At least half of the 12,000 Penan in Sarawak do not have mandatory personal documents such as birth certificates or identity cards, and this has affected their ability to access or protect their rights.

Apart from being unable to act against encroachment into native customary rights (NCR) land, they are also being deprived of their right to vote, education, jobs in government and official assistance linked to native privileges.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) field officer Jok Jau, based in Marudi, claimed that many of the Penan are afraid to leave their settlements for fear of being arrested as undocumented persons.

Local officials and politicians have confirmed that registration exercises to record births and deaths, or to issue identity cards, has been a slow process in rural Sarawak.

"The system does not meet the needs of citizens living in remote and isolated parts of the country. There is obviously some difficulty for the Penan to meet certain legal requirements," academician Dr Andrew Aeria said when contacted.

He suggested for more "creative methods" in dealing with long-standing problems in issuing documents to those in the community.

The Penan live in settled and semi-settled conditions across 40 villages or settlements in Ulu Baram. This covers Apoh, Tutoh, Akah, Patah, Seraan and Selungo near Lio Matu and in Ulu Belaga.

Jok Jau said about 10 nomadic groups, comprising an average of 10 families each in Ulu Baram and Limbang, continue to seek shelter and a livelihood in traditional hunting grounds.

Remedial measures

Jok Jau, who had a meeting with Sarawak Penan Association chairperson Ajang Kiew recently, said remedial action is underway.

Ajang had met the National Registration Department's state director, Abu Bakar Mat, to call for the registration process to be expedited.

Abu Bakar Mat is said to have promised to help those who either have not applied for their documents or who have not received these, once they complete and return certain forms directly to his office in Kuching.

"We are in the process of (distributing the forms) in every village,' Jok Jau said.

However, he also pointed out that a compound fine is imposed for late registration of births, at RM10 per year.

"This will work out to as much as RM400 for someone about 40 years old now,"' he said.

Additional problems arise because the applicant is required to pay his or her own travel costs to either Long Lama or Marudi, as well as that of the tua kampung (village chief) who is required to affirm the date of birth and other details.

"A poor Penan cannot be expected to be able to come up with that kind of money," he said.

It was claimed that previous registration exercises had failed because teams did not give sufficient notice of their impending visits. As such, few people showed up to apply for their documents.

However, this has since been resolved by eliciting the assistance of the Resident or District Officer, NGOs or elected representatives to make ground arrangements.

Lack of manpower

However, Sarawak Dayak-Iban Association (Sadia) secretary-general Nicholas Mujah said the department still cites a shortage of human resources or lack of authority to deal with needs.

'The department always says it has a schedule to follow when we tell them we are ready on a particular date and at a certain place for them to conduct the registration exercise,' he claimed.

He said the Iban and other Dayak are other communities that also face problems in applying for birth certificates and ICs.

When contacted, Baram member of Parliament Jacob Sagan said the registration exercise is "slow but moving steadily" each year, but that the remoteness of settlements has presented difficulties.

"I know that the department is sending special teams to such areas", he added.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini's Sarawak-based stringer.