The Penan Tribe of the Sarawak

The Penan are a nomadic aboriginal people living in Sarawak and Brunei. They are one of the last such peoples remaining. The Penan are noted for their practice of 'molong' which means never taking more than necessary. Most Penan were nomadic hunter-gatherers until the post-World War II missionaries settled many of the Penan, mainly in the Ulu-Baram district but also in the Limbang district. They eat plants, which are also used as medicines, and animals and use the hides, skin, fur, and other parts for clothing and shelter.

Penan communities were predominantly nomadic up until the 1950s. The period from 1950–present has seen consistent programmes by the state government and foreign Christian missionaries to settle Penan into longhouse-based villages similar to those of Sarawak's other indigenous groups.

Some, typically the younger generations, now cultivate rice and garden vegetables but many rely on their diets of sago (starch from the sago palm), jungle fruits and their prey which usually include wild boar, barking deer, mouse deer but also snakes (especially the Reticulated Python or kermanen), monkeys, birds, frogs, monitor lizards, snails and even insects such as locusts. Since they practice 'molong', they pose little strain on the forest: they rely on it and it supplies them with all they need. They are outstanding hunters and catch their prey using a 'lepud' or blowpipe, made from the Bilian Tree (superb timber) and carved out with unbelievable accuracy using a bone drill - the wood is not split, as it is elsewhere, so the bore has to be precise almost to the millimetre, even over a distance of 3 metres. The darts are made from thesago palm and tipped with poisonous latex of a tree (called the Tajem tree) found in the forest which can kill a human in a matter of minutes. Everything that is caught is shared as the Penan have a highly tolerant, generous and egalitarian society, so much so that it is said that the nomadic 

Basic necessities like food gathered from hunting and crop and the main source of nutrients but living in a jungle makes one prone to all kinds of diseases and infection. the clan seems to be living is a malicious environment but yet they strive and survive for generation. is it possible that man in order to survive needs just the basic qualities without any technological  background or is the government of Malaysia trying to get rid of these tribe in order to get in to the technological world that is 20/20 Malaysia by destroying their land and resources and exporting it to the western world for their technological improvements.