
Bruno Manser
Bruno Manser, one of the founders of the
Bruno Manser Fund and for many years its chair, was during his lifetime the best-known
Swiss rainforest campaigner and human-rights activist. From 1984 until 1990, he
lived amongst the Penan people in Sarawak, who were then one of the last groups
on earth to still be living as nomads in the primeval forest. Finding himself
confronted with the rapid destruction of the rainforest by the logging
industry, he helped the Penan put up resistance to the advancing loggers and
became the international mouthpiece of the threatened primeval-forest dwellers.
He has been missing, presumed dead, since his last journey to Sarawak in May
2000.
Fascinated by exceptional, deep-rooted
traditions
Bruno Manser was born in Basel on 25
August 1954. He completed upper-secondary (baccalaureate) education and then
went on to spend several years living and working on various Swiss alpine
pastures and took an interest in handicrafts, therapeutics and speleology.
Inspired by the desire to live a life without money, he set off for Borneo at
the age of 30, with the aim of "getting to know a people still living
close to its origin".
Journey to the jungle
Manser travelled to the Malaysian
federal state of Sarawak, where he encountered the Penan, who were then still
leading a nomadic life in the primeval forest. He spent six years (1984-1990)
with them, learned about survival in the jungle and became familiar with his
hosts' culture. However, the paradise that Manser had just discovered was under
threat. It was at that time that local logging companies began their ruthless
incursion into the Penan territories and started to clear Borneo's unique
primeval forests. The Penan lost the basis for their livelihood. Deforestation
reduced the vegetation that was crucial for survival, contaminated the drinking
water, drove the animals away and desecrated the Penan's heritage sites.
Commitment and flight
Bruno Manser drew the attention of the
international media to the situation and helped the Penan to stand up to the
logging companies by means of peaceful road blockades. He thus drew the anger
of the Malaysian authorities on himself. He came very close to being arrested
in 1986. After spending six years in the jungle, he returned to Switzerland in
1990, managing to conceal his identity. His intention was to use Switzerland as
his base to inform the public about the situation in Sarawak.
Even more commitment...
After his return from the rainforest,
Bruno Manser, helped by a few friends, founded the Bruno Manser Fund in 1991,
published a book, "Voices from the Rainforest" (1992), held numerous
lectures and attracted attention through various spectacular protest actions.
The aim of his 60-day hunger strike in front of the Swiss federal parliament
building in Berne in 1993 was an import ban on tropical timber and the
introduction of mandatory declarations for timber. He indulged in a particularly
risky act in 1999 by landing a motorised hang glider next to the residence of
Sarawak’s chief minister in the federal state's capital of Kuching. Manser's
actions earned him a great deal of attention in Switzerland and abroad, and he
built up the reputation of being a charismatic and credible campaigner for the
conservation of the tropical rainforests and respect of the rights of the
indigenous peoples.
...but with few measurable successes
Bruno Manser’s dedication had the effect
of placing the issue of tropical timber firmly on the political agenda in
Switzerland, and his campaigns drew public attention to the catastrophic
ecological and social consequences of the clearance of the rainforest. It has
to be admitted that there were no real measurable successes in Sarawak itself.
The government stuck to its short-sighted and destructive policy, with the
outcome that today less than 10% of Sarawak's original primeval forest is still
standing. The Penan and other indigenous groups are still waiting for
recognition of their land rights to their ancestral forest territories.
Passionate record-keeper
During his stay in Borneo, Bruno Manser
never tired of documenting the rainforest flora and fauna, the Penan culture
and the resistance to forest destruction. The multi-talented Manser produced
numerous detailed drawings, copious notes, audio recordings and more than 10
000 photographs. These are extremely valuable documents in the fields of
ethnography and contemporary history. His "Diaries from the
Rainforest", which were edited by the Bruno Manser Fund, were published in
Basel in 2004 by Christoph Merian Verlag.
Disappeared but not forgotten
After returning to Switzerland, Manser
frequently went back to visit the Penan in the rainforest, followed the logging
activities and tried to provide assistance on the spot. He was, however, never
to return from his last journey to Sarawak. His steps have been traced as far
as the Borneo primeval forest on 25 May 2000. Several search parties after that
failed to find any sign of him. On 10 March 2005, the cantonal civil court in
Basel-Stadt officially declared him to be missing, presumed dead.
At all events, Bruno Manser lives on in
the stories recounted by the Penan. They are never going to forget their
companion. Right up to the present, he remains an inspiration for people all
around the world who are championing the causes of the rainforests and human
rights.