Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Are We Better Than the Penans?

It seems certain people are not sensitive enough to different cultures and lifestyles. A very senior Sarawakian politician has rapped certain NGOs for "wanting the Penans to continue to live like orangutans".

Such a statement is uncalled for. If any government wants to bring progress to nomadic peoples, it should not be by force. The government concerned too should not encroach or allow outsiders to encroach traditional hunting and farming grounds.

Progress will come to the Penans through education. For that to happen, there should be easy access to schools, learning materials and other related infrastructures.

We don't just bulldoze through a forest, tell the people they are backward and then build houses as we like and ask the people to live there and be thankful. What about their age old lifestyles? It should be up to them to change them or transform them to fit into a more modern world.

By indirectly implying that their lifestyle is like orangutans, we are not only insulting them but ourselves too. Are our lifestyles, practices and cultures better than the Penans?

If yes, why are there babies being dumped, people being detained for having different beliefs, atomic bombs being thrown over cities and so on.

Those who look down upon the Penans should take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Ignorance" is the main object that blinded the power greed leaders, in addition of manipluating some narrow-minded religion ideas... which creates the insulting words...