Lure of the jungle

He was once called the Wild Man of Borneo. Now Bruno Manser is missing, feared dead. The Swiss activist, declared persona non grata in Malaysia, vanished almost a year ago in the very jungles he sought to protect. Was he killed by loggers angered by his protests against the destruction of Sarawak's wilderness? Was he bitten by a snake? Or did this small, wiry man who pricked the world's conscience by standing up for the rights of an obscure group of forest-dwelling nomads simply lose the will to fight?

According to John Kunzli, secretary of the Swiss-based Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF), Manser entered the east Malaysian state of Sarawak in May 2000 as he had done many times in the previous 10 years: illegally. A wanted man blamed for encouraging Penan huntergatherers to remonstrate against the loss of their forest homes, and held responsible for scores of blockades in the late 1980s and early '90s in tree-felling areas, Manser is believed to have sneaked into Malaysia from Kalimantan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo. He was apparently planning one last stand against the Malaysian Government and wanted support from the native people he had come to consider family. But before he could achieve his goal he vanished.

'His girlfriend in Switzerland received a letter from Bruno dated May 23,' said Kunzli. That was the last time she heard from him. 'Bruno wrote that he was outside Bario [a village in northeast Sarawak near the Indonesian border], sitting in the bushes and waiting for darkness before he would walk on.'

Manser left his hometown of Basel, Switzerland, for Kalimantan on February 15. A month later he met Kunzli, who had travelled there with a Swedish film team that wanted documentary footage of Manser in the jungle. Their work done, the crew left for home while Kunzli took off for Sabah, also in east Malaysia, en route to rendezvous with Manser in Sarawak. Not being blacklisted (it was his first trip to Malaysia), he travelled via the normal channels, carrying his and Manser's passports. Manser had relinquished his travel documents because he feared being caught and deported immediately. Having no ID would buy him time.

Manser planned to cross the Indonesia-Malaysia border clandestinely and travel through the forest to a group of Penan settled temporarily in Batu Lawi, a mountainous area in northeastern Sarawak that is the last refuge for the remaining nomadic families. There, through the 'bush telegraph', he would alert Kunzli to his arrival and reveal his plans. But Manser never reached the group at Batu Lawi and never made contact, according to Kunzli, who says he was expected at his destination by the end of May. The last people to see Manser were apparently two Penan who entered the jungle with him on May 24.

'After half a day Bruno separated from his guide because he had a child of about nine or 10 with him, and the mountainous area is incredibly dense and very difficult to traverse, even for a Penan,' said Kunzli. 'Because of the child it was too slow, so Bruno told him he would continue on his own. That's all we know.'