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Published in Quest
Winter 1998
"TRUST US, WE KNOW BETTER THAN YOU DO"
by Paul Spencer Sochaczewski © 1998
LOIKAW, Myanmar
The Catholic Bishop in this Burmese backwater insists that girls
of the Padaung tribe will not be allowed into the mission school
if they wear the brass neck rings that have earned the women of
the tribe the appellation "giraffe women".
Bishop Sotero Phamo argues that "the only way for our rural
people to join modern society is through education." Speaking
enthusiastically in his diocese headquarters, which houses what
is certainly the best school in the region, Bishop Sotero adds "I
have 1,500 students to look after. Ornaments such as neck rings
just create social barriers."
I seek out a Padaung student to get her views. Beneletta, 17 years
old, is shy and attractive, with neat bangs and a Pepsodent smile.
She wears a green sweatshirt and a faded sarong. "Yes, one
or two girls in the village have neck rings," she says. "And
they're still there - they're too shy to leave. "When I was
five or six some people in the community urged my parents to put
the rings on me. My father refused; he didn't want me to become
a prisoner in the village."
Although the Bishop's stringent no neck-ring policy might disappoint
culture-trippers, it probably is the right thing for the youngsters
in the tribe.
Yet it smacks of a paternalism that one finds wherever someone in
power sets the rules for those without power.
In Asia, the classic arrogance is white vs brown, the anthem of
which is Kipling's famous "white man's burden", which
he penned on the occasion of America taking possession of the Philippines.
He warned that when victory is near "watch sloth and heathen
Folly/Bring a your hope to nought."
While I lived in Asia I wondered why it was generally accepted that
American Peace Corps volunteers, like me, were sent to Asia, but
Asian countries never sent volunteers to help Americans? Why couldn't
Malaysian community development experts set up youth employment
schemes in Los Angeles, or Bornean Iban community reforestation
experts help create town parks in Detroit?
Yet in today's Asia, brown-brown arrogance is much more prevalent.
Take for example the message promoted by tourism boards throughout
Asia who encourage foreigners to experience "native cultures".
This is an evolution of the African game park concept, but instead
of judging the success of the holiday by whether the visitor sees
elephants and lions, the cultural-safari tourist will go home content
having bagged an all-night rice-wine blast with sons of headhunters
in Sarawak, one of the Malasian states on the island of Borneo.
I sought out James Wong Kim Min for guidance.
Dato James is concurrently the Sarawak State Minister of Tourism
and Local Government and one of the state's biggest timber tycoons,
a combination that might befuddle a lesser man.
Although pasty of complexion, he was bursting with energy. "What
do you want to talk about? Penans?" he asked, referring to
the controversial group of several thousand hunter-gatherers who
live in the interior of the state.
James Wong loves to talk with foreigners about the Penan, whom the
foreign press has idealized as a group of innocent, down-trodden,
blowpipe wielding, loinclothed people who are wise in the ways of
the forest but hopelessly naive when faced with modern Malaysian
politics.
At least no one can accuse James Wong of shrinking from a good debate.
"I met with Bruno's Penans in the upper Limbang [River],"
he said, referring to the Swiss Bruno Manser who lived with the
Penan for several years and who allegedly encouraged them to blockade
timber operations and fight for their rights. "I asked the
Penan 'who will help you if you're sick?' Bruno? The Penans now
realize they've been exploited. I tell them the government is there
to help them. But I ask them 'How can I see you if you've blocked
the road that I've built for you?'"
I asked if he had a message for his critics.
"This is my message to the west. If they can do as well as
we have done and enjoy life as much as we do then they can criticize
us. We run a model nation. We have twenty five races and many different
religions living side by side without killing each other. Compare
that to Bosnia or Ireland. We've achieved a form of Nirwana, a utopia.
Economic development, racial integration, and religious tolerance."
On that point James Wong is right. Leaving aside the downtrodden
(but not annihilated) Penan for the moment, Sarawak is, in many
ways, a model society. People's lives are improving. Education is
important. Health services are common. It may be poor in spots,
but in general Sarawak is one of the most harmonious places I've
ever lived. You can walk anywhere safely, and see smiles and eat
good food cheaply and buy whatever you need and ... well, forgetting
the forest destruction and related social and environmental dilemmas
for a moment, it's a pretty good corner of the world.
I explained my experience with Penans who had been encouraged by
generous government incentives to resettle into longhouses. How
their natural environment had been hammered, how their faces were
devoid of spirit and energy, how they had seemingly tumbled even
further down the Sarawak social totem pole.
In reply, James Wong lectured me, as I have been lectured by numerous
Asian officials when I raised similar concerns. In effect, he said
"We just want our cousins the naked Penan to enjoy the same
benefits we civilized folk enjoy."
"We are very unfairly criticized by the west," he added.
"As early as 1980 I was concerned about the future of the Penans."
To prove it he pointed out a poem he had written:
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 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!
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