COMMENT Our authorities have known about the vulnerability of Penan women and girls, such as Bibi (not her real name), to sexual violence and exploitation since the mid-1990s at least. Finally in 2008, after immense media spotlight on the issue, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (MWFCD) put together a National Task Force to investigate these allegations.

A year later, the National Task Force released its report affirming that the allegations of sexual exploitation were true, documenting eight specific cases, including Bibi's.

Now, almost five years after the National Task Force was formed, nothing is clear about what action has resulted since its report was issued...