Emerging from the forest into a material world

PENAN headman Belulak Seng, who is in charge of the Batu Bungan settlement located a stone's throw away from the Mulu airport at the Mulu National Park in Sarawak, stays connected with the outside world through his mobile phone.

Previously he and the other Penans were semi-nomadic, roaming the national park to forage and harvest non-timber forest products.

However, now the tribesfolk cultivate vegetables, keep animals and sell Penan handicrafts to tourists visiting their village.

They live in a 28-door longhouse set against a scenic backdrop of limestone crags by the Melinau River, leading to the World Heritage Mulu Caves.

"Now we have a more routine lifestyle and stable income. We can stay in touch with our children studying at a boarding school (SK Tutoh Apoh) in Long Panai, about three hours boat ride downstream," Belulak said through an interpreter.

Some of the Penan youths there are employed at the national park as well as the Royal Mulu Resort, whose hotel guests are mainly eco-tourists from Europe and Australia.

"Thank you for coming and taking a peek on how we live and in helping us overcome problems in the future," he told a visiting delegation of European timber trade representatives during a familiarisation trip organised by the Sarawak Timber Development Corporation (STIDC) and the Malaysian Timber Council (MTC).

Belulak and his community's way of life is a stark contrast compared with the gloomy picture painted by some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that the Penans, with an estimated population of 10,000, are facing an uncertain future as their native forest habitat are being depleted by logging activities.

The fate of the Penans has been a controversial subject ever since they resisted logging operations on their home turf, including Baram, Limbang, Tutoh and Lawas, since the 1990s.

Like many local indigenous communities who live in the areas where timber companies operate, Belulak was also wary that the ongoing logging activities at the back of his longhouse were a bit too close to comfort.

Nonetheless, a bigger priority for the Penan chief and the 300 villagers is clean water, electricity and clinics.

MTC London director Sheam Satkaru noted that the conflict between indigenous rights and state land use is a highly complex issue which has brought international attention to the Penans, especially due to the global publicity provided by the Bruno Manser Foundation.

She said because they lived in the forest, the assumption was that the logging industry was driving them out of the native homeland. This perception was pursued by Bruno Manser, an environmental activist and self-proclaimed champion of the Penan's plight during the 1990s.

The tribe was in the limelight as victim again recently over allegations of sexual harassment against their women by workers of a major timber company.

Satkaru told Malaysian news agency Bernama that the representatives from emerging timber markets as well as the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy and Greece, were all satisfied with the explanation they sought during a dialogue with the Penan villagers.

Satkaru explained that the MTC's objective is to correct the negative perception by communicating through seminars, newsletters, reports and articles, bringing responsible foreign representatives from the timber industry, NGOs and media so they get a feel of the rainforest and a better understanding in terms of the needs for conservation and sustainable forest management going hand-in-hand.

Christoph Rullman, the managing director of the German Association for the Protection of Forests and Woodlands was impressed with the government's efforts to put Penan children in schools and assimilate the semi-nomadic people with the rest of the society.

Having read much about Malaysia, including topics such as illegal logging, reviews by MTC and international environmental conservation organisations like the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) and Greenpeace, he said he was actually very surprised to see the "seemingly endless" green canopy of forest on the 30-minute flight from Miri to Mulu.

"I totally can understand that this is a big issue for the Malaysian government because we would do the same as well.

"From the European point of view, it is a treasure and something so unique because you still have these people living in the forest.

"There is a fear that if they (the Penan) develop, they will lose their cultural background but you have to develop them otherwise they would not have a chance to survive in modern times...

"You can't actually lock them somewhere in the forest," he said.

For Samling Global Limited, the Sarawak-based timber company listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, social responsibility is an integral part of its operations apart from subscribing to sustainable practices.

Its Head of Corporate Communication, Cheryl Yong, said it has been a practice for the indigenous people, notably the Penan, to put up blockades as a signal that they wish to negotiate and inform the company of their needs.

So far 149 villages in Baram, Lawas, Bintulu and Belaga had benefited from the company's community outreach programme, including the construction of Penan service centres as well as basic amenities and infrastructures.

The programme also focuses on "No" to slash and burn and "Yes" to agriculture.

Bernama