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73-428: Anthropological Linguistics may refer to: Anthropological linguistics , the subfield of linguistics and anthropology Anthropological Linguistics (journal) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Anthropological Linguistics . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

146-523: A situated ethics , whose final evidence is the differentiated set of terms used to denote "we". The two branches of anthropological linguistics are nomenclatural/classificational and ethnographic/sociolinguistics. Indexicality refers to language forms that is tied to meaning through association of specific and general, as opposed to direct naming. For example, an anthropological linguist may utilize indexicality to analyze what an individual's use of language reveals about his or her social class. Indexicality

219-751: A 'thank you'. However, 'jian kenin' [meaning 'feel good'] is typically used in settled communities, as a kind of equivalent to 'thank you'. Very few Penan live in Brunei any more, and their way of life is changing due to pressures that encourage them to live in permanent settlements and adopt year-around farming. According to the Sarawak Premier, Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg there were 266 Penans with formal education of which 3 have master's degrees, 142 have bachelor's degrees and 81 have high school diplomas, counted from 1998 to 2002. 2 Penans are finishing their doctoral degrees on 4 July 2023. "The army and

292-622: A 2010 media release, the Malaysian logging company Samling Global Ltd. was excluded from the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG). This decision was made on the recommendations from the Council of Ethics’ assessment that Samling Global, and two other companies, “are contributing to or are themselves responsible for grossily [sic] unethical activity”. The committee documented “extensive and repeated breaches of

365-461: A convention that Malaysia has not adopted. However, many Malaysian politicians have criticised NGOs for meddling in Malaysian domestic affairs and have accused them of attempting to inhibit development projects and keep the Penan 'undeveloped' and unassimilated into mainstream Malaysian society. Most see the Penan's lifestyle as uncivilised and antiquated (compare White man's burden ), an example of this

438-512: A definite sharing of topics – such as gender and language – they are two related but separate entities. Anthropological linguistics came about in the United States as a subfield of anthropology, when anthropologists were beginning to study the indigenous cultures , and the indigenous languages could no longer be ignored, and quickly morphed into the subfield of linguistics that it is known as today. Anthropological linguistics has had

511-659: A helping hand to our fellow brethren? Instead allow him to subsist in Blowpipes and clothed in Chawats [loincloths] An anthropological curiosity of Nature and Art? Alas, ultimately your fate is your own decision Remain as you are - or cross the Rubicon!" Many Malaysian organisations have joined the debate such as Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), Borneo Resource Institute (BRIMAS) and Rengah Sarawak. These grassroots organisations have supported indigenous rights and accused

584-577: A hunger strike outside the offices of Japanese shipping companies in Tokyo. In 1990, in response to Manser's protests, Sarawak's Chief Minister declared Manser an ‘enemy of the State’ and dispatched a Malaysian army unit to find and capture him. In 1990, Manser returned to his home country of Switzerland and founded the Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF), a non-profit organisation dedicated to the plight of

657-424: A large focus on the systematic structure of the sounds being observed. Morphology in linguistics commonly looks at the structure of words within a language to develop a better understanding for the word form being used. It is the branch of linguistics that deals with words, their internal structure, and their formation. Morphology looks broadly at the connection of word forms within a specific language in relation to

730-537: A major impact in the studies of such areas as visual perception (especially colour ) and bioregional democracy , both of which are concerned with distinctions that are made in languages about perceptions of the surroundings. Conventional linguistic anthropology also has implications for sociology and self-organization of peoples. Study of the Penan people, for instance, reveals that their language employs six different and distinct words whose best English translation

803-523: A means to economic development has also been challenged as unsustainable, indiscriminate of indigenous rights, environmentally destructive and mired in invested interests, corruption and cronyism. Examples of this have been highlighted by the former Minister for Environment and Tourism Datuk James Wong also being one of the state's largest logging concessionaires. Most recently, the Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud himself

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876-485: A social institution. Anthropological linguistics is largely interpretative, striving to determine the significance behind the use of language through its forms, registers, and styles. Sociolinguistics instead examines how language relates to various social groups and identities like race, gender, class, and age. A common variation of linguistics that focuses on the sounds within speech of any given language. It outlines why phonetic features identify words. Phonology puts

949-428: Is " we ". Anthropological linguistics studies these distinctions, and relates them to types of societies and to actual bodily adaptation to the senses, much as it studies distinctions made in languages regarding the colours of the rainbow: seeing the tendency to increase the diversity of terms, as evidence that there are distinctions that bodies in this environment must make, leading to situated knowledge and perhaps

1022-485: Is a regularly recited poem by ex Minister for Environment and Tourism Datuk James Wong. "O Penan - Jungle wanderers of the Tree What would the future hold for thee?.... Perhaps to us you may appear deprived and poor But can Civilization offer anything better?.... And yet could Society in good conscience View your plight with detached indifference Especially now we are an independent Nation Yet not lift

1095-547: Is inherent in form-function relationships. Although the terms anthropological linguistics and linguistic anthropology are often viewed as being synonymous, specialists often make a distinction between them. While anthropological linguistics is considered a subfield of linguistics, linguistic anthropology is generally considered to be a subfield of anthropology. Anthropological linguistics also uses more distinctly linguistic methodology, and studies languages as "linguistic phenomena." Ultimately, anthropological linguistics focuses on

1168-562: Is one of many disciplines which studies the role of languages in the social lives of individuals and within communities. To do this, experts have had to understand not only the logic behind linguistic systems – such as their grammars – but also record the activities in which those systems are used. In the 1960s and 1970s, sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics were often viewed as one single field of study, but they have since become more separate as more academic distance has been put between them. Though there are many similarities and

1241-525: Is our policy to bring all jungle dwellers together into the mainstream. There is nothing romantic about these helpless, half-starved, and disease-ridden people." Malaysian authorities also argued that it is unfair to accuse Malaysia of destroying their own rainforests while the western civilisation continued to cut their own forests down. Preservation of rainforests would mean closing down factories and hinder industrialisation which would result in unemployment issues. Instead of focusing on human rights of Penans,

1314-495: Is responsible for approving and denying all logging licences. It is he and his closest friends, political associates, senior military offices and family relatives who own more or less the entire logging industry. Thus, the logging of the Sarawak has generated enormous wealth for these principle elites. Mahmud therefore, has a strong economic interest in continuing to allow illegal logging in the proposed biosphere reserve areas. In

1387-438: Is the highest in the tropical world (142 km /year) losing 14,860 square kilometres since 1990. The Borneo lowland rain forest , which is the primary habitat of the Penan, and also the most valuable trees have disappeared. "Despite the (Malaysian) government's pro-environment overtones, the… government tends to side with development more than conservation." — Rhett A. Butler The government's defence of large-scale logging as

1460-611: Is the selection of one single variety out of the many varieties that characterize everyday speech and behavior. English is often thought of as one single language, as though people forget the many dialects and accents that come with it. English spoken in the United States of America will not be the same English spoken in Australia , or in the countries of Africa . Even American English spoken in New York will not be exactly

1533-535: Is under investigation by Japanese tax authorities for corruption over RM32 million in timber kickbacks allegedly paid to his family company in Hong Kong to lubricate timber shipments. Such allegations are not new, as Malaysia Today claimed in 2005: There is often a mutually beneficial relationship between logging companies and political elites, involving the acquisition of large private wealth for both parties through bribery, corruption and transfer pricing, at

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1606-415: The observational method . Data collected through the observational method can be formally processed like data obtained through more formalized instruments if attempts are made to record the data in more public forms instead of only through the approach most characteristic for this kind of data have used so far. Many linguists believe that comparisons of linguistic and social behavior have been blocked by

1679-471: The sago palm and tipped with poisonous latex of a tree (called the Tajem tree, Antiaris toxicaria ) 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 Penan have no word for 'thank you' because help is assumed and therefore doesn't require

1752-602: The Baram, Limbang, Tutoh and Lawas regions of Sarawak. The Penan's struggle began in the 1960s when the Indonesian and Malaysian governments opened up large areas of Borneo's interior to commercial logging. In most cases, the largest and most lucrative logging concessions went to members of the island's political and business elites. With an increase in the global demand for timber at the time, these concessionaries began to procure all marketable trees from their holdings. Since both

1825-491: The Dayak population have also struggled to get accustomed to a settled lifestyle and adopt agricultural skills, which they must employ more and more as their forests increasingly dwindle. The opposition party Parti Keadilan Rakyat has also taken up the cause of the indigenous people's plight, claiming that they are "living lives of quiet desperation that now and then flares up in action that invites police attention, not to mention

1898-774: The Eastern Penan reside around the Miri, Baram, Limbang and Tutoh regions and the Western Penan in and around Belaga district. They can be considered as a native group or 'tribe' in their own right, with a language distinct from other neighbouring native groups such as the Kenyah , Kayan , Murut or Kelabit . However, in government censuses they are more broadly classified as Orang Ulu which translates as "Upriver People" and which contains distinct neighbouring groups such as those above. Even more broadly they are included in

1971-494: The Indonesian government subsidised the relocation of unemployed labourers from other parts of Indonesia (particularly Java and Madura) to Kalimantan. As part of their contracted obligations, these settlers have participated in the clearing of forests. This has resulted in (increasingly) frequent and violent conflicts between the settlers and the Dayak population. Hundreds of people have been killed in these encounters and thousands more have been forced to live in refugee camps. Because

2044-606: The Magoh Biosphere Reserve. Magoh Biosphere Reserve is an environmental ‘no intrusion’ zone introduced by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud in 1990. However, in reality, this reserve has only ‘proposed boundaries’ within which logging companies continue to fell the forest. The Penan explicitly outlined their wants and requirements to the Sarawak State Government of Abdul Taib Mahmud in the 2002 Long Sayan Declaration. The confrontation between

2117-642: The Penan and Sarawak State Government has continued to the present day. The blockade set up by the Penan community of Long Benali was forcefully dismantled on 4 April 2007 by the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), with support from a special police force unit and overlooked by Samling Corporation employees. Samling Corporation had been granted a logging concession by the Malaysian Timber Certificate Council (MTCC) that included land traditionally inhabited by

2190-450: The Penan of Long Benali and despite their continued petitions against the concession. As of 2021 the Penan continue to fight development aggression in their ancestral domain . Bruno Manser was an environmental activist and champion of the Penan's plight during their struggle in the 1990s. Manser lived with the Penan for six years; in that time he learnt their language, survival skills and customs. Named lakei Penan (Penan man) by

2263-494: The Penan, he helped communicate the Penan's cause to the outside world, firstly writing letters to Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and later leaving Sarawak to educate the outside world (especially timber importing countries in Europe and Japan) about the deforestation and related social problems in Sarawak. He later conducted public awareness stunts such as paragliding onto the lawn of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and attempting

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2336-464: The Penan. In 2000, Manser went missing after returning to Sarawak with a Swedish film team and an associate from BMF to reunite with a Penan group. Manser's body and belongings have never been found despite intensive searches. Theories of assassination by the Sarawak government or logging companies have sprung up because of his status as an ‘enemy of the State’. Other rumours include those of suicide after years of unsuccessful campaigning or getting lost in

2409-839: The SSGP will claim large tracts of their Native Customary Rights land. Furthermore, the laying of this pipeline is only one component of many, set for construction on the Penan's land, with the construction of a proposed onshore Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal (SOGT) and a gas compression station due for completion in 2012. The future of the Penan has been a controversial subject since the confrontation between indigenous rights and state land use began. National and International Non-Governmental Organisations have been pressing for indigenous self-determination and respect for Penan human and land rights in accordance with UN International Labour Organisation Convention N. 169 (1989) that removes “assimilationist” orientated international standards towards indigenous rights,

2482-533: The Sarawak Government for violating their Native Customary Right (NCR) or adat . The victory was recently publicised in a short documentary, named Rumah Nor , by the Borneo Project. The verdict is being threatened by a Federal Court appeal by the state government and Borneo Pulp and Paper. However, 19 Penan communities have now mapped their NCR and four are beginning litigation and in others

2555-424: The Sarawak State Government began making many promises to the Penan in an attempt to quell international protests and embarrassment. Global support for the Penan had included boycotts and blockades of ships carrying rainforest timber in countries such as Australia. Among these were the promise of infrastructure facilities (for those who had been forced to resettle in government encampments due to deforestation ) and

2628-485: The Sarawak state government of repeated neglect of Sarawak's indigenous citizens and exploitation of Sarawak's natural resources. The Penan are more impoverished than ever, confined in sub-standard living conditions that, despite government promises, lack the most basic of facilities and infrastructure. Those who are forced to live in government settlements are constantly fatigued by frequent food shortages and poor health, with little access to (inadequate) health care. Many of

2701-517: The area the Penan suggested, without their consent, to create a palm oil plantation. Importantly, the Penan claim that if Shin Yang are allowed to extensively fell the forest, there will not be enough forest left for their community to sustain their livelihood. Furthermore, the Murum dam is the first in a series of large-scale hydroelectric projects being planned by the Sarawak State Government, which will see

2774-435: The cultural and social meaning of language, with more of an emphasis on linguistic structure. Conversely, linguistic anthropology uses more anthropological methods (such as participant observation and fieldwork) to analyze language through a cultural framework and determine the rules of its social use. While anthropological linguistics uses language to determine cultural understandings, sociolinguistics views language itself as

2847-468: The culture or environment it is rooted within. There are two major trends in the theoretical and methodological study of attitudes in the social sciences - mentalist and behaviorist . The mentalist trend treats attitude as a mediating concept while the behaviorist trend operationally defines it as a probability concept, though in research practice both derive their attitude measures from response variation. While there are many different views concerning

2920-629: The dense mossy forests around Bukit Batu Lawi in the Kelabit Highlands, close to the border with Kalimantan. However, Manser had lived for several years in the region with the nomadic Penan and was thus highly experienced. Five years after his disappearance in the rainforest of Borneo, Manser was officially declared as lost by the Basel Civil Court in Switzerland. Personalities from politics, science and culture remembered

2993-682: The detained reported being beaten and humiliated while in custody. An independent Sarawakian organisation IDEAL documented such claims in a 2001 fact-finding mission entitled "Not Development, but Theft". However, confrontation with state authorities has not been the only source of conflict for the Penan or the Dayaks. In the late 1990s, in neighbouring Kalimantan, the Indonesian government set aside millions of acres of forest for conversion into commercial rubber and palm oil plantations. Much of these areas have been traditionally occupied by indigenous groups. Crucially, to provide labour for such developments,

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3066-546: The displacement of thousands of indigenous people. In this same month, the Penan tribes in Sarawak's northern region set up blockades to prevent the implementation of a 500 km-long Sarawak-Sabah Gas Pipeline (SSGP). It is said that the SSGP will be built and operational by the end of 2010. It will allow natural gas sourced from Sabah's offshore gas reserves to be delivered to the liquefied natural gas complex in Bintulu. This project particularly affects Penan communities as

3139-552: The efforts were hard to sustain and ended in large-scale clashes between the indigenous communities and the state-backed logging companies, supported by the police and Malaysian army. In 1987, the state government passed the amendment S90B of the Forest Ordinance, which made the obstruction of traffic along any logging road in Sarawak a major offence. Under this law, The confrontations ended with several deaths, many injuries and large-scale arrests of indigenous people. Many of

3212-521: The expense of public benefit through lost revenues and royalty payments and at the expense of social, environmental and indigenous communities' rights ... The awarding of concessions and other licences to log as a result of political patronage, rather than open competitive tender, has been the norm rather than the exception in many countries. In August 2009, hundreds of the Penan of Borneo rainforest protested with road blockades against new palm oil and acacia plantations in Sarawak. Their primary concern

3285-447: The fact that linguistic and anthropological studies are rarely based on comparable sets of data. While an anthropologist's description refers to specific communities, linguistic analysis refers to a single language or dialect, and the behaviors formed through verbal signs and structural similarities. The process of linguistic analysis is oriented towards the discovery of unitary, structurally similar wholes. The effect of these procedures

3358-478: The forest people of Borneo, like other native tribes, such plants and animals are also viewed as sacred, as the embodiment of powerful spirits and deities. Thus, the Penan made numerous verbal and written complaints to the logging companies and local government officials. They argued that the logging companies were located on land given to the Penan in an earlier treaty, recognised by the Sarawak state government, and were thus violating their native customary rights. It

3431-482: The forest: they rely on it and it supplies them with all they need. They are outstanding hunters and catch their prey using a 'kelepud' or blowpipe , made from the Belian 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

3504-578: The licence requirements, regulations and other directives in all of the six concession areas that have been examined. Some of the violations constitute very serious transgressions, such as logging outside the concession area, logging in a protected area that was excluded from the concession by the authorities in order to be integrated into an existing national park, and re-entry logging without Environmental Impact Assessments.” If more investors, finance institutions and timber traders worldwide follow suit and cut business ties with Samling Global, this could also make

3577-488: The life of Manser in a commemoration ceremony held on 8 May 2010. In 1987, Mahathir used the Internal Security Act (ISA) to jail critics of the regime and to neutralise Penan campaigners. Over 1,200 people were arrested for challenging logging and 1,500 Malaysian soldiers and police dismantled barricades and beat and arrested people. During a meeting of European and Asian leaders in 1990, Mahathir said, "It

3650-424: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anthropological_Linguistics&oldid=984849163 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Anthropological linguistics Although researchers studied

3723-407: The logging has more or less stopped in the territory where litigation is pending. Indigenous action has therefore shifted from the human blockades of logging roads to empowerment through the political and legal system and international publicity. The Penan's future also hangs on Taib Mahmud's decision to either adhere or extinguish plans for the Magoh Biosphere Reserve. However, it is Taib Mahmud who

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3796-602: The nature of speech communities . Anthropological linguistics is concerned with Penan The Penan are a nomadic indigenous people living in Sarawak and Brunei , although there is only one small community in Brunei; among those in Brunei half have been converted to Islam, even if only superficially. Penan are one of the last such peoples remaining as hunters and gatherers. The Penan are noted for their practice of 'molong' which means never taking more than necessary. Most Penan were nomadic hunter-gatherers until

3869-432: The notice of the rest of Malaysians who don't quite know what it is to be under the tyranny of geography." With the help of such NGOs many Penan communities have mapped their proposed ancestral lands and filed claims in Sarawak's courts in the hope of preventing and deterring illegal logging of their forests. A precedent was set in 2001 when an Iban village of Rumah Nor won a court victory against Borneo Pulp and Paper and

3942-627: The origins, distribution, and characteristics of these indigenous populations. This interdisciplinary approach distinguished American anthropology from its European counterpart; while European anthropology largely focused on ethnography , American anthropology began to integrate linguistics and other disciplines. Anthropological linguistics initially focused largely on unwritten language, but now examines languages both with and without written traditions. Early anthropological linguists primarily focused on three major areas: linguistic description, classification, and methodology. Anthropological linguistics

4015-552: The police came to our blockade and threatened us and told us to take down our barricade. We said 'we are defending our land. It is very easy for you as soldiers and policemen. You are being paid. You have money in your pockets. You can buy what you need; rice and sugar. You have money in the bank. But for us, this forest is our money, this is our bank. This is the only place where we can find food." (Penan spokesman, 1987) The Penan came to national and international attention when they resisted logging operations in their home territories of

4088-656: 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. The Penan number around 16,000; of which only approximately 200 still live a nomadic lifestyle. Penan numbers have increased since they began to settle. The Penan can be described as two loosely related geographical groups known as either Eastern Penan or Western Penan;

4161-408: The project began, nor was a social and environmental impact assessment prepared. Already forests, rivers and natural resources have been destroyed by the build. This time, the Penan have requested that if they must move to make room for the dam then they should have the right to choose where they move to and in what lifestyle capacity. Unfortunately the palm oil company Shin Yang has illegally moved into

4234-497: The same as American English spoken in Alabama . While code-switching , a situation in which a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation, is not the only form of linguistic variability to carry a social, or referential meaning, it does provide a particularly clear approach to understanding the relationship between social processes and linguistic forms, because both

4307-605: The settled, semi-nomadic and nomadic Penan communities were and are reliant on forest produce, they were hit hard by the large scale logging operations that encroached on their traditionally inhabited territories. The logging caused the pollution of their water catchment areas with sediment displacement, the loss of many sago palms that form the staple carbohydrate of Penan diet, scarcity of wild boar, deer and other game, scarcity of fruit trees and plants used for traditional forest medicine, destruction of their burial sites and loss of rattan and other rare plant and animal species. For

4380-413: The situational use of languages and language varieties. The commitment measure has been found to be particularly suited for collecting data on behavioral tendencies. Data obtained through interviewing may be difficult to process and score – and may provide bias from those being interviewed – but the research interview can be particularly effective for attitude assessment, especially when used to complement

4453-417: The social and the linguistic boundaries in question tend to be most evident than in other monolingual settings. In anthropological linguistics, code-switching has been approached as a structurally unified phenomenon whose significance comes from a universal pattern of relationships between form, function, and context. Many linguists are approaching code-switching as a form of verbal strategy, which represents

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4526-437: The structure and components of attitudes, there is, however, an overwhelming agreement that attitudes are learned, lasting, and positively related to behavior. Methodology in attitude studies includes direct and indirect measures of all kinds, but language attitude studies have tended to make more use of questionnaires than of other methods. The matched guise technique - a sociolinguistic experimental technique used to determine

4599-643: The term Dayak , which includes all of Sarawak's indigenous people. The Penan language belongs to the Kenyah subgroup within the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family . Penan communities were predominantly nomadic up until the 1950s. The period from 1950 to the 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

4672-562: The true feelings of an individual or community towards a specific language, dialect, or accent - has been extensively used for studies relating to the social significance of languages and language varieties. A special adaptation of this technique, called mirror image , appears promising for measuring consensual evaluations of language switching at the situational level. Situational based self-report instruments such as those used by Greenfield and Fishman also promise to be very effective instruments for studies pertaining to normative views concerning

4745-488: The two fields together at various points in the nineteenth century, the intersection of anthropology and linguistics significantly grew in prominence during the early twentieth century. As American scholarship became increasingly interested in the diversity of Native American societies in the New World, anthropologists and linguists worked in conjunction to analyze Native American languages and to study how language related to

4818-401: The two warring factions have different racial and religious backgrounds, the international media has often reported this conflict as ethnic animosity. Rather, it is the pursuit of resource wealth by powerful governments and businesses, despite strong resistance by local residents, which has caused the fighting. In the mid-1980s, when the plight of the Penan had been exposed on the world stage,

4891-521: The ways in which the linguistic resources available to individuals may vary according to the nature of their social boundaries within their communities. While the emphasis is on language use in social interaction as the preferred focus for examining exactly how those processes work, it is clear that future research must take into account the situation of that interaction within the specific community, or across communities. The study of code-switching will increasingly be able to contribute to an understanding of

4964-609: The western activists should focus instead on minorities in their own countries such as Red Indians in North America, Aboriginal Australians , Māori people in New Zealand and Turks in Germany . Malaysian Timber Industry Development Board (MTIB) and Sarawak Timber Industry Development Cooperation (STIDC) spent RM 5 to 10 million in producing a research report to counter allegations by foreign activists. The Economist

5037-440: 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 kemanen ), monkeys, birds, frogs, monitor lizards , snails and even insects such as locusts . Since they practice 'molong', they pose little strain on

5110-472: Was also claimed that logging plans were never discussed with the Penan before felling began. However, these complaints fell on deaf ears. Beginning in the late 1980s and continuing today the Penan and other indigenous communities such as the Iban , Kelabit and Kayan (collectively referred to as Dayak ) have set up blockades in an attempt to halt logging operations on their land. These succeeded in many areas but

5183-523: Was banned in December 1991 because of publishing criticisms of Mahathir administration. Mahathir defended the press censorship. He told ASEAN that foreign journalists "fabricate stories to entertain and make money out of it, without caring about the results of their lies". Logging continues to dominate politics and economics in Sarawak and the government's ambition on timber from proposed Penan ancestral land also continues. Malaysia's rate of deforestation

5256-416: Was banned twice in 1991 for articles that commented critically on the Malaysian government. Its distribution was deliberately delayed three times. Newspaper editors would receive a phone call from Ministry of Information , warning them to "go easy" on particular topic. Few negative reports, such as logging, appeared on domestic newspapers because of the high degree of self-censorship. Mingguan Waktu newspaper

5329-462: Was the plantation of acacia monocultures which will cause a loss of species biodiversity and soil degeneration. In August 2010, the Penan spoke out about the Murum hydroelectric dam being built on their land. The construction of the dam is already well underway and will see the flooding of at least six Penan villages once completed. The Penan have argued that they were (once again) not consulted before

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