Manser diaries donated to Basel museum

Bruno Manser talking about the plight of the Penan in 1994 Keystone / Str

The diaries of Bruno Manser, a Swiss environmental and human rights activist, have been donated to the Museum der Kulturen in Basel.

The ethnologist became known far beyond the borders of Basel for his passionate but also perilous commitment to the Penan people of Borneo and the threatened tropical forests they called home. Manser went missing in 2000 and was officially declared dead in 2005.

He left behind 16 diaries in which he recorded his observations and his commitment through texts and drawings. Manser’s family has now donated these books as well as other documents to the Museum der Kulturen Basel.

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Bruno Manser in the Swiss Alps in 1982 Bruno Manser Fonds

In 1984, Manser went to Borneo for the first time. bmf

He was looking for the nomadic Penan, who live in the rainforest. BRUNO MANSER FONDS BASEL

Bruno Manser in a 1986 portrait by Alberto Venzago Bruno Manser Fonds

Another shot by Venzago for a report in GEO magazine in 1986 Bruno Manser Fonds

Immense rainforest destruction bmf

Cabinet minister Ruth Dreifuss and Bruno Manser knitting sweaters for the Swiss cabinet in Bern in March 1993 bmf

Construction of a new gas pipeline in the northern part of Sarawak requires major cuts through the rainforest. bmf

Pictured in Bern in April 1993, Bruno Manser and Martin Vosseler went on a hunger strike to call for a Swiss embargo on tropical wood products. bmf

Manser returned to Europe regularly to campaign for the rainforest and its inhabitants. Keystone

The Penan blocking loggers in Sarawak, Malaysia, near the community of Long Ajeng Bruno Manser Fonds (Jeff Libman)

Bruno Manser as a Penan-like fisher and hunter bmf

A Penan woman feeds a hornbill, known as Metui in the Penan langauge. bmf

The late Ara Potong, leader of Ba Pengaran Kelian bmf

Bruno Manser with Penan leader Along Sega bmf

Peng Meggut from the Limbang region still lives as a nomad. bmf

Bruno Manser pictured in Sarawak in May 2000, shortly before his disappearance bmf

Twilight skies above the rainforest bmf

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Banned from Malaysia

Manser was working as a shepherd in Graubünden when he decided to move to Sarawak in 1984. He won the trust of the Penan, adopted their simple lifestyle, and ended up staying for six years before returning to Switzerland – from where he launched a tireless battle against the logging industry and its destruction of the jungle.

The Malaysian government was highly displeased with Manser’s activism, and banned him from the country – though he returned in secret more than once. To draw attention to his cause, Manser resorted to some extreme measures, such as a two-month hunger strike in front of the Swiss parliament and parachuting from a plane with a goat in his arms.

Today, the Basel-based Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) continues the work that Manser started on behalf of tropical forests. Its focus is on helping the Penan people in the Malaysian federal state of Sarawak.