Sarawak Culture Sarawak Penan Culture People of the Forest : The Penan

Gallery

Main Penan Settlements

Long Beku/Long Lewe’

Long Beku/Long Lewe’ is located not far from the Kenyah settlement of Long San. It can be reached by boat after a journey that normally lasts 45 minutes during high tide. During low tide however, the journey takes an hour due to the rapids and exposed rocks (see pictures below).

Long Beku/Long Lewe Long Beku/Long Lewe Long Beku/Long Lewe

The Penan in Long Lewe’ are a settled community. They migrated from Long Beku to Long Lewe some fifty years ago. Because of their origins from Long Beku, the peoples who settled nearby still refer to the Long Lewe’ Penan as from Long Beku, which might be confusing to people who are not from the area.  The settlement consists of 21 bilik/amin with an average of 7 to 8 people in a family. They also have the tendency of

Long Beku/Long Lewe Long Beku/Long Lewe

having 1-3 families in a house. A house of this size (see picture above) can easily accommodate up to 15 people. This sizable settlement also had a large number of children, some of whom were not attending school because of homesickness. According to the village head, the current settlement will soon move to higher ground so as to avoid being flooded during the rainy season.