JUNE 7 — The Penan is one of the 200 (more or less) riverine and hill-dwelling indigenous Dayak people of Borneo; the third largest island in the world. About three quarters of the island is Indonesia’s Kalimantan; Malaysia’s Sarawak (biggest state) and Sabah occupy almost a quarter; with Brunei just about one per cent of Borneo’s land area.

Each ethnic subgroup has its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture. These Austronesian speaking peoples must have migrated here more than 20,000 years ago when the Southeast Asian landmass was not yet under water as it is today. As the sea rose, some Dayaks became seafarers too.

The Dayaks, like all the indigenous peoples from all over the world, are well known as warriors and there were of course inter-ethnic disputes which were and are frequently settled through warfare. In peace time or during harvesting seasons or ceremonies, most of them, perhaps take time to sing, dance, party, paint their bodies and their surroundings, cook, make fancy dresses, accessories and other objects.

The common artistic genius, native to most aboriginal tribes worldwide, is their individual basket and mat weaving techniques and materials. These often beautifully designed and woven objects have cultural, utilitarian and religious significance. The word art is not usually in their vocabulary as we know it.  To them art and utility are one.

In Sarawak, the Penan, besides being well known worldwide for their continuing blockades to stop international timber companies from encroaching into their ancestral land, illegally, and destroying their natural habitats and their environment, are outstanding craftsmen, especially weavers of baskets, bags, mats, etc. Their handicraft products are a pride of Sarawak. Many of these older objects have become expensive collectible ethnic art objects.

This small group of semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers are well respected for their sustainable harvesting practices, handed down from many generations. They will only harvest just enough sago, fruits, game, rattan and other forest resources for their immediate needs and take care not to deplete the natural source for their future needs. Greed is not in their culture.

The men are usually responsible for gathering the rattan and the bamboo from the surrounding forest. The women take over with splitting the materials into strips and then slowly shave the strips into various widths and lengths. Later these numerous lengths are either left to dry or soaked/dyed until soft and pliable to weave or plait into the many designs.

From the simple to the complex weaving and plaiting techniques, all these artists have a clear and sound native understanding of their purpose.  Most of these objects are for their own use; for ceremonies, for daily us to carry big or small things to and from the forest, to just store things or just the pleasure to lie down. But these are artworks as well.

Currently, many of these products are made for a growing market of tourists. For them, it’s a vital form of income. They need the money to buy their food. Deforestation by huge timber companies has slowly wiped out their natural source of food supplies.

For the Penans, the flowers, birds and fantastical creatures on their bags and mats are symbols of their forest secrets and legacy.

We have a shared evolutionary past, with more basic similarities than differences.  We’re all part warriors and artists. This may further prompt us to embrace them as our brothers and sisters. We’ll want them to have the same rights of survival and self-determination as the rest of us aspire to.

Today there are about 17,000 (according to Jayl Langub, Institute of East Asian Studies, and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak) Penan tribe members living in the forests of Sarawak. This minority and many other remote communities living deep in our forest are all fighting daily to safeguard their survival in their dwindling natural environment.

Hood Salleh, Institute for Environment and Development, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, has the last word: “Let’s hope the Penan’s sense of beauty and trust in their cosmology will eventually invoke for themselves an ethical fairness and that will blow away the black clouds of injustice hanging over them.”

To buy Penan and other ethnic products contact Gerai OA. Call Reita Rahim at + 60 19 751 8686 or email. 

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.