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Redheads
In this satirical eco-thriller…
In the middle of a Borneo rainforest a band of near-naked Penan tribesmen, encouraged by an equally clothes-challenged renegade Swiss shepherd, hesitantly blockade a logging truck, testing their commitment to protect their forest home.
Nearby, an orangutan researcher is threatened with being thrown out of her isolated study site unless she can reach a delicate compromise with the powerful minister of the environment.
Who has the answer to saving the world’s oldest forest – the marketing experts of the world’s largest nature conservation group or the earnest monkey-wrenchers? Can the timid Penan rise up to defend their home?
At the heart of Redheads fictional action lies the very real problem of rainforest destruction and the philosophical question of where the real boundaries lie between apes and humans. And just what is it about red silk underwear, anyway?
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Borneo Tree Spirits Go to Court
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
“Your honor, I call our ethno-witnesses.” At a signal from Andrew Ajang Mering twelve men and women stood, hesitatingly.
The chief justice, a bemused ethnic-Indian Malaysian named Samuel Aithihyamala, stared over his half-glasses at the plaintiff’s lawyer, Andrew Ajang Mering, then at the large group of men and women who had just risen. “Just how many witnesses do you have, Mister Mering?”
“One for each of the large old-growth trees in the Penan homeland,” Andrew Mering answered. “We’re not sure of the precise number, but probably in the region of six thousand.”
“You’re planning to call approximately six thousand witnesses?”
“No, your honor. That might challenge the patience of the court. I’ll keep the number down to a dozen.”
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