[Anthropgrad] People, State and Development: documentary screenings. Friday 22nd May, 3pm

[John White]

Anthropology Friday Seminar Series. Semester 1, 2009. Milgate Room, AD
Hope. Friday, 22nd May, 3pm.

 

In recent years, the Courts in Malaysia have given the definition of
Native Customary Rights that favour the practices and Rights of
Indigenous Peoples. However, translating law into government practices
have proved to be challenging. Both the documentaries are based on
current events and reflect this challenge. The documentaries are set in
Sarawak and tell the story of two groups facing contestations over their
land; the Penan, an interior, formerly nomadic group who have been
largely resettled and made sedentary, and the Iban, a lowland farming
community.  For the Penan, this conflict probably began as early as the
seventies; confrontation with logging companies and the state is not
new. In response to intrusion, by the eighties the Penan were actively
setting up blockades. They have an almost ironic way of describing this
habit -it is as a means to initiate conversation.  The problem today has
a slight twist. In the seventies and eighties, logging companies
penetrated deep into their forests taking away the trees. But logging
companies would leave. Oil Palm plantations and forests plantations
however, not only reap the benefits but transform and occupy the land.
Both documentaries tell a story of struggle against seemingly
insurmountable odds. However, giving up the struggle means giving-up a
lot more than simply the land. 

 

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'Penusah Tana: the forgotten struggle' 

 

A film by: Hillary Chiew and chi too

Total running time: 36 minutes 06 seconds

 

"For over 20 years, Ajang Kiew, a Penan leader, has been setting up
blockades to protect his Native Customary Rights land from the intrusion
of logging companies. To his dismay, his cries and efforts have fallen
on deaf ears. Now, he sets up one final struggle before oil palm and
tree plantations take over for good."

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'What Rainforest? Wake up and smell the palm oil.'

 

A film by: Hillary Chiew and chi too

Total running time: 36 minutes

Language: English, Malay, Iban with English subtitles

 

"When bulldozers mowed over the ancestral farmlands of Kampung Lebor,
Segan Anak Degon stood his ground and defended his land. Now he is the
only person out of 101 families, whose land is left intact and
unaffected by the oil plantation.  However, Segan is the rare few who
managed to halt the feverish onslaught of oil palm advancement that
threatens to devastate the embattled Sarawak forested landscape." 

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(Hillary Chiew is a journalist working for a local newspaper in
Malaysia. Her interests are mainly focused on environmental issues. Chi
too is an independent film maker.)

 

A big thanks to Kamal Fadzil for offering to show the films and
preparing this notice.

 

All welcome!

 

John White