The Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), which is based in Switzerland, claimed on its website that the workers were frequenting several Penan settlements looking for women.

It said the workers were usually drunk when they arrived at the settlements.

"They come on an almost weekly basis but the situation is worse during school holidays when they know that the students are back in the settlements," BMF said, quoting a Penan source.

The Penans had apparently claimed that the workers were from two companies operating in the area.
BMF also claimed that there had also been cases where students who accepted lifts on vehicles from the logging companies were sexually abused as the drivers would stop at a logging camp overnight.

It is claimed that there had been several cases of pregnancy among the Penan women and girls as a result of the abuse.

The Penans had apparently claimed that the loggers used armed thugs to intimidate them and gave alcohol to the youngsters in their community.

BMF had urged the government to start a formal inquiry into the claims.

Marudi district police chief Deputy Superintendent Jonathan Jalin promised to investigate the allegations although no reports had been received on the alleged abuse.

BMF was founded by Bruno Manser who lived for years with the Penan community in Sarawak.

On its website, BMF said it was committed to maintaining the threatened tropical rainforests and to campaigning, in particular, for the rights of the people who inhabit the rainforests.

New Straits Times/Asia News Network