LUSONG LAKU (Belaga): When Ulu Rajang member of parliament Datuk Billy Abit Joo first came here as a 13-year-old, this Penan settlement deep in the interior of Sarawak was a paradise to him.
The upper Sungai Linau, which passes by the settlement, was full of fish and the forest was a huge garden.
When he returned 40 years later, what Abit saw shocked him.
"It's a paradise lost," he said.
All around the settlement, the scarred forest is a testament to what logging has done to the area. The sides of the hills and mountains have been carved out to make roads, timber storage areas and logging camps.
Landslides are common occurrences, dumping mud into Sungai Linau.
"It's just not possible now for the Penans to go into the forest to look for food. There are very few animals.
"Even if there are, they would have to go deep into the forest for them."
Destruction of the forest -- the source of food for the Penans -- was a fact that Maria Hassan Sui of the state Planning Unit in the Chief Minister's Department conceded in her briefing to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, who visited the Penan service centre adjacent to the settlement earlier this month.
Maria said the extraction of timber had seriously threatened the food source of the Penans.
"It affected what they can get from the forest.
"Logging has also polluted the river."
Abit said the Penans did not farm or rear livestock for food.
"Whenever they want meat, they will just go into the forest and hunt for it.
"When they want shoots or other edible plants, they will also go into the forest and collect them.
"That's why you don't see a rubber plantation, you don't see a cocoa tree and you don't see any kind of farm here (in Lusong Laku)."
Food shortages will likely be a common yearly occurrence for the state's most backward ethnic group. When they run out of rice, they cannot just go to the nearest store to buy it or other foodstuff such as sugar as they have no money.
Already categorised as hardcore poor, they have no source of income.
Even if they do, the high cost of rice and other foodstuff put these items out of their reach.
Their response to the agricultural programmes introduced to them by the Agriculture Department to make them food-sufficient has been lukewarm.
Pandikar Amin, before he took the 10-hour journey here from Bintulu, was told that one of the problems getting the Penans into the mainstream of society was that they were "extremely difficult to change" and were entrenched in their way of life.
"They will not open up nor are they receptive to new ideas to change their way of life," Maria said in her briefing.
"They are not willing to give up and they have also failed to take up the various offers and opportunities provided by the government in the many programmes to improve their livelihood."
Despite these difficulties, Abit said the Penans could still be helped.
"However, it takes a special solution to solve a special problem.
"The government cannot adhere to general guidelines. They have to look at other ways, ways that could produce results.
"What is good for other ethnic groups will not necessarily be good for the Penans. And most importantly, we shouldn't impose our values on them."
Abit said if the Penans were reluctant to plant vegetables for food, maybe the government should not force it on them just yet.
"What about teaching them to cultivate sago? After all, sago is a tree they are very familiar with and it is also their staple diet, not rice or vegetables."
Abit said if they could be taught to plant sago on a large scale, this could be their future source of income.
Getting the Penans into the mainstream of society is a mammoth task without a doubt. The task to get them to open up their minds is even harder as few Penan children ever reach secondary school.
After primary school, parents are reluctant to allow their children to continue with their secondary education, as the schools are usually very far away and hard to reach.
In the case of children of Lusong Laku, the nearest secondary school is in Belaga, which is eight hours by road.
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