FOSM talk on Penan community attracts over 50 participants
KUCHING: A talk on the Penans and their way of life that links closely to nature managed to draw more than 50 people at the 14 Chairs Room in the Old Courthouse here yesterday.
The session, run by the Friends of Sarawak Museum ( FOSM), was facilitated by Jayl Langub – an associate research fellow at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak ( Unimas), where he is engaged under the Institute of Borneo Studies.
According to Jayl, it is interesting to look at how the Penans lead a nomadic life and at the same time, harness the sustainable resources provided by the forest.
During the talk, he shared with the participants images of the Penans engaged in activities such as weaving baskets, processing sago and edible shoots as well as making darts out of the ` Tajem’ tree.
“Basically, we want to shed some light to the people on how the Penans live their nomadic life and more importantly, their relation with the forest and its resources.
“The practice of leaving footprints and also the idea of having a resource tenure system enable the Penans to establish a long-term relationship with the land as they move from one resource area to another within a specific river system or section,” he said.
On the Penan’s culture, Jayl pointed that such feelings and sentiments towards the natural landscape were being expressed and retold through oral narratives, from one generation to the next.
On how developments have affected the lives of Penans today, Jayl said the state government is working hard towards maintaining forest sustainability, and there are still interactions and efforts made for the betterment and benefit of this ethnic group.
“In my opinion, the Penans, much like the other races, are trying to adjust their lives to the current world; for me, they need to change and adapt as these changes are unavoidable,” he said, citing education as among the key platforms that could contribute to the Penans leading better lives.