Report of the National Inquiry into the Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples 27 3.37 As the tana’ pengurip was first utilised and taken care of by their ancestors, Eastern Penan sometimes refer to it as tana’ pohoo,35 or ancestral land, to which they are rightful heirs. Penan say that their adet (custom) is different from those of their neighbours, Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit or Iban. Their neighbours cut the forest for cultivation and create what is known in Sarawak as native customary rights land. However, the Penan create la’a in the landscape and stake a claim to resources in areas they refer to as tana’ pengurip or tana’ pohoo. When groups of Penan settle down, part of the tana’ penguripor tana’ pohoo is cultivated with food crops such as rice and cassava, sugar cane, fruit trees etc, and the remainder conserved for regeneration of resources such as sago, rattan and fruit trees to complement cultivated crops. 3.38 Each group of Eastern Penan refers to specific areas as okoo bu’un or place of origin, from the word okoo (place), bu’un (beginning). Okoo bu’un is used in a variety of situations. It is used to assert one’s rights to a place one was born in; and one can trace one’s ancestral roots to other places and connect relationships and ties. When Penan speak of okoo bu’un they are making a statement about identity, sense of place and belonging. 3.39 Penan would lay claim all sorts of resources in the tana’ pengurip. This practice is known in Penan as molong. Molong is not only to lay a claim to a resource, but most importantly it means to foster it for the future. For example, when an individual molong a wild sago, he will extract the mature tree and conserve the bud for the future. They also rotate their harvest of sago from one clump to another such that it allows for regeneration of a previously harvested clump. Penan emphasize this point by saying that “if we don’t molong the sago, and allow indiscriminate harvest, we will not have any more sago for the future.” Molong has two obvious functions: it serves as a monitoring device to account for the quantity of resources in the forest where they exercise stewardship, and prevent over-exploitation of resources. 3.40 When an individual molong a resource, a sago clump or a rattan stand, he places an oroo (mark or sign) on it to indicate ‘ownership’. Such a mark or sign is known in Penan as oroo olong or ‘claim sign’. Once an individual molong a resources, he is responsible for its upkeep and sustainable management. He also establishes exclusive rights to the resource. These rights are heritable and pass down from one generation to the next of household members. Other members of the community may harvest the resource with permission of the person who molong it. Molong can be done individually or communally; the basic principle is the same. Penan rights to the land and forest resources are thus established through molong, a form of resource tenure similar to the Iban tree tenure system.36 3.41 The Penan expresses tawai or a particular sentiment to the landscape. Tawai is an expression of nostalgia, fondness and longing for the landscape, its wholeness and memory of events, important or inconsequential, that took place there, of group activities, of life in general, with food aplenty or not, successful hunt or not, sad times and happy times. Tawai binds the group and individuals to the landscape. Penan insist that tawai differentiates their relationship with the landscape from the way others relate to the same. For instance, a timber company 35 Western Penan refer to this as Tana’ puu or tana’ asen. 36 See Clifford Sather 1990, “Trees and Tree Tenure in Paku Iban Society: the Management of Secondary Forest Resources in a longestablished Iban Community”, Borneo Review I(I), pp. 31 and 32 where he says that claims to trees are created in two ways. First, the first person to find a tree claims it by clearing the undergrowth around its base. When this act is drawn to public attention, the claimant establishes exclusive rights over the tree. Such rights are heritable and pass down to descendants of the claimant. Second, a tree is planted and the planter establishes rights to which is inherited by his future descendants. chapter 3_a4.indd 27 7/5/13 6:43 PM