Up close and personal with Penan tribes

JACKY MCLAREN'S wildest dreams came true in late 2006 when the Biology teacher from Jerudong International School (JIS) won herself and a few friends a trip deep into the jungles of Sarawak, trekking from Long Lellang to Long Banga to get up close and personal with Penan tribes.

Jacky's arrival to Borneo five years ago might as well have been her ticket to paradise as she said that for a biologist to work on the island as it has the greatest diversity in the world second only to the Amazon rainforest. She was in New Zealand prior to that and already had a "burning desire" to visit the tribes there.

Jacky admitted that she did not know what to expect but had to brace herself when her guide told the group that they might have to eat anything, even monkeys. Fortunately, she only managed to have a taste of rat and dog.

She described the Penan's favourite food as a "wallpaper paste" from sago, which Bruneians know as Ambuyat. However, due to limited resources, they often have it raw, preferring it to rice as a staple food. Where some tribes are made to grow rise, eating it still proves to be a difficult transition.

Jacky pointed out that the race to identify plants to cure various diseases is on. The Penan are said to be one of the most knowledgeable tribes on the planet about the plants around them and how to use them for medicinal purposes. "The forest is their pharmacy," she quipped.

As different groups of Penan sometimes cross into one another's territories, she showed photos of how one group mark that they have entered another's. The use a system of sticks, branches and leaves to give information such as how many people are in the party and what they are hunting.

Another social aspect is how friends who visit would present a bangle made of wood as a sign of gratitude.

Pointing to one bracelet after another on a Penan woman's photo displayed on the screen, Jacky said that it was a way to say, "this was from one friend and this one is from another." It would be very similar to the Friends count one would find on a Friendster or a Facebook account.

A signature of the Penan are the lengthened earlobes stretched by weighted jewellery used by both men and women as a sign of beauty. But with the coming of education and development, the features, cultures and traditions belonging to the Penan could be seen as slowly dissipating into the jungle air. She mentions a seven-hour long fable that very few could retell it.

Jacky explained that some of the Penan have opted for cutting off their dangling lobes so that they do not stand out when they go to town. Pointing out how the Penan who find sharing a very important part of their culture, 'owning' very little material possessions, modernisation has made the youth 'want' and opt for becoming individuals rather than as a unit.

She went to say that many of the youth refuse to learn the old ways and have begun to lose respect of their elders because they could now speak English and there has even been the beginnings of stratification within settlements. The very fabric of their society seems to be unravelling and it seems to be beyond their control. They want a better future for their children so they send them to school but exposure to the modern world has also brought back certain 'ills' which they are not familiar with.

She said that a few friends and herself would be making another trip in July, this time to Long Keneng. They would be heading to a settlement of about 19 families, bringing cleaning materials, food, mosquito nets, clothes, household utensils and buckets, carpentry and gardening tools, seeds and supplies.

Jacky, who holds an Honours Degree in Agriculture and a Masters Degree in Horticulture, shared her experiences in her talk "Penan, Lost or Found?" with members of the Panaga Nature and History Society (PNHS) last June 22 in the Pelangi Room of the Panaga Club, Seria.

There were also authentic traditional Penan crafts up for sale, which she has been working hard to help sell back to the general public since her trip in 2006 in order to raise awareness of their culture and traditions.

The Brunei Times