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Ulu Baram, Sarawak, Malaysia[br]The heavily logged home of the indigenous Penan

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I'm Nick Kelesau

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I'm the son of Kelesau Naan, the late Headman of Long Kerong

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We are Penan from Ulu Baram and we have lived here

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for many, many generations

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My father led our people to defend our rights

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and our land from logging and

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the Samling Timber Company that

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have been trying to enter

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our land for more than thirty years

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We have faced threat, violence,

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arrests, intimidation, and

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a government that does not

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recognise our customary native title

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to the land we have

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lived in and protected for hundreds of years

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THE HEADMAN[br]Kelesau Naan & the Penan of Long Kerong

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Long Kerong, Ulu Baram[br]Penan village

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Kelesau Naan was born around the 1930s

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and lived all his life in the forest around our village, Long Kerong

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He was very much loved by his people and his family

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I believe my father lost his life because protected his people

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from the logging company and from... to protect his people from

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the loss of their rights on the land

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He disappeared on 23 of October 2007

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His remains were found on...

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17 December 2007

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Our life changed the day our headman went missing

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Kelesau was very motivated to fight against the company

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because all the trees, all the land,

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all the good things we had have been destroyed

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Our people's future is no longer secure

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Penan logging blockade[br]Near Long Sebatu, Ulu Baram, 1994

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He taught us to never surrender our rights and to protect the forest

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He loved and respected the forest and tried to build good relationships

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with all people in the Ulu Baram

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We cannot explain how he died. His death was not natural

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Not the kind of death resulting from getting lost...

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...or swept away by the river or things like that

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We have the feeling that something else caused his death

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His death was not natural

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Since my father goes missing there's no one who...

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who looks after my mother and

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she has to stay with my brother

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Who is also ill

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My father and my mother going this direction there...

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Trail going that way going to Segita River...

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...to the hut where he goes missing

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After many blockades between 1997 and 1998

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my father, along with Headmen from

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Long Sepigen, Song Sait, and Long Ajeng,

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filed a lawsuit against the Samling Timber Company

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and the Government of Sarawak

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That is where...

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where the company tried to enter Long Kerong's area before

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where the Field Force and the Army comes there and they just want to...

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They fire their gun in the air...

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and the Penan people from Long Kerong

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they go and stopped them from enter the area

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From 2006 through to 2007, my father instensified efforts to have the case heard in court

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One month before my father disappeared

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two Samling employees, Ms Sarah, and Ms Susan Pulut,

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Penan from Long Muboi,

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went to Long Kerong to record my father's daily movements

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They wanted to know where and when he went to his farm for hunting

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how long he stayed away and which river would he go to

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Penan use the rivers to walk through and to fish from

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The rivers connect us to our farms, our hunting grounds, and our village

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One month later he went missing

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Setita River[br]Kelesau's remains found scattered along river-bed

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The bones just spread from that area until here

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The watch was still there

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All the bones are just spread out

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Why the watch is still...?

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Even the necklace also... still there

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What happened to him here, or...

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Because we find the remains here

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Whether he gets trouble here or just somewhere else?

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The parts of the, the legs, this part, they found it here

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The other parts of the body, they found them down there

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and the (skull), further down again

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Attempts have been made to have the investigation into my father's death

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withdrawn through bribes, intimidation, and forgery

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Kelesau's death sees a return to the tactics that were common through the 1990s

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These are the acts of desperate people

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23 October 2007[br][br]Long Kerong Headman, Kelesau Naan is last seen by his wife, leaving to check a trap.[br][br]He heads towards Segita River and never returns.

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19/21 November 2007[br][br]Mr Kho Thein Seng, or Sio, arrives in Long Kerong offering bereaved villagers financial support.[br][br]He is followed by Samling employees who offer to assist with funeral arrangements, yet Penan search parties have yet to find any trace of the Headman.

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12 December 2007[br][br]Sio informs Nick he need not inform the police about his father's disappearance.[br][br]Without the family's knowledge, Sio registers Kelesau at the Registration Dept., Baram/Marudi District Office, Sarawak.

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17 December 2007[br][br]After flood waters recede along Segita River, Kelesau Naan's remains, including a broken arm bone, his watch and necklace, are found scattered across the river-bed.

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18 January 2008[br][br]A letter dated 5th January 2008 arrives at Miri Police Station. It claims no foul play in the death of Kelesau Naan. It bears the name and signature of Nick Kelesau.[br][br]Nick immediately files a report denying involvement in the letter now allegeded to be forged.

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October 2010[br][br]Three years after Kelesau's disppearance, Police have yet to visit the alleged crime scene at Segita River.

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The logging companies and the Government use the police

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to intimidate and force their way onto one of the most

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marginalised people in Malaysia

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My father's commitment to our struggle

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and the sacrifice that he made

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have inspired a stronger wave

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of resistance to anyone

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that denies our rights to customary land

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Kelesau will not be forgotten by our people

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And we hope the Penan and our struggle

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will not be forgotten by you