How Destructive Deforestation Destroying God's Beauty Affects the People of Penan?

The Evils of Deforestation.

God creates and man destroys. Do private profits outweigh environmental protection? Current political climates suggest profits always reign supreme.

The plight of the Penan people of Malaysia.

The Penan are one of the few remaining nomadic peoples who made their home in the rain forest of Borneo's interior. Population around 6,860. Only a few Penan maintain a nomadic lifestyle today. The Malaysian government has built longhouses for them to settle in since their government is allowing their rain forests to be desecrated for profit.

The Penan who now live in longhouses cultivate large plots of terraced rice fields. They have taken up sedentary agriculture as their main livelihood. The change from their traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle has been difficult. They still hunt wild animals and collect rattan, fruit and other food plants in the forests, and they still depend on the jungles to collect trade items such as camphor, jelutong (wild rubber), damar (a type of resin), gaharu (incense wood), and rattan for making baskets, hats, and bags. Their diet includes fish and prawns from the rivers.

The Penan are generally gentle and soft-spoken. They live in closely knit communities, and they share whatever food they get from the forest. The traditional hunting weapon of the Penan is still the keleput (blowpipe). It is made from straight-grained wood, drilled by a long metal rod and uses darts dipped in poison called tajem (poison obtained from a jungle tree or plant). Older Penan, due to their nomadic lifestyle, have not had access to education. They cannot speak the national language and can neither read nor write their own language. The younger generations are now beginning to learn Malay in order to communicate with other peoples' groups

The Penan still practice a system of animistic or traditional beliefs. They believe that every animal, tree, river, stream, and rock in the forest has its own spirit. In order to survive and prosper in the jungle, they must maintain harmonious relations with the spirits.

The exploitation and destruction of land, their rain forest, and an entire way of life is in jeopardy and is inexcusable.

We (humans) are destroying this beautiful planet, and all its natural resources, for love of the almighty dollar.

Greed knows no mercy, has no boundaries, or restrictions placed on it, in our current civilization (the 'civilized' part is questionable).

It (greed) is revered, worshiped and promoted freely, and shamelessly, generation after generation as if it a basic god given "right".

It is NOT a human "right".

It is a human tragedy.

A blight on this planet and on humanity itself.

Corporate America wants NO restrictions placed on them.

They are getting their own way on this matter by exploiting the basic greed so deeply implanted into our hearts, brains, civilization, very souls, and accepted as part of our everyday lives.

Its grip has a stranglehold on decency and sought after by most politicians , who cannot see the forest for the trees. Or rather will not , as long as someone is greasing their dirty palms with money.

The Penan tribe, of Penang, Malaysia, are the innocents taken to slaughter by the ruthless money hungry corporations who own the monopolies on destruction, and the corrupt governments that support them.

Check out the attached videos. They are sure to bring a tear to the eyes of anyone with any sense of caring and compassion.

We, as individuals, may not be able to stop this raping of the land by these corporations, and the Penan women and girls by their workers, but we can all join our voices in prayer for the redemption of those who are being exploited; and for retribution on those causing the devastation. Visit the link provided below to share in the prayer group.

by: d.william 03/02/11