
7days UAE
Tuesday 1 Sep, 2009
In the language of the nomadic Penan there is no word for forest, it is simply their universe, and its destruction is snuffing out the ancient lifestyle of this tribe, who are among the world’s last hunter-gatherers.
Wielding spears and dressed in loincloths, one small band who emerged from the Borneo jungles to tell their tale, said that encroachment by timber and plantation firms has made their already hard life impossible.
They said they are ready to stop roaming and settle in villages, giving weight to fears that the 300-400 Penan thought to still be nomadic may all soon descend on local populations, or even that their way of life is already extinct.
“Our problem is that there is just not enough to eat, there are no wild boar to catch any more,” said Sagong, the headman of the group. “The companies logged all the teak already, and now they are going to clear the land for palm oil plantations.”
The young chief had brought 15 of his people to a blockade against the timber and plantation companies.
“If that happens, we lose everything, we cannot survive this,” he said. “Yes it is sad to leave this life of roaming. But what can we do? We have to strive for the best for ourselves. It is our fate to face this challenge.”
A lean and muscular man in his 30s, Sagong said their last hope was to join the anti-logging campaign that has escalated recently in Sarawak state, on Malaysia’s half of Borneo, an island shared with Indonesia.
“I came here to man the blockade and safeguard the land,” he said at one of the barriers built of logs and bamboo, among seven constructed in the region in recent months to force the timber trucks to a halt.
The Penan of Sarawak, who are estimated to number about 10,000, had mostly abandoned their nomadic ways and settled in villages by the 1970s under the influence of Christian missionaries.
Even the settled Penan still retain a deep connection to the jungle, foraging for rattan, medicinal plants, fruits, and sago palm - a starchy staple. Wild game are hunted with finely crafted blowpipes and poison darts.
The Penan have been opposing logging for decades, but the spectre of bulldozers coming in to clear-fell what is left of the jungles has proved too much to bear.
Jayl Langub, an anthropologist from the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, said the nomadic Penan are being thrust into the modern world through contact with loggers, satellite TV, and the boarding schools where some send their children.
“It would be better if they made their own decision and settled at their own pace, but these changes are coming very rapidly and I think it just overwhelms them,” he said.
“However much they want to remain nomadic, the changes to the landscape mean it probably would not be possible for them to continue anyway... unless they live next to a national park, or unless areas are converted into reserves.”
On a sliver of hilltop not far from the blockade, Sagong’s tribe from the district of Ba Marong has constructed three sturdy open-sided huts, raised from the ground and built of saplings and bamboo lashed together with vines.
In a tropical downpour that drenched the canopy and turned the ground into mud, they sat serenely with their children - including a five-month-old baby - who, despite these most basic conditions were clean, dry and healthy.
As she played with a baby monkey that the family kept as a pet, Sagong’s daughter Nili smiled and shook her head when she was asked whether she liked this life in the rainforest. “I would like to go to school,” she said shyly.