Space of Belonging: Engaging the State in Borneo

Abstract

The Penan argue that their rights and attachment to the land are more than the mere felling of trees to open up land areas for cultivation to create native customary rights land. Their relationship with the landscape have turned hilltops and depressions between two connecting hills into campsites, thus giving these spaces a sense of residence. Their relationship with their rivers and streams is reflected through the naming of these tributary systems, names that are imbued with rooted histories and events narrated over generations. This paper provides an overview on how the Penan constantly navigate the values governing their ever-changing landscapes brought by external forces. In doing so, it charts the history of Penan struggles with state policies, logging activities, and how they assert their rights to their landscape by engaging with not only the state but also environmental and human rights activists, international non-governmental organisations, and other local grassroots organisations. Engagements with these state and non-state institutions and organisations have enabled the Penan to articulate their identities and rights to their resources. Based on these engagements, this paper argues that the Penan rights and way of life is closely related to particular spaces in the landscape, their space of belonging.