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Extracted from Malaysiakini
Penan culture zapped by satellite TV
As the roar
of heavy chainsaws echoes in the distance, 54-year-old Ajang Kiew, once a
nomadic Penan tribesman, wages a losing battle to save 
his culture in
The
environmental damage wrought by the timber companies that are cutting swathes
through Penan territory is not the only challenge faced by his people who now
mostly live in villages.
As the
loggers build roads through the once-impenetrable jungle to enable them to
extract the timber, they also open up access to the modern world - including
television, junk food and new ideas.
At the timber
camps and in Penan settlements, satellite televisions are now commonplace,
powered by electricity supplied through diesel generators or mini
hydro-electric pumps.
And Ajang
says that as the forest shield is cleared, the young Penans no longer have an
appetite for the natural environment or their ancient cultural traditions and
ways of life.
No
love for the forest
They prefer
pop music to the sounds of wild animals and insects, and crave for McDonalds
and Coke rather than the pulp of a sago palm, the staple diet of the Penan
which is eaten with meat from wild boar or barking deer.
"Yes I
want a school, a clinic, but we need the jungle to preserve our culture,"
Ajang says in the Long San region about 200km southeast of Miri, an oil-rich
coastal town in
"In my village in
Long Sayan, logging has destroyed the forest, including my ancestral
graves," continues Ajang, chairman of the Penan Association in
"If the
habitats and the jungle products disappear, our culture will also
disappear."
But
21-year-old Roland Allen, a Penan undergraduate student who attends university
in
"I like
to live in the town. I want to enjoy a modern lifestyle," he said during a
visit to his ancestral home of Long Main village, half an hour's helicopter
flight from Long San.
"We need
to sacrifice the forest to move on. Education is a powerful weapon. We need
roads. We need schools. We need medical clinics," he insisted.
Logging
by Samling
Just behind
Allen's house is a mini-hydroelectric pump sponsored by timber giant Samling
which generates electricity and powers a huge satellite dish.
Some 20
children from Long Main attend boarding school, trekking four hours through the
jungle to reach the nearest timber road near the town of
Samling's
plans to build a new road to Long Main have been halted by a blockade (right) mounted 
by Penans aimed at
protecting their forest.
The firm,
which is listed on the
Allen said
that without the road, life is difficult for the 150 residents of Long Main,
especially during the wet season when trekking through the forest or by river
becomes even more difficult.
Another young
man there, 22-year-old Paul John who came back to the village after becoming
unemployed, felt the same way.
"I help
my parents hunt for wild boar. I am happy here. But we have to change. We need
jobs. Life in the jungle is difficult. The Penans need to develop," he
said.
"Yes, I
enjoy pop music and whenever I want fun, I go into town for a drink and to
smoke." Drinking alcohol and smoking is banned in the village.
Ajang is
greatly troubled by the new generation's lack of interest in protecting the
forest.
Penan
blockades
In the past
he has himself organised blockades to prevent timber companies from carrying
out logging and has been jailed three times for his campaign.
As he leads a group of
journalists struggling along a wet and slippery jungle trail, Ajang's hunting
skills are on display as his eyes scan the wilderness and his sharp ears detect
any animal sound.
"Look,
that is a young petai plant," he says with a smile as he points out a
popular long bean-like vegetable that is eaten raw. "Over there, that is a
sago plant. This forest here is alive."
Just then a
barking deer hops out of the forest into a clearing and then quickly disappears
into the thick undergrowth which has grown back after timber giant
Samling logged the area.
As we climb
over fallen logs, carefully avoiding the blood-sucking leeches, Ajang kneels
down to the forest floor to identify the "iput" leave that is used to
heal body aches.
He laments
however that the "ipo" tree species, which produces latex used to
make traditional poison darts for blowpipes, has become scarce due to logging.
Samling insists that
they conduct selective logging, and only trees with commercial revenue are
felled while other plants like rattan and sago are left untouched.
It also uses
the logged area to promote eco-tourism - sponsoring locals to be trained as
guides, and helping bring in foreign tourists to visit waterfalls and villages,
and to witness traditional skills and culture.
Divorce
rate rising
The plight of
the Penan was made famous in the 1990s by environmental activist Bruno Manser,
who waged a crusade to protect their way of life and fend off the loggers.
He vanished
in 2000 - many suspect foul play.
Raymond Abin (right), of the Borneo Research
Institute in Miri, says Penan culture is being devastated.
"As they
are exposed to outside influence, social problems like
alcohol drinking is becoming a concern," he says.
Raymond says
the divorce rate is also rising, especially among Penan women who marry
outsiders who work for the logging companies.
"When
the timber companies complete their logging in one area, the workers then leave
behind their Penan family," he says.
Raymond says
there are at least 15,000 Penans in