Tong Tana December 1999 - Bruno Manser Fonds

Sarawak - Malaysia
6
Interview with Mutang Urud,
a Sarawakian Activist living in
Canadian exile
Bruno: Dear Brother Mutang, tell us something about
yourself!
Mutang: I’m a 40-year-old Kelabit from Long Napir in
Sarawak’s interior. I went to a technical college in
West-Malaysia and started a business in Sarawak
after graduation.
B: How did you get involved in the struggle of your peoples
to protect their forest
M: I guess everybody with a feeling for his community
would want to be involved. Since I was in business I
had the freedom to visit my community and witness
their struggles. Since the Government handles the situation
unfairly, I had to use my experience in the city
to help write petition letters and advised them how to
deal with arrests and court cases. Later I founded the
Sarawak Indigenous Peoples Alliance (SIPA) with the
goal to unite all indigenous peoples of Sarawak who
oppose logging. In the first two years we managed to
visit over 45 communities in the upper Baram and Limbang
area. By uniting these communities they have a
stronger and more powerful voice.
B: Have you been aware of the risks when you started
all this
M: Yes, life is full of it! One never knows what happens
tomorrow, you just go where your heart tells you to. If
you help people against injustices, there is no boundary.
The risk I take is lesser in comparison to these
people losing their traditional land forever to the corrupt
and rich.
B: Suddenly your life changed, you were arrested ...
M: At midnight on February 5th, 1992 (just after
the Chinese-New-Year-Holidays) several policemen in
2 cars came to pick me up. They questioned me until
4 am. Then we went back to my office where they went
through all my documents until 6 am. They said that I
was to be kept in custody until they knew what was
happening. At that time there was a big blockade in the
Baram-area that has gone on for several months and
the Penan did not give in. The Police and army were
ready to arrest people, but they wanted to avoid a massacre.
That’s why they were asking my advice on how
to disperse the people.
They told me that they will shoot at the people if they
have to! I knew that several Muslims were killed by the
police the year before. They were fundamentalists and
believed to be invincible. They rushed the police-barrier
with machetes, about 15 died including several policemen.
The police suspected that the reason for the
Penan being so stubborn was because certain preachers
were misleading the people like the Muslim. They
wanted me to go to upper Baram with the Inspector
General of Police, but they kept me in jail in Miri instead
and questioned me around the clock for 5 days!
After a week the Police got angry, because I did not collaborate.
They handcuffed me one early morning and drove me
800kms to Kuching. We were 10 miles from the city
where several officers were waiting in the dark and
quickly blindfolded me. I was laid down on the van seat
with one officer holding my feet and another holding my
blindfold. For about two hours they drove me around
until they said we were entering a building. I don’t know
where, because I was still blindfolded. This was the
most frightening moment, because I was led to a place
which I did not know. When they opened my blindfold I
was in a dirty cell with nothing else than my underwear!
I was interrogated round the clock until I didn’t
know if I was eating my lunch or dinner. I thought I was
getting crazy.
A month later they sent me back to Miri by plane. They
blindfolded me out of the jail. In Miri I was directly put
in jail for 2 days. I had no contacts with my family or
lawyer. The next morning my lawyer suddenly showed
up and said I had to go to court. The charge was having
organized a society without registration, but as I
was the only member of the organization, it was not a
society.
B: You were released on bail, why did you flee after
that
M: I did not flee. My sister paid the bail. The police
threatened me not to get involved in the struggle
again, but a week later, there was the court case
against the Along-group and I had to help them! I was
at Alongs court case when my lawyer called and asked
me to flee as he had serious information that I was to
be arrested again. Immediately I went into hiding and
early the next morning I left the country.
B: You kept involved in the struggle, you have been
working on papers published in the United-Nations-Human-Rights-Commission,
you have been speaking in
Geneva and New York.
M: For myself, these actions kept me connected to the
struggles at home for I felt very homesick. It also made
me feel like a brother to all other indigenous peoples
who are in similar struggles. For Malaysia and my people
it was also good, because the more people know
about the struggle, the more pressure is built upon
those responsible.
B: You met US-Vice President Al Gore, the UN Secretary
General, Prince Bernard and others: Who has
been the most supportive
M: Vice Pres. Al Gore was most positive because when
we met him in 1990, he immediately wrote a resolution
on behalf of our struggle. Just last year, at the APEC