Jungle Rules

A WALK IN THE FOREST

Maya_Green

A WALK IN THE FOREST

Maya_Green

EPIGRAPH In the jungle, life and food depend on keeping your temper.

- Rudyard Kipling

Acknowledgement The art pieces in this booklet are courtesy of artist HRoha Ariffin.

Published by Harini Management Services Sdn. Bhd (609031) W9-12, Menara Melawangi Amcorp Trade Centre 18, Persiaran Barat 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Printed in Malaysia United Mission Press Sdn. Bhd (9755329-X) No.15, Perindustrian BS 9 Jalan BS9/10, Taman Bukit Serdang 43300 Seri Kembangan Selangor Darul Ehsan

A WALK IN THE FOREST

A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10 | 5

A Walk in the Forest:

The Jungle Rules of 10 One of my earliest recollections is being perched on my father’s back, out on a hunting trip deep in the jungles of Central Borneo. I must have been about 2-3 years old and could barely traverse the tricky jungle landscape. Hence, riding piggy back on Tama’s (Kelabit word for father) back.

As was his custom, Tama’ used to take me everywhere carrying me on his back most of the time. Observing this, the people would ask him, ‘Why do you carry your son everywhere with you? Others too have children but they don’t do likewise!’ He would reply, ‘I don’t have many like you, only two kids, so I’ll bring them everywhere with me whenever I can.’

I can still recall the breathtaking beauty around me — the imposing trees and plants of all kinds, the colourful flowers and the many shades of leaves, the sunlight streaming through the forest canopy onto the forest floor, the mists hovering above the ground and in the bushes, the flickering of the sunlight as it touches the water in the flowing streams, the sounds of the forest and the calls of the gibbons high up the blue mountains in the early morning. The forest has never failed to fascinate me.

Thanks to that early exposure, my love for the forest is still intact.

Later, I learnt about the close relationship that exists between the forest dwellers and the forests. Even their often-misunderstood practice of

6

| A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10

shifting cultivation is intertwined with sustainable principles that form the bedrock of nature itself. The natives never farm the same plot of land for longer than necessary, preferring to move to another location to repeat the same practice. It will take a cycle of 10-15 years before they return to the same spot, if at all, and which by then the land would have regenerated to its original state. It’s a fallow system to keep the land alive and always fertile.

And then there is a rather refined traditional code of conduct relating to land use and the environment. For example, the Kelabits have a hunting rule: if one knows that an animal, say a sambur deer, is pregnant one is prohibited from killing it. Another example, one is only allowed to take from nature what one needs and must not destroy or harvest everything at one go. Leaving something for tomorrow or for the future and for others is an imperative. So is the concept of sharing one’s good fortune with others, not hoarding or keeping what has been collected, taken, hunted or harvested from the natural environment. This is a cardinal principle in the traditional way of life.

This collection of short poems, The Jungle Rules of 10, is an attempt to capture some of the wisdom of the peoples of the rainforest. It is expounded in English, for the benefit of a wider audience.

by Maya_Green @medan_maya, @BalangNadun (Kelabit) @AvunLedit (Kayan), @BalanJalong (Kenyah-Badeng)

JUNGLE RULE 1

Leave the luggage behind, Carry only what you can carry on your back.

- Maya_Green, short poems

8

| A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10

JUNGLE RULE 2

Take only what you need at that moment, and more; respecting nature as a living being.

- Maya_Green, short poems

A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10 | 9

JUNGLE RULE 3

If you kill the forest, you will kill the rivers, and many more things after that.

- Maya_Green, short poems

10

| A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10

JUNGLE RULE 4

Sharing and interdependence is a fundamental law of the forest and Don’t forget this wisdom.

- Maya_Green, short poems

A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10 | 11

JUNGLE RULE 5

Be like the flowers, though their life is short, They always give their best shot.

- Maya_Green, short poems

12

| A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10

JUNGLE RULE 6

Celebrate nature as you celebrate life, You are like conjoined twins with her.

- Maya_Green, short poems

A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10 | 13

JUNGLE RULE 7

The rain that falls on mountains and forests yearns to get to the sea.

Therein lies some wisdom.

- Maya_Green, short poems

14

| A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10

JUNGLE RULE 8

When you are in the river, take a drink to quench your thirst, she has been waiting for that moment.

- Maya_Green, short poems

A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10 | 15

JUNGLE RULE 9

When you erect anything in the jungle, make sure it blends, or, don’t do it at all.

- Maya_Green, short poems

16

| A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10

JUNGLE RULE 10

When rain drops reach the sea, It would have reached its finishing point, Only to start the journey all over again.

- Maya_Green, short poems

A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10 | 17

THE PA MADA RIVER I sat in the sun: on the grass; The wind held her breathe, just for a while.

Nearby, the Pa Mada glided, leisurely, taking her sweet time.

To the sea.

Transfixed - I felt it, I felt the sway.

And the pull of the heart.

I have longed to return, to this place in the highlands; Only to find out, I have never left. ~ Maya_Green, short poem

18

| A WALK IN THE FOREST: THE JUNGLE RULES OF 10

A WALK IN THE FOREST

The Jungle Rules of 10

Dato Mohammad Medan bin Abdullah straddles two worlds. In one world, he is the highflying Group Chief Executive Officer of Bintulu Port Holdings Berhad, the operator of Malaysia’s sole export terminal for liquefied natural gas. A law graduate from the University of Malaya, Dato Medan started his career as a trainee legal officer in Petronas, and rose to be among the main players to take the oil and gas business global. Over the years, Dato Medan has held numerous positions in notable oil and gas companies in Malaysia, the UK and Singapore.

Then there is the world of words, music and nature, of which his kampung in the Bario highlands in Sarawak, plays an influential role. The tightknit way of life in the longhouse, the idyllic days spent roaming barefooted in the jungles and afternoons spent swimming in the river has never quite left this jungle boy despite his many years of travelling and his professional role as a business leader.