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Ulu Baram, Sarawak, Malaysia
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
Kelesau Naan & the Penan of Long Kerong
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Long Kerong, Ulu Baram
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
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
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
Long Kerong Headman, Kelesau Naan is last seen by his wife, leaving to check a trap.
He heads towards Segita River and never returns.
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19/21 November 2007
Mr Kho Thein Seng, or Sio, arrives in Long Kerong offering bereaved villagers financial support.
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
Sio informs Nick he need not inform the police about his father's disappearance.
Without the family's knowledge, Sio registers Kelesau at the Registration Dept., Baram/Marudi District Office, Sarawak.
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17 December 2007
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
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.
Nick immediately files a report denying involvement in the letter now allegeded to be forged.
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October 2010
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
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