Punan being a nomadic tribe in the upper and downstream areas of the Malinau and Kayan Rivers.
Those communities that lived in the area were subsistent. The primary livelihoods they performed were inherited from their ancestors. Except for the
Punan, there was no significant difference in daily life among communities located in Inhutani II. The Punan maintain a habit of frequent travel along the
Malinau-Kayan Rivers. The livelihoods of these communities include swidden agriculture, hunting, catching fish and collecting.
4.2.1.1. Rice Field Practice Shifting Cultivation
The rice field practice or swidden agriculture became the major activity of most people living in the area. They cut the primary forest and planted non-
irrigated rice at the beginning. They now have a limited forest to cut now, as the rotation period which was ideally 10 years became four or five years. The
calendar of swidden or jekau in the local language activities is described in Figure 4.8.
A person or household who cut the forest for the first time was considered as the owner of the jekau. Each family usually has more than one jekau. A jekau
irrigated by water from the rivers was called a sawah. There were some sawah in those villages. Jekau could only be planted once a year but sawah could be
planted twice a year. In some activities such as slashing, planting or cutting, other community members helped individual households. This traditional
arrangement was called senguyun. Senguyun could be based on money payment or no payment, depending on the agreement among community
members. Figure 4.9. shows a layout of a typical village and its swidden agriculture.
Figure 4.8. Swidden agriculture activities
Since the fallow period, which was the period between opening the forest if the jekau was new or cutting trees if jekau was not new and re-cutting trees,
was considered very short four or five years, it never gave enough time for the trees to grow. This was due to pressures from population growth. In addition,
the communities had limited areas for opening new jekau. The pristine forests were limited as most of them had become Inhutani II’s concession area. It was
also common for those communities to burn the field or jekau after slashing, cutting and drying out - they considered wind direction when burning the field.
Jekau Activities
Jan Feb
Mar
harvest
leave and move to other jekau
slash
slash slash
and cut
trees dry
out and
burn make
holes and plant
clean up clean up
harvest
non-jekau activities
non-jekau activities
Apr
May Jun
r Jul
Aug Sep
Oct Nov
Dec
Figure 4.9. A typical village with its swidden agriculture j is jekau
Community members believed and recognized traditional values and beliefs, including the following:
1. If you are on a canoe in the river going somewhere, and •
you see the bird crossing in front of you from left to right, it is a good sign. You can continue your journey with the canoe.
• you see the bird crossing in front of you from right to left, it is a bad
sign. 2. Snake
• If you find a snake on your path or the snake is in front of you, it
means you will have bad luck.
Communities’ housing
j1 j2
j3
j5 j4
Pristine forest
3. Eagle •
If you see an eagle crossing left and right very often, it means you will have bad luck
• If you see the eagle coming straight toward you, it means you will
have good fortune •
If the eagle comes from behind you and leaves in the same direction you are heading, it means your good fortune will be gone
4. Adat ceremonies, performed when opening the forest through cutting trees and during rice harvesting.
These beliefs at least became a limitation for cutting trees or frequently opening more forest for communities. Communities’ beliefs might well be
described as a form of animism. If people conduct their lives in accordance with the adat that come from the spirits, they feel comfortable, and that they don’t
have too much to fear. Those ceremonies are intended to establish good relations with spirits and ensure their blessing.
4.2.1.2. Hunting
