Location 

The search of our tribes lead us to the rainforest of Borneo, Malaysia (South-East Asia) where our tribe live. The Borneo rainforest is the oldest rainforest in the world, 130 years old. It is home for more than 15,000 of flowering plants with 3,000 types of trees, 221 mammals and 420 species of birds, and a tribe called Penan. It is also home for endangered species, such as the Bornean orangutan, Asian elephant, the Sumantra rhinoceros, Bornean cloud leopard, Dayak fruit bat, etc.

Climate

The Borneo rainforest, like every other rainforests, is rather humid due to the rainfall it receive cause by the its hot and wet climate, the sort of climate found near the equator. The land and sea receive sunlight and heat directly from the sun and when they are warm water evaporates into the air. Warm air can hold lots of vapour but as air rises it cools. As warm meets cold, condensation takes place and form droplets, then cloud forms. Clouds then produce rain. It rains for more than 90 days a year. The minimum normal annual rainfall is about 1750-2000 mm (68-78 inches). Even though the forest contains a huge amount of trees and living things, its soil is quite poor and trees grow due to the high amount of rain. Temperature also occurs in the growth of trees as the temperature rarely get higher than 34 Celsius degrees or drops below 20 Celsius degrees.

 

The Penan of Malaysia

The Penan is a nomadic group of hunter-gatherer. They are one of the last group, or tribe, in the South-East Asia region. There are about 10,000 of them living in the Malaysian state of Sarawak and Borneo.

 

Lifestyle

The Penan is very organise as there is a headman, respect is given to the elder. As logging affects their natural living territories, the Penan divide themselves into groups of 40 to move around in search for sago palm. Monthly, or so, the Penan move from their old selap (huts) and sago supplies to another patch of forest. They carry their possessions in strong backpacks made from rattan (taken from palm trees) and even little children have to help the elder carry. Their selap (huts) is made from poles tied together with rattan strips and floor is designed to be four-feet off the ground. There are always two racks made from timber for storing cooking equipments and drying firewood. Each family have a large hut for living and one smaller one for sleeping. Their roof is especially made from a material called tarpaulins, not from giant palm leaves like they used to. One thing to be noted about the Penan is their practice of 'molong', which means they never take more than needed.

Hunting

The Penan life rely on their produce on hunting and farming. Hunters develop a equipment known as the "lepud"  or  blowpipe, made from the Bilian tree and curved with a bone drill. Their darts are made from sago palm and are tipped with deadly poisonous latex from the Tajem tree, which kills a man in less than 3 minutes. Their preys are various from the "giants" like wild boar, barking deer to reptiles like reticulated python, monitor lizard and also birds, monkeys and frogs. When hunting, Penan hunters carry with them two knives. One is called the poeh is large and used frequently. The darhad, the much smaller knife, is used for cutting meat, sharpening darts and some other works. They also develop their own sign language, which use materials around them like twigs, branches, etc, and is known as very complicated. If they leave a bent twig stuck in the trail, it is "we go this way" but a complex arrangement of cut twigs, sticks and folded leaves symbolise the state of their hunting or their mood.

 

Farming

From generations to generations, the Penan cultivate rice, garden vegetables and jungle fruit as part of their precious meals and to support their life in such condition.

 

Clothing

The Penan have some rather colourful clothing. Their traditional dress, mostly worn by elders, is made from chawats (loin cloths). They also have accessories such as bands around their legs and wrists and large holes in their earlobes

Religion

The Penan follow the religion of animism, a belief that there is no different between the spiritual and physical world. Souls and spirits exist, not only in living creatures but also in the non-living things. In the view of animism, human is equal footing with other animals, plants and natural forces. People believe that animals are human's relatives and worship them as gods or super-beings. Since the 1930s lots of Penan go the way of Christianity and become Christian. They were told that Christianity is protection and it is the act of prayer that counts.

Western Influence

Western influence and deforestation is making the Penan struggle since the 20th century. They gain attention from the nation and worldwide when resisted the logging operation in their home territories in Sarawak, Malaysia, and started struggling when the Indonesian and Malaysian governments used the Borneo's territories for commercial logging. The logging and deforestation affected the Penan, semi-nomadic and nomadic, in different ways. The logging polluted their food and water which lead to the result that many sago palms can't survive. The logging also polluted other precious trees which are used for building houses, traditional medicine, hunting, etc. Due to deforestation lots of rare plants and animal species are loss and leads to the result of extinction. The extinction affected the lifestyle of the Penan and lots of young generations leave the troops, leaving their home behind.

Threats

Not just the deforestation is affecting the Penan but the threats that they are facing with the 21st modern life. The influence of the western civilisation attach on the Penan young generations and persuade them to leave their troop. Nowadays in the number of 10,000 Penan people only 200 are still living in their nomadic way. Penan communities also concern about deforestation as it affects their home in many ways and steals from them their natural way of living. A quote from a Penan man in 1987: "The army and the police came to our blockade and threatened us and told us to take down our barricade. We said we are defending our land. It is very easy for you as easy for you as soldiers and policemen. You are being paid. You have money in your pockets. You can buy what you need, rice and sugar. You have money in the bank. But for us, the forest is our money, this is our bank. This is the only place where we can find food." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penan_people. There are organisations and people debating on indigenous rights and state land use. National and international Non-government organisations are fighting for the rights of the Penan, something that hasn't adopted by Malaysia. Many Malaysian politicians accuse that the Penan is "undeveloped" and don't understand the concept of the Malaysian society. The Penan future depends upon themselves and the hands of Malaysian politicians.

Affection of logging

The Malaysian Government, despite the fact about indigenous' land rights, allow logging to take place in particular regions where Penan communities live such as Sarawak, Brunei and Borneo. Since 1990, Malaysia has lost 14,860 square kilometres of forest, the rate of 142 kilometres square each year. 'Despite the (Malaysian) government's pro-environment overtones, the… government tends to side with development more than conservation.' - Rhett A. Butler. National and International Non-government organisations have asked the Malaysian Government to adopt the law about indigenous' land rights and stop deforestation at its very high rate in Malaysia. Logging kills precious trees in the forest and 'steal' the nomadic way of living of the Penan. This is alarming Penan communities all over South-East Asia.

United Nations got involved

Reports have been sent to the United Nations that the Penan had experienced harassment, racism and was chased away from their territories, particularly in Sarawak and Sabah. Also, the Malaysian government had admitted dishonourable crimes made by logging workers and their untrustworthy side upon the Penan. The United Nations turned 9th August to the International's Day of the World's Indigenous People, to remember approximately 370 million indigenous citizens' lost because of unfair and untrust people and the accuse of 'development'. This day, we don't just remember the Penan of Malaysia but also the Dongria Kondh Adivasi of India, and other countries such as Cambodia, Mexico, Guatemala, etc. For a very long time, the United Nations have been making sure the rights of the indigenous people are respected at all time. This included social and cultural rights, land rights, etc. In June 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council affirmed that companies have responsibilities to respect human rights and was adopted as the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The United Nations declared on Thursday 13th of September, 2007, the indigenous have the rights to live and develop just like any other human beings on Earth. The majority of 144 countries say yes, four votes say no (Australia, New Zealand, Canada and U.S.A) and 11 abstentions. Malaysia is one of the country that have voted yes but have not adopted the rights for the Penan and other indigenous people living in the Malaysian land.

What has the Malaysian government and organisations do?

Local governments had been receiving reports on logging companies and their the conflict happened between them and the Penan. The Sarawak State Government had given permission to logging companies without notifying the Penan and this was being disrespectful to their territories and the Native Customary Rights. With much more and much more reports the truth has always been hidden and the Penan had always spoken to the deaf ears. Logging companies and other dishonest people were titled as 'thief' when a large amount of Penan citizens was arrested, several death, many was injured and the lost that young Penan generations have to experienced. In 1987, the Sarawak State Government passed on a law that put an end to the conflict and stop the forest from bleeding for a while. WWF-Malaysia, a Malaysia non-government organisation, is helping for Malaysia's own benefit as they help the Penan with money, tried and stop deforestation in all ways and to turn Malaysia to the rich land it used to be. Following WWF-Malaysia's path, Friends of Earth Malaysia (Sahabat Alam) is working hard and supporting indigenous people against deforestation and making sure the rights of indigenous people are respected everywhere. 

How can we help the Penan?

Despite the thought of anyone, the Penan need our help and we can help them by lots of ways. We can donate through websites of organisations. We can let others know about the Penan, the threats they are having and what they are experiencing. We can let people knows that the Penan really need us and we can change things, we can really change the way things are. We can support the life of Penan through charities, social sites, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc, and we can also spend little money, little change on some of the funds, knowing that our help is precious. We can do things that sometimes we don't think we can. We can be a great help.