In 1986 I was privileged to be the first American to visit the magnificent caves of Mulu in Sarawak on the island of Borneo. This was shortly after the Brits had mounted their spectacularly successful expeditions which discovered, among other things, the enormous Sarawak chamber. With them went a Swiss adventurer named Bruno Manser who could not tolerate the rules and regimentation so he simply walked away into the jungle to join the nomadic Penan. His exploits became legendary (look them up!). I will not forget the time when a “headhunter” pointed at a towering karst pinnacle and said, “Bruno has been there. Bruno has been everywhere. The government will never take him alive.” It was not paranoia. The Malaysian army, police, spies, and hired timber thugs were all searching for him. His advocacy for the rainforest and it’s indigenous people was a major embarrassment to those who planned the destruction of one of the world’s last remaining wilderness areas. At that time most of the island of Borneo was still covered with pristine rainforest, but signs of the impending disaster were apparent. Indigenous nomads such as the Penan had been rounded up and forced into settlements, and the traditional land rights of the settled Kenyah, Kayan, and other Dyak groups were being ignored. Logging roads were being pushed into the interior and the Baram river ran brown with mud. Meanwhile Mulu was gaining worldwide acclaim as a poster child for Malaysia’ s National Park system. It had everything a government propagandist could ask for, the world’s largest cave passages, crystalline rivers, spectacular rainforest, towering mountains, wildlife, and pet Penan for the tourists to photograph. It was a fair tradeoff with the timber industry for most of the land was either too steep or to boggy to easily strip of timber. The park was being administered by a British caver named Mike Meredith. Mike was an interesting fellow who reluctantly allowed me a certain amount of latitude, but I too found the rules to be oppressive so I left the park and continued up the Baram river to the upper reaches of the Akah river where I made wonderful discoveries such as an unknown plateau covered with carnivorous plants. I’m glad I saw it when I did. Now I can never go back. The utterly corrupt Malaysian government sold off virtually all of the traditional tribal lands in Sarawak and Sabah to Chinese timber concessionaires who proceeded to rape the entire place. The same thing happened across the border in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo. It was even worse in Kalimantan because the Indonesian government encouraged settlement by millions of destitute squatters from overpopulated Java. They offered free land (never mind the natives!) Within a few years vast forest fires were sweeping across the entire island with such ferocity that businessmen in Singapore had to wear gas masks to get to work. Bruno Manser did everything in his power to prevent all this. He fled the jungle and returned to Europe to publicize the plight of the indigenous people, and in the process made headlines around the world. The Malaysian government was furious and a price was put on his head. In 2006 he surreptitiously returned to Sarawak to continue the struggle, but has not been heard from since. It is reasonable to presume that he was murdered for the reward money. The destruction of Borneo did not end with the stripping of it’s ancient trees and Bruno’s death. Malaysian courts have repeatedly denied the right of indigenous people throughout Sarawak and Sabah to prevent the conversion of their traditional lands into palm oil plantations, leaving them destitute, or at best slaves on the plantations. As in Kalimantan and throughout history, if the dispossessed people refuse to be coerced into slavery then others are brought in to take their place. I know from personal experience that the physically superb and honorable “Headhunters” are too proud to accept such debasement, so now they have nowhere to go and no way to live. The game is gone along with the trees, and the once clear bountiful rivers now run brown with mud. As for the Penan, perhaps they will get some shelf space in a museum somewhere. Palm oil trees cannot grow in peat bogs, and much of the original magnificent Dipterocarp forest grew on deep deposits of peat. What to do with the now worthless land? Burn the peat to create rice paddies! Not only did this choke businessmen in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, it has contributed to air pollution and global warming throughout the world. The plan is to turn Sarawak into the new “rice bowl” of Asia regardless of the environmental cost. Stick, poison darts, and a handful of dogooders are notoriously ineffective against bulldozers, so the wholesale destruction of the world’s third largest island has been incredibly rapid and complete. One might reasonably ask, “what ’s left to pillage?” The answer is hydropower, the supposedly carbon neutral energy source. Twelve new damnable dams are planned for Sarawak alone. One of those damnable dams is planned for the Tutoh river which just happens to run through part of Gunung Mulu National Park. Is nothing sacred? What a stupid question! The fact that Mulu has the most spectacular caves in the world is beside the point. So is the fact that most of the caves are at base river level. So is the fact that these damnable dams will displace thousands of indigenous people. So is the fact that Sarawak has absolutely no need for so much energy as long as the Chinese do. After all, business is business. Bruno may (or may not) be dead, but a foundation in his name lives on. The Bruno Manser Fund exists to protect what little remains of the Bornean rainforest and to support the rights of the indigenous people. If you are a caver who cares about anything I strongly suggest that you visit their website and support their efforts. Here is their contact information: Bruno Manser Fund Reichensteinerstrasse 14 4053 Basel / Switzerland _www.brunomanser.org_ (http://www.brunomanser.org/) Tel. +41 61 261 94 74 e-mail: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) Click the English tab unless you can read German, and be sure to see Bruno’s photographs of what were until recently the last wild free people living in the last wild free place on earth. Sleazeweazel
