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Church responds to food crisis

Published Date: August 25, 2009

The Catholic Church is responding to a food crisis that has hit Sarawak in eastern Malaysia by appealing for food donations, providing logistics and working with the local government.

About 100 families in five indigenous Penan villages near the Indonesian border do not have enough food, says Father Sylvester Ding Ibau, parish priest of St. Francis Xavier Church in Belaga, which covers the affected area.

The Miri diocesan priest told UCA News by telephone on Aug. 25 that the food crisis, which local media have labeled “acute,” began about six weeks ago because of crop failure exacerbated by environmental destruction from logging.

Father Ibau explained that the affected villagers are semi-nomadic people who hunt animals and collect wild sago for food but also plant rice. Logging, however, has diminished their forest food supply.

They comprise Catholics, Protestants and animists, he added.

According to Father Ibau, the Church first alerted the government and urged it to send food and supplies. The government response has been good, he said.

The priest also said a timber company, at the Church´s request, has built a bridge to improve access to the area, which otherwise can take up to 15 hours to reach by four-wheel drive from Miri town.

The Church is also helping in terms of transportation and is preparing to send 1,000 parcels of rice, each weighing 10 kilograms, to the area.

He said the long-term solution is to train the villagers to plant rice more methodically so that their food supply would be more assured.

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