Call for Logging Companies To Be Good Corporate Citizens

The Sarawak Teachers Union (STU) has called on logging companies to exercise corporate social responsibility towards the community in which they are set. STU President, William Ghani Bina, was reported to have said: These companies should provide a safe transport service to send children to and from school, and also to take them to see a doctor and such. In the alternative, the STU proposed that schools in the state's interior use a special education department allocation to provide transport for Penan school children to avert the alleged rape of school girls from the community on their way to and from school. Ghani was reported to have said the schools could lease four-wheel-drive vehicles or secure the transport service of logging companies operating in the locality to send the Penan children to school and back home. He was quoted as saying: A teacher or a parent should be allowed to accompany the school children in the vehicle provided by the logging company to ensure none of the school girls were sexually abused. The system of recording the name of the driver and the vehicle registration number is important to ensure that the logging company provides a regular travel schedule. The STU's call for greater care over the children has arisen due to the public outcry of alleged rapes of Penan children said to be caused by logging company workers. The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development investigated claims that Penan women and school girls were sexually abused by timber company workers. The Ministry's report documented at least eight rape cases and molestation of under-aged Penan girls by the workers.◊

The Sarawak Teachers Union (STU) has called on logging companies to exercise corporate social responsibility towards the community in which they are set. STU President, William Ghani Bina, was reported to have said:

These companies should provide a safe transport service to send children to and from school, and also to take them to see a doctor and such.

In the alternative, the STU proposed that schools in the state’s interior use a special education department allocation to provide transport for Penan school children to avert the alleged rape of school girls from the community on their way to and from school.

Ghani was reported to have said the schools could lease four-wheel-drive vehicles or secure the transport service of logging companies operating in the locality to send the Penan children to school and back home. He was quoted as saying:

A teacher or a parent should be allowed to accompany the school children in the vehicle provided by the logging company to ensure none of the school girls were sexually abused.

The system of recording the name of the driver and the vehicle registration number is important to ensure that the logging company provides a regular travel schedule.

The STU’s call for greater care over the children has arisen due to the public outcry of alleged rapes of Penan children said to be caused by logging company workers. The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development investigated claims that Penan women and school girls were sexually abused by timber company workers. The Ministry’s report documented at least eight rape cases and molestation of under-aged Penan girls by the workers.◊