For the most part of 1984, Manser familiarised himself with the Baram district visiting Kelabit villages and meeting the nomadic and semi-nomadic Penan. IN May 1984 he made Long Seridan his base as the Kelabit longhouse had a small medical station and airstrip. Nomadic Penan from under its chief Agan Polisi Jeluan, would often visit Long Seridan for basic medical basic treatment if there was an emergency because it was one of the Stations of the Flying Doctor Service.

After his short stint in Mulu ended in August, Manser decided to explore neighboring Indonesian East Kalimantan and so he applied or an Indonesian visa at Kota Kinabalu. He then flew to Tarakan and from there to the Long Bawan, the administrative centre of the Kerayan district, adjacent to Bario. After three weeks of living with some of the Punan tribes of Kalimantan, he trekked back to Bario.

From there he made his way to back to Long Seridan and sought treatment because he had contracted a deadly strain of Malaria. In the next weeks Manser face a life and death situation, but still refused to return to Switzerland. In November a family friend Roger Graf visited Sarawak and came to check on his health.

By now Manser’s visit pass to Sarawak had which he obtained in early 1984, had expired. In 1985 Graf and spent two months with Manser visiting the nomadic Penan of Magoh. Later in May, Manser, through the encouragement of the Kelabits of Long Seridan and his friends in Switzerland, Manser who had picked up the Penan language (he also spoke a smattering of Malay) tried to help the Penan apply for a communal reserve.

Three months later the Kelabit and Penan completed a declaration asking for a communal reserve covering the Tutoh region (Long Seridan) to as far as Limbang. The declaration which dated September 24, 1985 was sent to the Chief Minister of Sarawak.

A month later the Penan, backed by the Kelabits, organised a peaceful protest at a logging bridge leading into the Penan heartland. On December 1, Manser with the help of his friend Roger Graf, wrote a report on the logging situation in the Baram and sent it to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) with copies sent to the Sarawak Government.

In March the first of many foreign journalists, Rolf Bokemier of Geo Magazine, entered Sarawak illegally and headed for Long Seridan where he interviewed Manser, As Manser’s reputation as an environmentalist began to grow, he began to travel about Northern Sarawak openly and often to Limbang where one of his associates, Anderson Mutang Urud lived.

By then the police who were aware of his activities, were told to watch out for any “wayward” European dressed as a Penan. On April 10, 1986 Manser was arrested by Inspector Lores Matios, a Lun Bawang Special Branch (SB) officer during an Easter “Irau” festival. He was bundled into a police Land Rover but on their way to Limbang the vehicle ran out of fuel.

Stopping at the top of a hill, the driver of the vehicle was emptying a spare jerry can of fuel into the tank when Manser, who was not handcuffed, walked towards a steep slope and said he wanted to ease himself. Once there, he jumped and slid down slope. Alarmed that Manser was going to make his escape, Lores fired a shot in the air to warn the Swiss hoping that he would return.

But instead, the gunshot set off Manser’s adrenalin as he reached the bottom of the valley and fled galloped off into the jungle. Four months later when I set out to track down Manser, I met my first Nomadic Penan group under the Magoh Watershed Chief Agan Polisi. After convincing Agan and a young Penan couple Gerawat Megud and his wife Busak, that I was not a policeman but a reporter trying to write a story, they retold the story of the Swiss’s narrow escape.

But it had a different twist. They were led to believe that the police were trying to kill him. They sympathised with Manser as they thought Lores had fired at him and into the air as he did! It was this incident that endeared Manser to the Penan who felt that it was their duty to protect their adopted son! From then on it became the sworn pledge of the Penan to protect their “Lakei Jaau” or “Big Boss”.

At first Chief Agan denied that that there was such a “Whiteman” roaming the jungle. When my time came to speak I said :” I am a friend of the Penan..Agan is like my father and his wife my mother.. you are my brothers and sisters. This man (Bruno) who is hiding in the jungle is your brother and mine too! We are like one family, I came here with good intentions, I want to help him...if I had bad intentions I would have come alone. I am not afraid..because I believe and trust you.”

I continued to stress:“If I was a bad man I would have come in a different manner, with many men. But I have come alone..I am not afraid because I come with honest (and sincerity)!

I had said enough. Busak convinced the others that I could be trusted. She told them: “He has come to tell the world about our story (plight)!” (Within the next 30 years I have written numerous articles on Penan issues, pioneered the production of two Penan documentary films that was screened on RTM, one of them about a Tribe in Transition coping with Development.

I also wrote a book entitled “Penan; Tribe on the Move “about how the semi-nomadic Penan have made a quantum leap producing close to 20 Graduates within the last three decades). A few of the Penan huddled together, and I must admit I was nervous! Busak quipped: ..trouble makers come in groups, this stranger has come alone.”

Then Agan spoke: We are hiding Bruno in the jungle”. (Later in 2011 when doing a film about Gerawat and his older brother Sayak, who had taken over as Chief from Agan, I learn that one of Agan’s son’s had suggested they poison me. However, I doubt if the story was true, that as good Borneo Evangelical Mission Christians the elders would ever had permitted that!)

Then Busak related the story about Manser’s escape. News about Manser’s escape reached the ears of the Penan within a day. After fleeing into the jungle Manser got lost and after several days, the half-starved escapee, somehow found Agan’s jungle camp. She said: “Malam itu hujang kuat. Kami takut.

Kami cakap pasal Bruno di dalam bilik. Lepas itu bunyi di bawah-sepuluh jari masuk kedalam kayu kayu dilantai. Kami takut itu hantu. Tapi bila kami tolong dia.” (It was raining heavily that night. We were afraid. We were talking about Bruno when we heard noises from below out bamboo hut. Then we saw ten fingers coming through the gaps of the flooring. We were afraid it as a ghost. When we realised it as Bruno we helped him.)

One of Agan’s followers Berauk Beluluk, believed that European had supernatural strength! He said: “Manser told us he was handcuffed and that he raised his hands upwards and snapped his handcuffs off! Bruno could take on 10 men!!” And like the spirit “Penakoh” the Swiss could vanish into thin air. After spending the night with the Penan and it was time for me to be escorted out of the jungle my Gerawat.

After three months of searching for Bruno, I finally got permission from the State government to deliver an Immigration Department letter ensuring that Manser would not be prosecuted if he voluntarily left Sarawak. But Manser was determined not to go until he had fulfilled his mission. Finally my contact Petrus Lawai, the DCA representative at Long Seridan helped arrange for an interview with Manser at a hut behind the village school on November 14, 1986.

The three hour interview was filmed by RTM who had provid- ed us--two of their film crew Suhaimi and Mustakim and myself— a helicopter journey into the jungle! Sadly, the day after my story appeared in Section Two of the NST, the Special Branch seized the footage. Though I managed to get a copy of the footage, the original is still missing!!

Four days after my interview with Manser a special police Field Force squad under ASP Frederick Liso, a Kalabit from Long Napir, his cousin, a Sabahan and Kelabit District Officer David from Long Lamai almost captured Manser who had a second narrow escape. After two close calls, Manser became more alert and changed his movements!!!!

Manser’s departure came three years later after a government- to-go government call to urge the Swiss authorities to arrange for Manser’s return to his homeland. By then his parents, family and friends were afraid that things were not looking good! On March 26, 1990 Manser was “smuggled” out of Kuching with the knowledge of the police, starting him out on an International Crusade that spanned Europe, USA, Canada, Europe and Australia.

EXACTLY 13 years to the day, Bruno and I met at the Kuching Waterfront, 100 yards from the Holiday Inn Kuching where the Swiss had been holed up, away from the glaring eyes of the Media, to be whisked home. This time Manser had another MISSION: To fly his paraglider into the compound of the Chief Minister of Sarawak.

Chapter 2

Winning Manser’s confidence

I was not sure whether Manser was telling the whole truth. By coincidence a friend had arrived in Kuching three days earlier and was staying at Borneo Hotel. He was Scott Adamson—the brother-in-law of he Hollywood actor and producer To Hanks!!

We had worked on some photo projects with his colleague John Mcjunkin!! They were using an old style of printing photos called “Platinum paladium” where the negatives were “cooked” in the sun rather than in the lab. I thought it was a good opportunity to have a photograph taken--as proof that we had met.

“Is it okay if we have a photograph taken of us together?” I asked. “Just for old times sake!! The last time we took a photograph was in Singapore and you have not sent me our picture yet,” I added. I told him that a long-time American friend Scott Adamson had just checked into the same hotel and that he was also a photographer.

I called Scott and we went upstairs to my American friend’s room. I introduced him to Mr Markus Bahler. He took our pictures with a digital camera. Manser had arrived in Kuching via Brunei and Miri wearing a black suit and tie--the wedding suit of his brother Peter who once stayed with him and the Penan.

If the Immigration Department ever arrested him, he was liable to be jailed for several weeks. At least he would have free board and lodging! Manser told me he had invited a group of 10 Penans leaders and their followers to come to Kuching. A local contact made the arrangements to put them up in a hotel. Also invited for the “Bruno show” were a group opf foreign journalists.

However none of the local reporters were fore-warned of the publicity stunt. Legitimate entry into Sarawak After the short meeting at the Borneo Hotel Manser excused himself and said he had to leave. We left together, he in the direction of one wing of the hotel and I towards the lift. The lift opened and an Immigration officer whom I knew came out with his family. I greeted him and thought about this conicidence.

Singapore meeting with Manser

On July 1, 1998 I was told that after Manser had learnt that I was a Public Relations Officer with the Chief Minister’s office, he wanted to meet and talk with me. I had flew to Singapore for the meeting. The appointment took place at the Singapore Hilton coffee house lobby in the day time. A smart-looking Manser in shorts, without his beard, turned up. I waited for him in the coffee house and immediately recognised him by his Ben Kingsley looks; “Ghandi-like” nose and Beatles- rimmed glasses.

Accompanied by a Sarawak official, we sat down and had some tea. Manser brought out a pile of documents, maps of Sarawak, pamphlets and other material. He was accompanied by a foreign journalist based in Singapore. It appeared that wherever he went, the media would follow.

This was consistent with the dogma that the only way to highlight the environmental problem was to get maximum publicity. During the meeting he reiterated his stand--that he would continue to champion the Penan cause as long as there was logging in the forests of the nomadic Penan. He wanted me to arrange for him to meet the Chief Minister.

I told him I was new in the government, a contract officer, and did not have the authority to make such decisions. Manser said he had written many letters to the Chief Minister and had not received any reply. He sounded very frustrated. Manser said he had made arrangements with authorities and had would have paid an exorbitant amount for his lamb to be air-flown to Kuching. But now all his efforts had gone to waste.

Manser was still determined to enter Sarawak and asked for permission. He was refused permission to land in Kuching or even peninsular Malaysia. Manser was frustrated.

Our meeting ended on an amicable note. But not before Manser’s request that we help to arrange for Manser’s adopted father Maleng Sei’, a Penan from Long Napir, to have an artificial leg attached to his stump. Maleng had lost his left leg, from the thigh down, in an accident in 1997. For almost a year he languished at his longhouse, unable to work and support his wife Bulan Tevai. Then Manser was told about his problem.

An artificial leg for Maleng

I volunteered to accept that responsibility of looking for a sponsor for the prosthetic leg and said that I would help his friend. “When did he lose his leg,” I asked. “Maybe, a year ago or so..I just got a message from....” he stopped short of exposing the local who was passing him messages from Sarawak.

Not to frighten Manser into thinking that I was trying to get him to incriminate him or expose his environmental contacts in Sarawak, I asked what I should do. “I am ready to get the money..I mean I have not much money. I have a bank account..maybe 2,000 Swiss Francs...but I get money for him to make him a prostheses (prosthesis)..how do you say?”

“But he will need treatment in hospital. You cannot just buy the thing and bring it upriver. You have to fix it and walk with it. But I think that it should be possible. I would like to help him. He is my best friend in the jungle. I have been living in the jungle with him for so long.”

I tape-recorded Manse’s message to Maleng in Penan. We walked along an avenue with many tall trees and under shade he recorded his message. His tape-recorded message informed Maleng suggested that he had arrived in Indonesia and was passing a message through me: Manser’s Penan was rusty and used some Indonesian words when he recorded his message on July 1. He told Maleng I was the one who had written many stories in the newspapers and had written a book.

“Aku pu’un itauk’ dau lah sesatu bulan tujuh..sekarang.. ka’auk tauk James Ritchie yang bikin pina tosok tosok dalam surat khabar yang bikin buku juga.........”

Manser told Maleng that I was now working for the “Big Boss” Taib Mahmud. He said that I would make all the arrangements for the artificial leg while he would provide the finances. Manser told Maleng that he could not meet him as promsised in 1998 because he was refused permission to enter Malaysia.

At the porch of the Singapore Hilton, the journalist took a picture of the two of us with Manser’s camera. We exchanged notes and contact numbers. Manser promised to send me on a regular basis the BMF newsletter “Tong Tana” (Our Homeland).

Since leaving the Sarawak jungle, Manser was used as a politican pawn and his colleages of backers had not only produced “Tong Tana”, a quarterly but also set up an organisation that went by the name Bruno Manser Fonds of BMF.

This fund-raising group co-ordinated by John Kunzli, close friend and Penan sympathiser, also sold Manser’s “Voices from the Rainforests” in three languages--English, German and French. They also sold postcards, video tapes of Manser’s escapades when he lived in the jungles of Sarwak entitled “Tong Tana” and “Blowpipes and Bulldozers”, T-shirts with a drawing of a Penan and canebags.

Just before leaving I suggested that we meet again and over “a beer or two” talk about ways to help the Penan. We went separate ways but I suspected that as stubborn as he was, he would be back. I thought that by now he would trust me.

From then on Manser became a cult figure among the semi- nomadic Penan of Sarawak as he championed their cause to fight logging in their homelands. He was now the darling of European community’s enviromentalists. But was Bruno really the focus of the so-called Crusade or a puppet of BMF???

Pushed to take Life-Threatening Risks In 1996, two years before we met in Singapore,Bruno slid almost 3km down a half frozen funicular railway cable with a French companion Jacques Christinet.in Switzerland.

“Christinet was also central to one of Manser’s most futile--and dangerous--actions, the descent fo the 2.7 km-long funicular cable in Zermatt in 1996,” reported Timeasia (September 3, 2001) who added that the two men reached speeds of 140 km/h while hanging onto homemade riders constructed out of steel wheels and ball bearings as if they did not care for their lives.

A year later in 1997 Manser and Christinet tried to take off from motorised paragliders from the island of Singapore with “as part of of a plan to buzz the Commonwealth Games...” (Timeasia, September 3, 2001). Apparently the police were tipped off about. their proposed stunt and they were warned not to attempt to take off from Singapore and land in Kuala Lumpur.

The two even thought of swmming across the 25-km long Straits of Johore only to abandon the idea when they realised that the final stretch required swimming through a mangrove swamp. Later I learnt that Manser had also attempted to enter Sarawak by sea--using a fishing boat through the Natuna islands.From there they planned to row a rubber dinghy across the Straits but the BMF office in Basel called and warned that the Malaysian police had been alerted. So the plan was aborted.

Paraglide stunts

In 1998 Manser continued to publicise his cause with more gimmicks. John Kunzli, secretary of BMF said that Manser had taken up parachuting lessons. The single-minded Manser had spent more than a year, between 1997 and 1998, taking at least 160 lessons for his special mission in Sarawak.

By now Manser was a household name among the environmental elite. In January he called on Al Gore in the USA and told him of his plan to jump out of a small plane with a 24-day-old lamb he named “Gumperli” (the leaping lamb) in Kuching. He sent his reports to the World Bank.

He complained that the Sarawak government had not kept their promise of “(providing the Penan with) a biopshere reserve....the prohibition of hunting for outsiders,” adding that “My whole work here means nothing for the Penan as long as the logging continues.”

But the mission was called off. At the Zurich airport on April 5, the authorities did not allow the animal to board the Singapore Airlines flight SQ 343. Manser then decided to proceed with his parachute jump in Geneva on April 7, 1998.

After the jump Manser wrote: “This is a peaceful gesture of reconciliation. I want to apologise for my violation of the Malaysian Immigration laws during my stay with the Penan in the 1980s. I will accept a punishment. I hope though the Malaysians will forgive me and together we will find a solution for the saving of the Penan and their living space in the Rainforest.”

Letter to the Chief Minister

On May 20, 1998 Manser flew to Singapore. A day earlier he had issued a statement to congratulate the Chief Minister on his 62nd birthday on May 21. In his “open letter” he again offered his service and asked for forgiveness.

“I reiterate my apology on Hari Raya Haji for my illegal stay in the State during the 1980s. Rather than staging protest, I am looking forward for constructive dialogue with your Excellency.” Manser also felt that not enough was being done by the dental authorities and added:

“As proof of my sincerity I will bring a cheque of over US10,000 to start a mobile dental clinic for the Penan and Kelabit--if your ministry of health is in favour of the proposal, and also offer to look for the necessary additional funds.”

Manser also wanted to return to Sarawak to meet his long-time Penan friend Maleng who had lost his leg in an accident. But his purpose was infact to visit the Penan in the Ulu together “with your Excellency as a friend.”

Sneaking to Sarawak Through Brunei

I later learnt that sometime in June, Manser and Chistinet flew directly to Brunei. According to Christinet, from there they made their way to the border and swam across the 300 meters wide Limbang river, making their way into Penan territory. During the crossing Christinet had a deep gash in his leg after colliding with some branches, “but Bruno sewed it up for me with a needle and thread,” said Christinet.

The two spent three weeks in the jungle while Manser adopted the antagonist’s approach of sending the loggers a message; by driving 25cm nails into tree trunks.This tactic was used by anti-logging groups in the United States during the 1990s which sometimes resulted in severe injuries to the loggers when the chainsaws struck the imbedded steel nails.

My problem now was what to do next. Obviously, I had to check whether it was true that Markus Bahler was really staying at the hotel. I went home at about 5 p.m. I had to think very hard because I didn’t want to be a rumour monger let alone a harbinger of bad news.

If I told the police, they could take up the case seriously and Manser would be in real trouble. Now my mind was ticking away. If anyone got wind of Manser’s presence in Kuching and told the authorities what would happen? It’s always painful if you are caught in the cross-fire of politics. Since publishing my book I had absorbed a lot of punches from my critics--both in the government and environmental quarter. I was not going to be a pawn a second time. But, I had to do my job as CM’s PRO!!!

I felt that it was my responsibility to inform the “Boss”, about Manser’s presence in the State. Taib was attending an 18th anniversary celebrations organised by the State coalition “Barisan Nasional” (National Front) at the Kuching Hilton at 8 p.m. That night I put on my “batik” best! After the eloquent speeches and praise heaped upon the Chief Minister, I sneaked up to main table and after drawing his attention told him the bad news and possible be damned for telling the truth!

He was direct and gruff when he said: “Report him to the police!!”. I knew I had spoilt his day!! I mingled with the 25 or so journalists who were covering the function. I kept a straight face in the presence of my good friend Sulok Tawie from the NST. I could’nt tell him or any of them. If I was in the NST it would have been my story. Alas, this time I had to remain silent.

When I wrote the exclusive on Manser in 1986, I had hoped to win a journalism award. In fact when I first wrote the Manser story, few believed that such a man existed. Nobody believed me. If I had broken the news, how would the chief Minister take it? Would he get mad and blow his top? Or would he stay cool?. Certainly, the mention of Manser’s name would spoil the party. I paced up and down, past the two tables of local journalists who were happily listening to the speeches.

Just before midnight, I decided to head for the Sarawak club. The crowd at the Hornbill bar was in full swing. A few of the politicians who had sneaked out of the 18th anniversay dinner, joined me at this popular waterhole. It was song time for us. As I crooned Broery Marantika’s “Hati Ku Yang Terluka” (my broken heart), I prepared to surprise the man who had broken the heart of at least one Penan girl.

Surprised in his bedroom

At 2 a.m. I was prepared to pull Manser’s leg by saying that I was going to report him to the police. He had to leave Kuching, whether he liked it or not. Or face arrest. Before going up to his room I checked with reception and discovered that Markus Bahler was living in room 229 and not 218. With a few beers and some Duth courage, I knocked on his door.

“Bruno..Bruno..its me. Open the door..I want to talk to you.” It took some minutes before the door finally opened. Manser only had a towel around is waist and looked very tired. I entered and we spoke. The room door was wide open as we stood and talked.

“I’m sorry Bruno, but I have to report this matter to the authorities.” Manser retorted: “Please tell the Chief Minister that I bring a message of peace. If you report me to the police will be the one who has would have stopped me from helping the Penan. But even if you stop me this time I will come again one day. You cannot prevent me from coming back,” he said.

Frank Dialogue

We talked for while. I told him :”Manser, haven’t you considered that you are selfish? What do you want me to do? I’m now a goverenment servant...now you say ou want to fly around the Chief Minister’s house... what do you expect me to do? Just keep quiet? I have a reponsibility to my boss!!!”

I was a bit annoyed and said:”So now you want me to keep quiet so that you can become famous.” I then prepared to leave but Manser called back softly in his Swiss accent;”Come on James..let us talk more..”

But he needed not worry because by then I had made up my mind that I would not report him to the authotities. Manser then made an unjustified statemrnt:”I mean that you once betrayed me at Long Seridan. You can be a Judas and I will go to jail and after I am released, I will come again.” It was no use reasoning with Manser. Somehow I felt sorry for this dear misguided soul.

His father had died two weeks before Manser’s 45th birthday and really wanted to meet the Chief Minister. Manser felt he could trust me and deliver his wish. After all I was his friend? But my mind was spinning. Maybe it was the drinks. Maybe it was the events of the day?

Last chance for Manser

Once I settled down, I teased:”I give you till tomorrow morning. You get out of the hotel now. If the place is swarming with police early in the morning, don’t blame me.This is the last time i’ll do anything for you,” I said remembering how I had persuaded the Chief Minister to allow me to use a helicopter to “rescue” a Swiss shepherd who was stranded in the jungle in 1986.

I added:”This is your last time here. Please don’t come again! Please don’t tell me anything more. I don’t want to know about your plans. I am not interested in your games. Just leave me alone. And don’t come back to Sarawak.” He played along:””Okay then, this is the last time we meet. From now on we cut off contact.”