KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - MALAYSIA'S human rights commission on Tuesday welcomed a forensic probe into the mysterious death of a Penan tribal leader who waged a battle against logging in his Borneo home.

Kelasau Naan, a 70-year-old chieftain from the remote village of Long Kerong in Malaysia's Sarawak state on Borneo island, was reported missing on Oct 23 last year after he went out to check animal traps.

His skeletal remains were found on Dec 12 on the banks of a river, and some of the bones were broken - leading to suspicions that he was attacked.

Sarawak police chief Mohmad Salleh said on Monday that police would this week obtain a court order to exhume the remains and a pathologist would conduct an examination.

'They should do a forensic investigation to rule out any wrongdoing,' said Denison Jayasooria, a member of the government-backed Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

'Kelasau was the vocal defender of a plot of land. Only the police can conduct the probe - whether it was murder or natural death,' he told reporters.

Members of the chieftain's family last week lodged a complaint with Suhakam, saying the unexplained death could be linked to Kelesau's campaign against logging on their ancestral land.

They demanded the rights body conduct an investigation since they were unhappy with an initial police probe which classified the case as 'sudden death'.

Mr Jayasooria said Sukaham would not make any judgement until after the forensic examination was completed.

Kelasau's son Nik said in a report to Suhakam that he believed his father was killed because he was a witness in a land rights case which is currently before the courts.

The plight of the Penan was made famous in the 1990s by environmental activist Bruno Manser, who waged a crusade to protect their way of life and fend off the loggers.

He vanished in 2000, and many suspect he was a victim of foul play. -- AFP