The Penan are a nomadic aboriginal people living in Sarawak and Brunei. They are one of the last such peoples remaining.^[1] The Penan are noted for their practice of 'molong' which basically means never taking more than necessary. Most Penan were nomadic hunter-gatherers until the post-World War II missionaries settled many of the Penan, mainly in the Ulu-Baram district but also in the Limbang district. They eat plants, which are also used as medicines, and animals and use the hides, skin, fur, and other parts for clothing and shelter. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... State motto: Bersatu, Berusaha, Berbakti State anthem: Ibu Pertiwiku Capital Kuching Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Yang di-Pertua Negeri Abang Muhammad Salahuddin  - Ketua Menteri Abdul Taib Mahmud History    - Brunei Sultanate 19th century   - Brooke dynasty 1841   - Japanese occupation 1941-1945   - British control 1946   - Accession into Malaysia 1963  Area  - Total 124,450... For other uses, see Sabah (disambiguation). ... East Kalimantan (Indonesian: Kalimantan Timur abbrv. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Communities of nomadic people move from place to place, rather than settling down in one location. ... Indigenous peoples are: Peoples living in an area prior to colonization by a state Peoples living in an area within a nation-state, prior to the formation of a nation-state, but who do not identify with the dominant nation. ... State motto: Bersatu, Berusaha, Berbakti State anthem: Ibu Pertiwiku Capital Kuching Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Yang di-Pertua Negeri Abang Muhammad Salahuddin  - Ketua Menteri Abdul Taib Mahmud History    - Brunei Sultanate 19th century   - Brooke dynasty 1841   - Japanese occupation 1941-1945   - British control 1946   - Accession into Malaysia 1963  Area  - Total 124,450... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Two Mormon missionaries A missionary is traditionally defined as a propagator of religion who works to convert those outside that community; someone who proselytizes. ... Medicine is the science and art of maintaining andor restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of patients. ...

The Penan today

Today the Penan number around 10,000; around 350-500 are nomadic (figures from Survival International.^[2] They have settled into small settlements, usually based around a village 'longhouse', typical of other tribes of Sarawak's interior. Some, typically the younger generations, now cultivate rice and garden vegetables but many still rely on their nomadic diets of sago (from the jungle palm), jungle fruits and their prey which usually include wild boar, barking deer, mouse deer but also snakes (especially the Reticulated Python or kermanen), monkeys, birds, frogs, monitor lizards, snails and even insects such as locusts. Since they practice 'molong', they pose little strain on the forest: they rely on it and it supplies them with all they need. They are outstanding hunters and catch their prey using a 'lepud' or blowpipe, made from the Bilian Tree (superb timber) and carved out with unbelievable accuracy using a bone drill. The darts are made from the sago palm and tipped with poisonous latex of a tree found in the forest which can kill a human in a matter of minutes. Everything that is caught is shared as the Penan have a highly tolerant, generous and egalitarian society, so much so that it is said that the nomadic Penan have no word for 'thank you' (However, 'jian kinin' is typically used in the settled communities.)The Penan people are quite strange. weridys they are. muhaaa. can you beleive my geography teacher made me look up these people. its such hard work. In archaeology and anthropology, a long house or longhouse is a type of long, narrow single room building built by peoples in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe and North America. ... http://www. ... For other uses, see Rice (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758 The Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) is the wild ancestor of the domesticated pig. ... Species 10 species, see text Muntjac are deer of the genus Muntiacus, also known as Barking Deer. ... The four species of chevrotain, also known as mouse deer, make up the family Tragulidae. ... // Binomial name Python reticulatus Schneider, 1801 The Reticulated Python (Python reticulatus), with a maximum recorded length 33 feet [1], is the longest existing snake species. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... For other meanings of the word Locust, see Locust (disambiguation). ... A blowgun or blowpipe is a simple weapon consisting of a small tube for firing light projectiles, or darts. ... Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill Timber is a term used to describe wood, either standing or that has been processed for use—from the time trees are felled, to its end product as a material suitable for industrial use—as structural material for construction or wood... Binomial name Cycas revoluta Thunb. ... The skull and crossbones symbol (Jolly Roger) traditionally used to label a poisonous substance. ... For other uses, see latex (disambiguation). ... Egalitarianism is the moral doctrine that equality ought to prevail among some group along some dimension. ...

Very few Penan live in Brunei any more, and their way of life is changing due to pressures that encourage them to live in permanent settlements and adopt year-around farming^[1].

Penan resistance to deforestation in Sarawak

The Penan came to national and international attention when they resisted logging operations in their home territories of the Baram, Limbang, Tutoh and Lawas regions of Sarawak. Since both the settled, semi-nomadic and nomadic Penan communities were and are reliant on forest produce, they were hit hard by the large scale logging operations that encroached on their traditionally inhabited territories. The logging caused the pollution of their water catchment areas with sediment displacement, the loss of many sagopalms that form the staple carbohydrate of Penan diet, scarcity of wild boar, deer and other game, scarcity of fruit trees and plants used for traditional forest medicine, destruction of their burial sites and loss of rattan and other forest products. Beginning in the late 1980s and continuing today the Penan and other indigenous communities such as the Iban, Kelabit and Kayan have set up blockades in an attempt to halt logging operations on their land. These succeeded in many areas but the efforts were hard to sustain and ended in large scale clashes between the indigenous communities and the state backed logging companies, supported by the police and Malaysian army. The confrontations ended with several deaths, many injuries and large scale arrests of indigenous people. Many of the detained reported being beaten and humiliated while in custody. An independent Sarawakian organisation IDEAL documented such claims in a 2001 fact finding mission entitled Not Development, but Theft. It has been suggested that Sabudana be merged into this article or section. ... Genera Calamus Calospatha Ceratolobus Daemonorops Eremospatha Eugeissonia Korthalsia Laccosperma Metroxylon Myrialepis Oncocalamus Pigafetta Plectocomia Plectomiopsis Raphia Zalacca Zalacella Rattan (from the Malay rotan), is the name for the roughly six hundred species of palms in the tribe Calameae, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Australasia. ... Ibans doing the ngajat A Modern Iban Longhouse in Kapit Division IBAN is also an acronym for International Bank Account Number The Ibans were formerly known during the colonial period by the British as Sea Dayaks and are a branch of the Dayak peoples of Borneo. ... The Kelabit, who have close ties to the Lun Bawang, are an indigenous race of the Sarawak highlands--the remotest and highest of Borneos mountains. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The Penan explicitly outlined their wants and requirements to the Sarawak State Government of Abdul Taib Mahmud in the 2002 Long Sayan Declaration. The confrontation between the Penan and Sarawak State Government has continued to the present day. Most recently the blockade setup by the Penan community of Long Benali was forcefully dismantled on 04/04/2007 by the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), with support from a special police force unit and overlooked by Samling Corporation employees. Samling Corporation had been granted a logging concession by the Malaysian Timber Certificate Council (MTCC) that included land traditionally inhabited by the Penan of Long Benali and despite their continued petitions against the concession ^[2]. Pehin Sri Dr. Haji Abdul Taib bin Mahmud (born 21 May 1936 in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia) is the current Chief Minister of Sarawak of Melanau descent. ...

Bruno Manser

Logging today

Logging continues to dominate politics and economics in Sarawak and the government's ambition on timber from proposed Penan ancestral land also continues. Malaysia’s rate of deforestation is the highest in the tropical world (142 km²/year) losing 14,860 square kilometres since 1990.

'Despite the (Malaysian) government's pro-environment overtones, the… government tends to side with development more than conservation.' Rhett A. Butler

The government's defence of large scale logging as a means to economic development has also been challenged as unsustainable, indiscriminate of indigenous rights, environmentally destructive and marred in invested interests, corruption and cronyism ^[3]. Prominent examples of this have been highlighted by the fact that the Ex Minister for Environment and Tourism Datuk James Wong was also one of the state's largest logging concessionaires. Most recently, the Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud himself is under investigation by Japanese Tax Authorities for corruption over RM32 Million in timber kickbacks allegedly payed to his family company in Hong Kong in order to lubricate timber shipments ^[4]. Such allegations are not new, as Malaysia Today claimed in 2005: Pehin Sri Dr. Haji Abdul Taib bin Mahmud (born 21 May 1936 in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia) is the current Chief Minister of Sarawak of Melanau descent. ...

There is often a mutually beneficial relationship between logging companies and political elites, involving the acquisition of large private wealth for both parties through bribery, corruption and transfer pricing, at the expense of public benefit through lost revenues and royalty payments and at the expense of social, environmental and indigenous communities' rights...The awarding of concessions and other licences to log as a result of political patronage, rather than open competitive tender, has been the norm rather than the exception in many countries. ^[5].

The future of the Penan

The future of the Penan has been a controversial subject since the confrontation between indigenous rights and state land use began. National and International Non-Governmental Organisations have been pressing for indigenous self-determination and respect for Penan human and land rights in accordance with UN International Labour Organisation Convention No 169 (1989) that removes “assimilationist” orientated international standards towards indigenous rights ^[6], a convention that Malaysia has not adopted. However, many Malaysian politicians have criticised NGOs for meddling in Malaysian domestic affairs and have accused them of attempting to inhibit development projects and keep the Penan 'undeveloped' and unassimilated into mainstream Malaysian society. Most see the Penan's lifestyle as uncivilised and antiquated, an example of this is a regularly recited poem by ex Minister for Environment and Tourism Datuk James Wong ^[7];

"O Penan - Jungle wanderers of the Tree
What would the future hold for thee?....
Perhaps to us you may appear deprived and poor
But can Civilization offer anything better?....
And yet could Society in good conscience
View your plight with detached indifference
Especially now we are an independent Nation
Yet not lift a helping hand to our fellow brethren?
Instead allow him to subsist in Blowpipes and clothed in Chawats [loincloths]
An anthropological curiosity of Nature and Art?
Alas, ultimately your fate is your own decision
Remain as you are - or cross the Rubicon!"

Many Malaysian organisations have joined the debate such as Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), Borneo Resource Institute (BRIMAS) and Rengah Sarawak. These grassroots organisations have supported indigenous rights and accused the Sarawak state government of repeated neglect of Sarwak's indigenous citizens and exploitation of Sarawak's natural resources. The opposition party Parti Keadilan Rakyat has also taken up the cause of the indigenous people's plight, claiming that they are "living lives of quiet desperation that now and then flares up in action that invites police attention, not to mention the notice of the rest of Malaysians who don't quite know what it is to be under the tyranny of geography." ^[8]. With the help of such NGOs many Penan communities have mapped their proposed ancestral lands and filed claims in Sarawak's courts in the hope of preventing and dettering illegal logging of their forests. An important precedent was set in 2001 when an Iban village of Rumah Nor won a landmark court victory against Borneo Pulp and Paper and the Sarawak Government for violating their Native Customary Right (NCR) or adat. The victory was recently publicised in a short documentary - Rumah Nor - by the Borneo Project. The verdict is being threatened by a Federal Court appeal by the State Government and Borneo Pulp and Paper. However, 19 Penan communities have now mapped their NCR and four are beginning litigation and in others the logging has more or less stopped in the territory where litigation is pending. Indigenous action has therefore shifted from the human blockades of logging roads to empowerment through the political and legal system and international publicity. Ibans doing the ngajat A Modern Iban Longhouse in Kapit Division IBAN is also an acronym for International Bank Account Number The Ibans were formerly known during the colonial period by the British as Sea Dayaks and are a branch of the Dayak peoples of Borneo. ...

Penan language

Their language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. It forms an own Group within the Borneo branch of the Borneo-Philippines languages. It may be somewhat related to the Kenyah Languages and might show some evidence of a non Austronesian substrat that might be related to Orang Asli type of language.^[9] The Penan language is linguistically interesting since it has six words for varying levels of "we" depending on how extensive the described group in the society is at the same time as having no word to describe the status of a domestic animal. This provides a good example in discussion of the subject-object problem in philosophy and its relation to language and power.the future is for these people is that we are sending an Australian girl named Skye who is going to be cooked and the penan can eat her if they are hungry. but they wont be able to because....she is too tough....so they will eat matt instead cause he is very easy meat that is so weak. but they wont like it coz he isnt tasty!!!! Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages used by some 351 million speakers. ... The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia. ... The Borneo-Philippines languages (or Outer Hesperonesian or Outer Western Malayo-Polynesian languages) are a branch of the Austronesian family which include the languages of the Philippines, much of Borneo, the northern peninsula of Sulawesi, and Madagascar, as outlined in Wouk and Ross (2002). ... The Kenyah are an indigenous peoples of Borneo, living in the remote Baram and Belaga regions in Sarawak, Malaysia and Kalimantan, Indonesia. ... Orang Asli is a general term used for any indigenous groups that are found in Peninsular Malaysia. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which can be theoretical or applied. ... In philosophy, the subject-object problem arises out of the metaphysics of Hegel. ... The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock as ordered by the court. ...

References

1. ^  Sarawak Peoples Campaign, Ian Mackenzie, accessed 2005-04-05
2. ^  Nomads of the Dawn, The Penan of the Borneo Rainforest, Chapter

• The Bruno Manser Fonds
• Survival International
• Rengah Sarawak News, One of the few places where unbiased, uncensored news about Sarawak's indigenous people can be found
• Like Our Own Children Wade Davis, Ian Mackenzie, Shane Kennedy, Pomegranate Artbooks, 1995, accessed 2005-04
• Clifford Sather, "Sea Nomads and Rainforest Hunter-Gatherers:Foraging Adaptions in the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago" in "Austronesians - Historical and Comparative Perspectives" p268, Canberra 1995/2006
• Malaysia Environmental Profile Rhett A. Butler

v • d • e Ethnic groups in Malaysia

Nationwide Banjarese • Malay • Chinese • Indian • Bugis • Eurasian • Javanese Demographics of Malaysia is diverse. ... Banjar (or Banjarese) is the name of an interior and coastal native ethnic group which settled in the Banjar region and in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia, the fourth biggest city on the island of Borneo. ... // Tunku Abdul Rahman - First Prime Minister of Malaysia Abdul Razak - Second Prime Minister of Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - Fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia Leftenan Adnan - military Hussein Onn - Third Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir bin Mohamad - Fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Tun Razak - Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Parameswara... The Bugis are the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi, the southwestern province of Sulawesi, Indonesias third largest island. ... Peninsular Malaysia Baba Nyonya • Malaccan Portuguese • Chitty • Malaysian Siam • Minangkabau • Orang Asli Peranakan, Baba-Nyonya () and Straits Chinese (; named after the Straits Settlements) are terms used for the descendants of the very early Chinese immigrants to the Nusantara region, including both the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java among other places, who have partially adopted Malay... The Kristang or Cristão people are an ethnic group of people, mostly in Malacca (Malaysia) and Singapore. ... The Chitty caretaker of the Chitty museum. ... Malaysian Siam are Malaysian people with Siamese origin/ ancestry. ... The Minangkabau ethnic group (also known as Minang or Padang) is indigenous to the highlands of West Sumatra, in Indonesia. ... Orang Asli is a general term used for any indigenous groups that are found in Peninsular Malaysia. ... Sarawak Bidayuh • Bisaya • Bukitan • Iban • Lun Bawang • Kayan • Kedayan • Kelabit • Kenyah • Melanau • Penan • Punan • Selako • Ukit The Bidayuh (formerly known as Land D(a)yak) is one of the main indigenous ethnic groups now settled in areas of southwest Sarawak and the adjacent areas of west Kalimantan. ... The Bisaya are an indigenous people of northwestern Borneo, in Malaysia, concentrated around the Limbang river in northern Sarawak state. ... Bukitan (also known as Baketan) is small tribe living the state of Sarawak, East Malaysia. ... The Ibans are a branch of the Dayak peoples of Borneo. ... The Lun Bawang is of a Dayak tribe found in Central Borneo. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Kedayan are an ethnic group residing in Brunei, Labuan, Sabah, and parts of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. ... The Kelabit, who have close ties to the Lun Bawang, are an indigenous race of the Sarawak highlands--the remotest and highest of Borneos mountains. ... The Kenyah are an indigenous peoples of Borneo, living in the remote Baram and Belaga regions in Sarawak, Malaysia and Kalimantan, Indonesia. ... The Melanau are a people who live on the island of Borneo, primarily in Sarawak, Malaysia, but also in Kalimantan, Indonesia. ... Punan is an ethnic group distinct or a minority ethnic here in Sarawak specially, unrelated to the Penan and also the other so called Punan found both in Sarawak and Kalimantan part of Borneo. ... Selako is a branch of Dayak people from the Borneo island. ... The Ukit is a tribe found in Sarawak, Borneo. ... Sabah Bajau • Brunei • Dusun • Ida'an • Kadazan • Lotud • Murut• Orang Sungai • Rungus • Suluk The Bajau are an indigenous ethnic group residing in Sabah, eastern Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and parts of Sarawak. ... Dusun is the name of a tribe or ethnic and linguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah. ... The Idaan are an ethnic group of Borneo, residing primarily in the Lahad Datu, Kinabatangan, and Sandakan districts on the east coast of Sabah, Malaysia. ... The Kadazan is the largest ethnic group in Sabah (a state in Malaysia) making up about one third of the population. ... The Lotud are an indigenous ethnic group residing in Sabah, eastern Malaysia on the island of Borneo. ... The Murut are an indigenous ethnic group inhabiting northern inland regions of Borneo. ... This article needs translation. ... The Rungus are an ethnic group of Borneo, residing primarily in northern Sabah in the area surrounding Kudat. ... Tausug is spoken in Sulu province in the Philippines It is a member of the Visayan language family. ...