MIRI: The only tool at hand to bring change and development to the semi-nomadic Penans is education, said a former councillor of Baram District Council Anthony Lawai Karing.
Lawai who runs a small village shop in Long San in ulu Baram said he is in daily contact with the Penans who comes to Long San from their nearby settlements.
"They would come to my shop to buy daily necessities such as sugar and salt. They usually come to Long San to send their children to the primary school and through my dealings with them I would encourage the Penan parents to continue sending their children to school, telling them the importance of education. These parents would sometimes stay for a week just to be near their young children. They stay at Umai Sakai just to accommodate visitors like them," said Lawai.
He was talking to the Borneo Post yesterday on pertinent issues affecting the Penans in the state.
"The only way to help the Penans to adapt to modern life and development is through education. Although, this method will not bear fruit immediately, over time the Penans will be on par with the rest of us," said Lawai.
He said it is a wasted effort to try to teach the Penans to change their way of life if their mindset is not changed.
"Spending millions of ringgit on this project, that project for the Penans won't work if their way of thinking is not changed through education. I give an example. One time, there was a project given to the Penans. They were told to do gotong royong to carry out the project. Instead, they ask the government officers, how much they are going to be paid for doing the gotong royong work. They refuse to do the work without pay. This kind of thinking needs to be change and the change will come through the younger generation who have been to schools and learn and taught things," explained Lawai.
He said he was pleased to note that more and more Penan parents are sending their children to the primary school in Long San and the drop-out rate is decreasing among them.
"I was told by the school there are 109 Penan children studying in the school, St. Pius primary school. There are at least 20 Penan students in the secondary school," said Lawai.
On Uma Sakai for the Penans in Long San, Lawai said he would seek the assistance of the district council to maintain the house.
"The Penan parents who stay at the house are living in darkness during the night. There should be an allocation for electricity supply for Uma Sakai in Long San," said Lawai. ENDS.

MIRI: The indigenous Kelabits of Long Seridan have at least four major events at the end of the year, including the famous Kelabit naming ceremony.
Their only problem is the only road leading to the longhouse has been cut off by a timber company operating in the area.
According to the son in-law of the community leader Penghulu Usop Raja, Tabari Maria the timber company cut off the road near their timber camp at Layun last April.
The cut-off point where the road becomes impassable is only 1 hour from the longhouse but from Miri the journey is about 7 hours.
"They deliberately cut off the road to make it impossible for vehicles to pass through. They alleged that the local people steal diesel from the camp which is unsubstantiated. How can they punish the whole community just based on mere suspicion that the local people are stealing from the camp? It could be done by anybody," said Tabari.
"We are appealing to the timber camp to repair the road for the sake of our people who are looking forward to go back at the end of the year to attend several major events taking place in the longhouse," said Tabari.