Searching for a Path

In the past, everything was different. And as everything continues to change, we all face the question which road do we take into the future? Over 90% of the 130 million year old primary forests of Sarawak have been cut down. 50% of plant species never grow back. And a vast majority of the land has been converted into monoculture palm oil plantations. Many of the animals have run away and we Penan find it hard to live off the land. So what do we do next?

In the past when we lived nomadically, there was no leader. But when the “company” began deforesting our land, we were forced to move into the villages built by the government. The government made us choose a leader from our community. But because we didn’t have hierarchy before, we used the Malaysian term for headman — Tu’a Kampong. Now the government asks villages to plant palm oil trees or rubber trees. And they say they will pay us for the oil and rubber that they collect. But this has divided our communities. And many villages have split in half.

For many people, they feel desperate and hungry and this is seen as the way to improve their circumstances. But for others, they want to protect the forest around their village so the animals can return and so the jakah and uvut palm trees can grow. This has meant that many people in our villages now have big arguments. Many of these arguments have become so bad, that many people from the villages have left and started new ones.

So what do we do? For many of us, we resist. And we continue the fight for our homelands. We continue the fight for our forests. We continue hunting even though we have to ride further away. We continue teaching our ways to our children. We continue to protect the forest… it is the Penan way.

“Penan jaga tana, Tana jaga Penan.”
“The Penan protect the forest, the forest protects the Penan.”

“Hun ka’o kivo ko iteu awah, beh pu’un sagum kepeh.”
“When you only follow yourself, there won’t be a tomorrow again.”

Which path do you choose?