The Penan

The Penan of Sarawak are traditionally a nomadic people. They comprise 16,000 inhabitants living in the interior of north Sarawak in the headwaters of two major rivers, the Rejang and Baram.

There are 19 settled or nomadic groups of the Eastern Penan. All the settlements are connected by kinship. Most of the landscape is made up of moderately steep slopes. The area is covered with large trees containing wealthy timber stands, especially in the Magoh Valley slopes.

Weaving through the landscape are the rivers, which allow the Penan to determine precise locations. Rivers are akin to streets in a city.

Rivers have stories to tell and keep records of past events. For instance, the right bank tributary of the Marong River is called Broken Quiver River after the quiver of a hunter mysteriously disintegrated. In the neighbouring Apoh river, a tributary was named Ba’ Adin after Donald Hudden a popular district officer.

Parts of the rivers, such as rapids and pools, are given particular names. For instance, just below the confluence of the Kuba’an and Tutoh is a lovely pool with lots of fish. It was named for a high-ranking government official who chanced to see him cast his net there.

Rivers are also named after features of the landscape. These include trees, plants, animals birds and events. A tributary of the Ubong is named Ba’Batu Bala, a river of red stones. The true left bank tributary of the Marong is named Ba’Jakah after the Jakah palms that grow there. Two streams upriver are called Ba’Babui Megut after a hairless wild boar caught some generations ago. The right-hand tributary of the same Marong River is named Ba’Tevaun after the number of helmeted hornbills that frequent the area.

There are two land features that constantly creep into Penan conversations: berusu’ (hilltop) and sawa a depression between two hills. The eastern Penan like to build their campsites on hilltops. The trees are shorter and sparse, so they build their camp without large branches falling on them. It is a cooler and breezy location with spectacular views, “It’s so lovely to hear the call of the gibbon in the early morning when you are on top of the hill.”

Monkeys play a role in warning the people of possible attacks. They are separated from their mothers when they are very young and are well looked after. These monkeys are very sensitive to movements and alert people to visitors on their way to camp.

The disadvantage of a camp on a hill is that one is far away from a water source. The author went down to the foot of a hill to bathe, only to find out he needed another bath on his arrival at the top.

If there is no suitable hilltop in the area, the other choice is a sawa. The advantage is that it is close to a water source and one does not have to carry a huge wild boar up the hill. However, when there is a hilltop with enough room for a camp, the Penan always build it there.

The hilltops and sawa are also the place for burial. Kusin Ungo, a prominent Penan was buried in the Sawa’Bila in the Ubong and is sometimes referred to by locals as the later Kusin Ungo sawa. The designation of a sawa for a person’s name is sometimes used as a genealogical reference. The Penan have a strong prohibition against mentioning the name of the deceased and instead the location of his burial, one uses as his name.

There are numerous jungle trails linking the various Penan settlements. The Penan and the Kelabit say that in the past these paths were used to visit relatives and children from the Long Sheridan walked about a week from their Longhouse to Bario for their primary education.

Along these trails, one finds resting places or lasan located on hilltops or knolls. In some of these, wooden benches have been prepared for passerbyes to sit on.

Strewn across the nomadic Penan landscape are the sign sticks or oroo. Messages are given by the way the stick is shaved. The number of shaves and the distance between the shaves indicate the meaning as understood by the community. Each conveys a different meaning

Oroo sakit placed on the footpath indicates danger such as a wasp’s nest and a diversion is indicated. Oroo penusa indicates a sick person or a person in need of food. Oroo tebai is an invitation to eat food, such as when a wild boar is caught. Oroo meta indicates warning such as rock overhang.

Nomadic Penan live in lean-tos they call lamin. When they move, new lamin is built and the former lamin site is called la’a. La’a is not forgotten, and a new camp can be built on the site or near it. This la’a shows the Penan have a hold on the land.

Nomadic Penan move within a home territory that could have, for example, river systems as boundaries. As they migrate within this boundary, they leave numerous La’a over the landscape. This system shows the Penan have a marked boundary to their ancestral land.

Tana’ pengurip is the land which provides life, food and other resources that they collect and barter or convert into handicrafts for domestic sales. The Penan stake a claim to forest resources such as wild sago, rattan, fruit trees, a wild rubber plant, various species of useful trees such as tajem trees that provide poison for their blowpipes, trees to make blowpipes, to build boats and to make coffins. Clusters of wild sago and stands of rattan are two of the most important resources that the Penan would stake claim to. All of these serve as evidence of former occupation of rights to the area and the resources.

Molong means to foster a resource for the future. For example, an individual may extract the mature trees of sago but conserve the bud for the future. They also rotate their harvest of sago from one clump to another such that it allows for the regeneration of a previously harvested clump. Penan emphasized this point by saying, “If we don’t molong the sago, and allow indiscriminate harvest, we will not have any more sago in the future.”

Tawai binds the group to the landscape. The concept is similar to Walden’s Pond, Twain’s Mississippi River and the feeling one gets when viewing a seaside. Other examples, would be the return to a childhood home or university. The experiences connect the past with the present.

The forest is the abode of numerous spirits, both good and bad. One detested spirit is the ungap. It is described as hideous and has the habit of frequenting graves. It can cause harm to humans, but what the Penan really detest is its ability to frustrate human’s ability to find food. Furthermore, it likes to hide game by preventing the dogs from catching the scent of a wild boar.

The forest deserves respect, for it is the abode of numerous forest spirits. For example, Sungan is the spirit of the salt lick. Pegi is the spirit of the mountain range, bale’ pelamau is the spirit of open space. Penan are aware of the nature of the forest, and it is inadvisable to make any unnecessary noise, spit or urinate near a place that may be the abode of a spirit. It is a place of silence. One should not erect a hunting hut around a sungan as such it intrudes on the domain of the bale’ sungan. Any transgression invites the wrath of the supernatural.

Langub, Jayl Making Sense of the Landscape :Eastern Penan Perspectives in Sarawak Museum Journal, December 2011