Off we go: The participating communities all set to embark on their journey to Long Iman, Mulu.
KUCHING:
A “Traditional Knowledge (TK) Documentation Workshop 2012” was held
recently in a Penan village at Long Iman, Mulu, 45 minutes by boat up
the Tutoh River (towards the Melinau River), just outside the boundary
of Gunung Mulu National Park.
One of the reasons the 31-door settlement was chosen was the villagers’ vast knowledge of the forest and its rich resources.
Organised
by the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC), the workshop targets the
state’s indigenous communities that have participated in the centre’s
documentation programme.
Held annually, the workshop functions as
a platform where participating communities come together and report on
the progress of the project within their respective communities.
The
workshop is also aimed at reinforcing the awareness of the community’s
representatives of the importance of conserving their traditional
knowledge and biological resources, and emphasising the communities’
capacity in documenting their traditional knowledge of useful plants.
This
year, an additional component was added to the workshop – the
communities were also introduced to how they can identify components in
developing homestay programme incorporating conservation of their
traditional knowledge.
Taking note: The participating communities preparing for their group presentation.
An
officer from the Ministry of Tourism and Heritage, Joachim Paggang
Jabong, introduced the basics of establishing a village homestay
programme, while Jeffrey Simun from Mulu National Park spoke on
ecotourism and cultural activities that could be incorporated into such
programmes.
The community representatives also heard from an
operator of a successful community homestay programme, Dawson Ringin, of
Kampung Annah Rais near Kuching.
The 36 participating
communities came from all over the state - Kampung Semadang (Padawan),
Kampung Kiding (Penrissen), Kampung Duyoh Jagoi (Bau), Rumah Changgai
(Sg. Tekalit Song), Rumah Joseph Melayu (Balingian), Rumah Skatap
(Betong), Long Iman (Mulu), Batu Bungan (Mulu), Palungan (Bario),
Pa’ukat (Bario), Long Pelutan (Julau), Ba’Kelalan (Bario), Long
Kerabangan (Lawas), Long Telingan (Lawas), Kampung Jebungan (Mukah),
Kampung Jemoreng (Matu), Long Ikang (Marudi), Rumah Ajan (Merapok), and
Kampung Sual (Simunjan).
The participants were of various ethnic groups such as Iban, Bidayuh, Melanau, Orang Ulu and Penan.
Deputy
Undersecretary for Biodiversity and Forest Management in the Ministry
of Natural Resources and Environment, K Nagulendran, officiated at the
opening of the workshop.
For Nagulendran, the function would hold
special memories as it was the first time that he participated in the
workshop in Sarawak.
In his opening address, he stated that the
workshop was crucial as it allowed communities to be fully involved in
activities and share their experiences with other participants.
Interactive:
Mr K. Nagulendran (third from the right) and the participants carrying
out the activities during the Traditional Knowledge Documentation
Workshop 2012
He also commended SBC for
organising the workshop in a participating village as it enabled the
different communities to carry out hands-on activities and also exposed
them to the importance of documenting useful plants.
Carrying out such a workshop within a community also enabled the participation of the younger generation.
He called for similar workshops to be held in other participating villages as well.
Throughout
the three-day workshop, the participants were exposed to the components
of documenting useful traditional plants found at Long Iman.
They were also tasked to identify elements needed to establish a homestay programme that incorporates traditional knowledge.
Most of the participants found the workshop informative and beneficial.
A
first-timer in the workshop, Ketua Kampung Ajan Renang from the Iban
community of Rumah Ajan in Lawas, found the workshop an eye-opener and
felt that similar workshops should be conducted yearly.
According
to Ajan, he had learned a lot from the workshop as he was able to share
useful experiences on documenting traditional knowledge with the other
participants.
“I will encourage the younger generation in my
community to participate in the programme which is facilitated by the
Sarawak Biodiversity Centre”, he said.
Meanwhile, Denny Sebom
from Rumah Joseph Melayu at Sungai Chenanun Tepus in Balingian observed
that traditional knowledge had always been handed down verbally and
through observations of practices.
He agreed that proper
documentation is vital in order to preserve such knowledge which is very
much an integral part of a community’s heritage, other than potentially
holding leads to new discoveries in pharmaceutical development and
other uses.
Like Ajan, Denny felt that the younger generation
should play an active role and pledged to encourage teenagers in his
village to come on board the programme, particularly during school
holidays.
Raymond Lejau from Long Iman reported that his
community had been actively participating in collecting, documenting and
propagating plants that they use for food, materials and medicine,
since they were introduced to the programme in 2003.
The Long
Iman community has established an Interpretative Centre and a garden of
useful plants. The documentation committee collects a minimal entrance
fee of RM5 per person from tourists who wish to visit the garden. A part
of the collection is used to maintain the garden, while the rest is put
aside as emergency fund.
The garden also serves the community as an educational centre for their younger generation and acts as their “green pharmacy”.
The
green pharmacy cuts down on the time needed to locate and gather plants
from the forest when needed. This effort also helps the community to
conserve these plants.
According to Raymond, “it is still a long
process for the community to document the useful plants as there are
still many more plants that were traditionally used by the Penans in the
forest of Long Iman”.
Since the inception of the documentation
programme in 2001, there are now 13 indigenous communities in 58
locations throughout the state involved in documenting their traditional
knowledge.
Those who wish to know more about the programme can
call Sarawak Biodiversity Centre on 082-610 610 or send email to
biosar@sbc.org.my. — Article contributed by Sarawak Biodiversity Centre
