The state government has never neglected the Penan community but has always tried to convince and bring them to modernity, said Sarawak Land Development Minister Dr James Jemut Masing.

He said the government was giving the option to the old generation of Penans to either continue with their lifestyle or come out of the jungle and live a modern life.

"For the old generation of Penans who still want to continue their life as hunters, there are still plenty of forests for them to go hunting but for the young generation, the government is encouraging them to go to school as education is the key to better living," he said in Kuching today.

Masing ( photo ), who is chairperson of the Bakun Charitable Trust, said this to reporters after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) and Bakun Charitable Trust.

The MOU is to provide further educational support for the Penan communities in the Belaga district, especially those directly affected by the newly completed Murum hydroelectric plant.

SEB Group chief executive officer Torstein Dale Sjotveit and head of its sorporate social responsibility department Jiwari Abdullah signed for SEB, while Masing and Sarawak Assistant Minister of Culture and Heritage Liwan Lagang, who is also Belaga assemblyperson, signed for Bakun Charitable Trust.

Masing said the state government's seriousness in assisting the Penans could be seen through three scholarships created so far to enable Penan students to acquire education and further their studies in universities and technical training schools.

Encouraging Penan students to attend school

He thanked SEB for providing a special education fund worth RM200,000 annually, parked under Bakun Charitable Trust which will be used to support the particular education needs of the Penans.

"The initiative aims is to further motivate young people from the community to strive for educational excellence," he said.

Masing said the beneficiaries of the fund would be residents of the six Penan villages and the sole Kenyah Badeng village from the Murum resettlement areas, and another 19 Penan communities from throughout the Belaga district.

Masing said incentives were also given to Penan students based on their attendance in school and not the examination results, so as to encourage parents to send their children to school.

Meanwhile, Torstein said education and young people was one of the main thrusts of SEB's corporate social responsibility strategy, as it recognised the importance of education in advancing social and economic development.

"In our aim to support the government in the state's economic growth by driving the Sarawak corridor of renewable energy, we want to make sure that communities affected by our projects benefit in a sustainable manner," he said.

Torstein represents SEB on a committee specially set up to manage the fund, which will focus on ways to continuously improve the enrolment and attendance rates, academic performance, counselling, and motivation and outreach programme for students, teachers, and parents.

He said through the initiatives taken by SEB, two schools in a Penan area had recorded 70 percent attendance compared to only 20 percent before.

- Bernama