Jungle Cosmopolitanism

Tivai Ngang, Punan Busang headman of Long Unai

Retro Fieldnotes from Long Unai, Sarawak, January 2003

Tivai Ngang, a man in his mid-fifties, doesn't need a passport to enjoy the fruits of global border crossings. The headman of a Punan Busang tribe in Sarawak that has moved over from Indonesia 22 years ago, bordercrossing and transnational associations are as close to his heart as hunting wild boar or shooting monkeys with his blowpipe. An unlikely comparison at first sight, but he may have lots in common with your average Southeast Asian expat that has emigrated to settle and work abroad to Singapore, New Zealand or the US...well maybe more

Southeast Asian expats abroad are usually permitted to hold one job. Tivai instead multitasks to sustain his livelihood. Besides rice farming, he still adheres to his previous semi-nomadic hunting-gathering activities to support his family's subsistence,: he still hunts, collects sago starch, taps resins and harvests eaglewood ('gaharu') deep down in Borneo's inhabited rainforests.

While your average Southeast Asian expat has to compensate stress at work with physical workouts at fitness clubs/wellness centers and spas, Tivai doesn't need to.

Southeast Asian expats might be involved in transnational deals and fund flows, and may own properties both in Southeast Asia and abroad. Tivai has transnational access to forests, rivers, and may decide to sell whatever he extracts - depending on favourable market prices - to any country of his liking. (Indonesia/Malaysia/Brunei)

While your average Southeast Asian expat would rarely speak more than 2 languages, Tivai is multilingual and speaks 8 (Punan, Kenyah, Kayan, Iban, Bazaar Malay, Bahasa Indonesia proper, a bit of Banjarese and Foochow Chinese), out of neccesity for having to deal with Indonesian/Malaysian government officials, neighbouring ethnic groups, Foochow traders or Banjarese middlemen.

Southeast Asian expats would usually emigrate in single unit families. Tivai emigrated his entire village in 1984 from Indonesia to Malaysia...

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The story of Long Unai

The story of Tivai's village moving to Sarawak is only one example out of numerous village migrations that have occurred during the last century in Borneo. Up to 1984, the Punan Busang hamlet was located on the upper reaches of the Iwan river at Long Ikeng Iwan, one of the most isolated settlements in East Kalimantan at that time. The Indonesian Government in 1984, out of embarrassment that nomadic hunter-gathering communities 'tribes' still existed side by side our national aircraft industry, set out to 'civilize' these 'savages'. In doing so, the government initiated semi-forced resettlement programmes, and most Punan hamlets were ordered to join the more 'civilized' Kenyah and Kayan settlements downriver.
The Upper Balui

The Busang Punans of Long Ikeng Iwan received a governmental order in 1984 to resettle at Data Dian, a Kayan village which also seats the Kecamatan (Sub-District) center. This posed some problems for the Punans. First, they weren't prepared to abandon their semi-nomadic lifestyles with a sedentary farming culture as the government insisted them to do so. Secondly, this forced resettlement only separated the Punans further away from the gaharu-rich forests which provided them much of their basic needs. Always disregarding the border's existence, this also included the large tracts of adjacent rainforests in Sarawak, where gaharu reserves were abundant.
Punan Busang Migration map from Long Ikeng Iwan (Indonesia) to Long Unai (Malaysia)

Tivai, being the young headman of the Long Ikeng Iwan hamlet at the time, decided that resettlement was something too much to risk for. Fearing intimidation by Sub-District officials and police, he silently led his fellow villagers on foot one early morning into Sarawak. They decided for a suitable place at Long Unai, on the Upper Balui river, still in close proximity to the rainforests on both sides the border they had roamed for years.

Long Unai was classified by the Sarawak government as an illegal settlement until it gained official recognition in 2001. Despite having pledged allegiance to the Malaysian Yang Dipertuan Agong, Tivai and his followers still sell gaharu to Long Nawang on the Indonesian side, where Banjarese middlemen still offer better prices compared to their Chinese competitors on the Sarawak side. But Tivai never looks at his newly acquired Malaysian citizenship as permanent. "If the Indon government provides us free healthcare and education like they do in Sarawak, we might move back to Indon someday. The forests there are richer, and the waters still more abundant with fish."

A good lesson about what 'citizenship' really means...

Smokers Should Learn from Farters

Kansai Airport, 9 October, 11:00 AM

Sarcastical smoker's warnings I found around Kansai airport - though the visuals aren't as concise as the Japanese are usually known for. The first picture obviously shows that these signs were designed for festival-attending tourists.

And now, smokers should learn from farters:

Useful information, just realized that a fart consists of deadly gases...(otherwise, they wouldn't use the analogy, right?)
Yeah, a fart, it's a gas gas gas..

Random Images from Kansai Airport (Osaka)

Kansai Airport, 9 October, 10:40 A.M

Another airport thingee. Kansai airport, built on an artificial island (built by the Dutch) in the Osaka/Kobe bay, is Japan's second largest hub after Tokyo's Narita airport.

I noted one interesting souvenir shop: a Ninja shop. It's quite cool to bring a duty-free Ninja's outfit for display back home, unless you're from Basilan, Maluku, Poso or Pattani....

Suvarnabhumi Int'l Airport (part 2)

A better look during my second transit at Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Int'l airport.





Minor Glitches:

Tranfer here please ! glitch excused (it's 'falang' language after all)


Note below the confusing direction signs for immigration and baggage claims:

Lost in Sushi Translations

Japan has earned a special place in the hearts of culinary travelers - and the most traditional of Japanese cuisines, in its original, truncated, fused or corrupted forms, have gone global - from Oslo to Capetown, from Dubai to Auckland, from Brooklyn to Bojonegoro...

Of course, tourists flock in increasing numbers to Japan, and enjoying a traditional 'hardcore' Japanese meal is an important highlight of every visit to Japan. Kyoto remains one of the most popular travel destinations in Japan, and with the influx of tourists, traditional Kyoto restaurants have been 'internationalized'. Not quite...

Translating the bulk of dish names from traditional Kanji to English is one thing that has been taken for granted in a Japan that has never been eager to 'globalize' its own self.

Bizzare translations and misspellings are common - and one can only guess that most of these extra-terrestial translations are made by electronic Japanese-to-English pocket dictionaries, or translation websites (e.g. http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english)


"Please do not pour soy sauce directly from the bottle. Please use the brush."

Suvarnabhumi Int'l Airport: Thaksin's Last Megaproject

Suvarnabhumi's boarding gates

Bangkok, October 2, midnight

Bangkok's Don Muang International Airport finally closed its doors on the night of 27 September 2006, after 96 years in operation (and where it will then be transformed into a VIP/military airbase). Don Muang will forever stand as the symbol of Bangkok's transformation from a marginal Southeast Asian city into a regional and global hub, replacing Rangoon since 1962 as Southeast Asia's most important transportation hub when Burma faded away from the international scene.

Don Muang's coziness (or crampness some would say) and colourful history (which includes covert Indonesian-Malaysian peace negotiations in 1966, hordes of evacuation flights from Vietnam in 1975, the hijacking of an Indonesian plane in 1981, drug trafficking dramas, etc) has finally come to an end. Enter Suvarnabhumi (pronounced Suwan-na Phoom, 'Land of Gold') International airport.

Suvarnabhumi International Airport already made history by being marked as the swansong of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's endless series of megaprojects and alleged corruption scandals. The airport project, itself in the making for over 40 years and another lucrative profit tap for Thaksin's family coffers (see Bangkok Post, Sept. 13, 2006), had been bogged by several delays and false starts. (Thaksin initiated its soft opening late last year, though largely symbolic). Without much fanfare, Thailand's new military rulers kept the official 28 September opening on schedule, while Thaksin, himself ousted by a bloodless coup d'etat on 19 September, could only watch (if he does at all) from the sidelines at his London hotel sanctuary.

I flew through Suvarnabhumi on its fourth day being in full operation. First impression: it IS huge, but simultaneously, being dominated by colours of steel, very cold and menacing. Its grandeur alone was a local attraction, to a point where the government had to publicly discourage the public from sightseeing and jeopardizing the traffic to and from the airport. (Bangkok Post, 1 Oct, 2006)

Both Suvarnabhumi and KLIA may outdo Singapore's Changi in terms of grandeur, though I doubt Changi would soon drop out from the favourite airports list. Changi was designed with human psychology in mind: passengers just want to relax, feel cozy, or shop after long haul flights, without having to walk for miles to reach the immigration gate. Suvarnabhumi and KLIA are made to stun and intimidate visitors. Yes, they really have ways to make you WALK.

Many smoking rooms had yet to be opened, but following our excellent Southeast Asian traditions, everything could be 'fixed'. A willing airport janitor showed us places where we were (supposedly) allowed to smoke: in the fire exits !

Though the flight transfer was smooth, a serious problem occured during take off. Apparently one of the two major runways suffered from surface cracks, and hundreds of incoming and departing flights were being bottlenecked on the apron. It took 80 minutes for our flight to taxi away from the terminal to the main runway.

Smooth as silk...

Cold demeaning steel
Suvarnabhumi's displays of light
One of the few operational Smoking rooms
Japanese Mild Sevens & Marlboros, Korean-made Esses & Salems