village.
Some people may want to ask, “How long has this been going on?” Some other people instead want to clarify, “Is the story true?”
I only want to ask: Why don’t we question the suspect what he was doing with her in the bushes?
A few other people may want to ask complex and daunting questions: Where is the proof? Why we never heard of this before? Why the girl did not report it to us? Do we not suspect someone have put words in her mouth? Is this another attempt to shame Sarawak government and its leaders? Where is she now? If the story is true, why she is not coming forward to show us her vagina so we can smell out the man who has wronged her?
This is probably the reason why making report of rape is another form of rape. Given the traumas, she probably would not venture to retell the story of shame to just about anyone, not even to the police, other than her few confidants.
I doubt she will ever tell the story to anyone again. I can forgive her, especially now that the whole gang of people in Sarawak Government is acting like they, too, want to have a piece of her. We know her odds, don’t we, when the Sarawak leaders join the choir to dismiss the rape allegation. Iban Jabu anak Numpang, Kayan Lihan Jok, Kenyah Jacob Dungau Sagan… they are the defenders of the Penans. But they refused to believe her. All of them, they called her liar.
She is made wiser now, isn’t she? Next time she is raped or her daughter is raped the best thing to do is shut up. Do you think we can blame her entirely for her silence?
By now, she must have regretted reporting the rape. She probably has decided to find the alternative and retract her claim so long she and her fellow Penans can return to their routine in the jungle.
Thinking along that line, the Penan’s psyche can be understood. Their fear can be understood. Their lack of faith in us can be understood. Also understood is their mistrusting us to do justice for them. God knows there is no justice for the Penans in this cursed land. That probably the reason why God keeps the Penans in the jungle, so the Penans don’t do evils like we proud residents of the cities.
But we brought the evils to them…
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“Denying the rape ever taken place is a rapist’s job. Protecting self-image against the shame is a girl’s job. An honourable man admits his mistake and quickly remedies the mistake. When Sarawak leaders defended Sarawak’s good name and Sarawak’s pride, they unknowingly defended the rapists; they unknowingly told the Penan girls to come up with a complete DNA report next time she cries rape. They unknowingly were intimidating the victims instead of interrogating the suspects. Truth is compromised.” – James anak Bond in Sarawak Talk
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Remember, my child, The Rape of Nanking. Author Iris Chang is dead but the Japanese still refuse to openly admit their war crimes in China 1937. The rape of the Penans in Sarawak bears a patch of signature of atrocity where tyrants rule and strong men do as they please, take what they want and ravage all resistance. The rainforest coughed out the well-kept secret but none among us can be concerned to follow up on the leads. The forest too thick no one sees anything amiss; we only hear cries for help.
Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu anak Numpang, the purported King of the Dayaks, the man who walked over eight gongs in Long Pelutan upon His Majesty’s anointment to the throne in 2004, during an investiture observed by thousands of Kayans Uma Peliau, is now rendered helpless when his role is so called for. What good is this King Jabu when he only watches with indifference as marauders seized his Penan subjects and raped them in the muddy water? To hell with him!
Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu anak Numpang – so long the name but so short the temper –, the purported King of the Dayaks, the champion of a Dayak nation that once ruled over all things on this island from the mountain springs to the end of rivers, cannot make out the noise from the jungle?!
These sexual harassments, happened so many times already, cannot be mere voices in the woods. These cannot be mere coincidences or crimes of convenience anymore. Is there a thought-out pattern here, my lord? Are we harassing the Penans so they eventually vacate the jungle territory for us to do what we please with it? So the Kayans can have more room to breed. So the Kenyahs can have the rivers all to themselves. So the Ibans can build one longhouse for each families. So the Kelabit highland is cooler without the Penans burning trees in the hills. So the Chinese can extract timber from the mountains. So the Malays can build tall white cities in the mountain range. If that is your wish, my lord, then I wish you’re dead.
The Penans are my brothers. I eat with them and sleep with them. I hunt with the men and sing with the girls. Now they’re weak I am strong, I must lend them a shoulder to lean against. I maybe not strong enough to fight for them, maybe not smart enough to speak for them, maybe not having money to buy them happiness… but I know I can do this. I can agree with them, believe them, and know they are telling the truth while the whole world can call them liars.
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Remember, my child, The Rape of Nanking. Author Iris Chang is dead but the Japanese still refuse to openly admit their war crimes in China 1937. The rape of the Penans in Sarawak bears a patch of signature of atrocity where tyrants rule and strong men do as they please, take what they want and ravage all resistance. The rainforest coughed out the well-kept secret but none among us can be concerned to follow up on the leads. The forest too thick no one sees anything amiss; we only hear cries for help.
Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu anak Numpang, the purported King of the Dayaks, the man who walked over eight gongs in Long Pelutan upon His Majesty’s anointment to the throne in 2004, during an investiture observed by thousands of Kayans Uma Peliau, is now rendered helpless when his role is so called for. What good is this King Jabu when he only watches with indifference as marauders seized his Penan subjects and raped them in the muddy water? To hell with him!
Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu anak Numpang – so long the name but so short the temper –, the purported King of the Dayaks, the champion of a Dayak nation that once ruled over all things on this island from the mountain springs to the end of rivers, cannot make out the noise from the jungle?!
These sexual harassments, happened so many times already, cannot be mere voices in the woods. These cannot be mere coincidences or crimes of convenience anymore. Is there a thought-out pattern here, my lord? Are we harassing the Penans so they eventually vacate the jungle territory for us to do what we please with it? So the Kayans can have more room to breed. So the Kenyahs can have the rivers all to themselves. So the Ibans can build one longhouse for each families. So the Kelabit highland is cooler without the Penans burning trees in the hills. So the Chinese can extract timber from the mountains. So the Malays can build tall white cities in the mountain range. If that is your wish, my lord, then I wish you’re dead.
The Penans are my brothers. I eat with them and sleep with them. I hunt with the men and sing with the girls. Now they’re weak I am strong, I must lend them a shoulder to lean against. I maybe not strong enough to fight for them, maybe not smart enough to speak for them, maybe not having money to buy them happiness… but I know I can do this. I can agree with them, believe them, and know they are telling the truth while the whole world can call them liars.
Penan girls from Bario
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“At the beginning of Borneo Island, there was no such thing as rape among the native tribes. Later come the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons, the Samurais and the Saracens, the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians. It was since then man on this island takes by force from a woman what she is not willing to give the man.” – Christhoper K. Knight
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Continued here
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