MIRI, MALAYSIA - The saga surrounding the sexual abuse of Penan girls and women by timber workers in logging concessions in northern Sarawak has reached a dead end.

More than a year ago, the issue was exposed by the Switzerland-based Bruno Manser Foundation, then highlighted by The Star and confirmed by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry following a ministerial probe.

Police have since gone nowhere with their investigations, nobody has been arrested and no prosecution papers filed.

And now, Sarawak police said they would not investigate the alleged rapes any further after Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar issued a statement that the police considered the matter closed.

On Thursday, Ismail said in Kuching that the police had done all they could, but the probe had gone nowhere due to lack of evidence and lack of cooperation from the alleged victims and from the non-governmental organisation that had exposed the alleged rapes.

"We did not push the issue away nor did we try to hide anything. We were very open about the investigations and cooperated with the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as well as Datuk Seri Shahrizat's (Abdul Jalil) ministry to uncover the truth," he said.

Yesterday, when asked whether the Sarawak police would re-open the case if there was new evidence, state Police Commissioner Datuk Mohmad Salleh said: "I will not talk about this Penan issue anymore."

The alleged rapes of the Penans in logging zones in Ulu Baram surfaced in the middle of last year after the foundation highlighted the issue on its website.

The Star then sent a reporter and photographer to Ulu Baram and interviewed some of the victims, who confirmed that they had been raped and sexually abused.

Shahrizat's ministry later deployed its own team of officers to Ulu Baram and tabled a report three months ago confirming that the rapes of Penan girls and women had indeed occurred.

However, a few days later, one of the Penan women made an about-turn.

The 22-year-old woman from the Long Item settlement lodged two police reports, in Long Lama and in Marudi, claiming that an NGO had forced her to say that she was raped by loggers.

She claimed they had duped her into going to Kuala Lumpur, confined her for three months and then forced her to lodge a report at Bukit Aman crying rape.

She further claimed that the NGO and reporters had told her they could help her get medical treatment for her sick child in Kuala Lumpur if she followed them.

Yesterday, The Star called Marudi OCPD Deputy Supt Jonathan Jalin for an update on her report but he declined to comment, saying he was away.

It is learnt however that the probe on the woman's report has also reached a dead end as the police have failed to trace the people from the NGO concerned.