Dances with Penans – the Swiss Tarzan remembered

jrspet · #1 25.08.2009, 00:31

If still alive, Basel born Bruno Manser ( or better known as Robin Hood, Lone Wolf or Wild Man of Borneo ) would be 54 today. Following a brief stint in a Lucerne prison for refusing to “ learn to shoot at human beings “, he left for abroad and made a name for himself as an environmental activist – and at one time if found dead or alive, one might get to claim the Malaysian government bounty of US$50,000 for being Enemy of the State No. 1.

It was in Melbourne late in the evening of 15th June 1990 that I saw him in person address a crowd of 500 about the plight of the Penans – tribal nomadic folk from East Malaysia bordering with Indonesia. He was earlier arrested in 1987 but managed to escape from police custody ( jumped off a police Land Rover and dived away ) and had shots fired at.

He had just padded about the rainforest in a loincloth wearing his John Lennon glasses and spent six years since 1984 with them, leaving only in 1990 when the Malaysian government declared him persona non grata for his role as an ambassador for the Penans and sent a commando unit out to get him.

After several futile attempts to enter Sarawak, Malaysia, he finally managed to in late May of 2000 but soon disappeared without a trace.
A search party from his non-profit BMF using a ground team as well as a helicopter visited around his favourite spot Batu Lawi, Sarawak, Malaysia ( a 2000m limestone pinnacle ) towards Christmas of 2000 but failed to trace anything including his 30kg rucksack and he was then declared legally dead by a civil court in Basel on 10th March, 2005.

Vanished but not forgotten – Happy Birthday Laki Penan!

Bruno Manser Fonds ( BMF ) have consented to linking to their archive of pictures and maps

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jrspet · #2 28.06.2010, 20:39

Will Migros do the right thing ?

	Quote:
	SWISS retailer Migros will not cut palm oil supply contracts with Malaysia's IOI Corp and will work together with the planter to address allegations of illegal land seizures raised by activists. A Malaysian court declared this year that an indigenous group in Sarawak had won a suit against the state authorities and IOI over a land dispute, IOI stated. IOI, Malaysia's second largest listed planter, has also come under fire from green group Friends of the Earth and the Bruno Manser fund who highlighted IOI's practice of expanding plantations through methods including burning forests in Malaysia and Indonesia. IOI said, "It is deemed very important by IOI and Migros to involve other concerned parties to clarify the current situation and define the next steps."

Source

jrspet · #3 24.03.2011, 20:42

Bruno Manser

Early last week, a letter was sent to Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey, and the initiators demanded that Switzerland proactively freezes all of Taib's money in this country. "We have received indications that Taib should also have well-known assets in Switzerland," says Straumann of the Bruno Manser Foundation, Basel.

20,000 also signed a related petition and protested at the Malaysian Embassy in Bern.

More

Related links:

Swiss NGO Links Los Angeles Killing to Timber Corruption in Malaysia

	Quote:
	BASEL, Switzerland, March 9, 2011 (ENS) - Protests over timber corruption that has made a billionaire of the chief minister of the Malaysian state of Sarawak and enriched his family at the expense of the state's indigenous and other citizens have spilled over to the streets of San Francisco, Seattle, Ottawa and London. A Swiss nonprofit organization ( BMF - Bruno Manser Fonds ) is asking the law enforcement authorities in the United States to investigate what they allege is a murder on U.S. soil and illegally acquired assets stashed in the United States as well as other countries.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2...-03-09-01.html

http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/penan

Deep Purple · #4 24.03.2011, 21:44

This sounds very similar to the story of Archibald Belaney, better known as Grey Owl. A well known character in my hometown of Hastings.

Probably known to some of you from the film 'Grey Owl' played by Pierce Brosnan.