Thursday, August 19, 2004

tong tana: the lost paradise

at 16:01

for my asian studies 205 lecture today, we watched this documentary of the Penan pple in Sarawak Broneo called Tong Tana: The Lost Paradise. we were talking abt the tribal peoples and modern states. the film was made 10 yrs after the documentary Blowpipes ad Bulldozers was made. both documentaries showed the plight of the Penan pple and how one man, a swiss national, bruno mansar, made it his personal crusade to enlighten the world abt the plight of this particular tribe. it was a relatively insightful documentary of how repressed certain tribes are in the world and the trials they face when they don't have a real claim on their lands and it evokes this thought that whether in the first place, the governmental powers of modern states have the right to claim lands as nations. *pardon me for the fragmented thot process* and of cos it also highlights how irresponsible we humans have become.


one thing that really jumped out at me during the 45 mins of the show was how the rainforest bore the brunt of the massive devastation brought upon by human consumption of timber. according to my lecturer's notes, it is estimated tht 90% of the forest is gone and much of the water supply is ruined thru loggin and land clearing. this in turn means that, the habitats of animals, flora and fauna and of cos the Penans are destroyed.
they filmed this particular section of the rainforest that had already been destroyed by logging, the thing abt this particular area was that when they filmed Blowpipes and Bulldozers, the rainforest was still at least intact. but when they passed it this time round filming Tong Tana, there was NOTHING. not a tree stood in sight.. no animals were sighted. all that was left were fallen plants, roots sticking out of the ground serving as huge ugly reminders of how beautiful the place once was.
the forests which have existed even before man, the oldest forest in the world is but almost all destroyed thru the increasing demands of human consumption. thinking abt it, it seems as if we humans have this insatiable appetite to consume, to the extend where we certainly do not care abt the reprecussions that wld impact our children and our children's children.
it is not to say that we humans shd stop advancing towards a better life, but it is important to always keep in mind that by destroying what has been given to us in this pursuit of a better life, we in turn wld be bringing abt the eventual demise of the human race.
i'm sure some of us, when we were growing up, always had dreams abt saving the world. wishing that we cld become superman, wonder woman, x-men... we always lament abt the degeneration of the environment and how we all shd be more environmentally conscious...
but how many of us do in fact become environmentally conscious? how many of us recycle, reuse, reduce and despite government efforts to promote the 3 Rs, how many of us do in fact help conserve the environment in our own little ways. pple always say that saving the environment starts from one's self. and it is true that it must always start from our own selves, but how much can we do? if we are the only ones who are trying and the rest of world aren't trying. and to top it of, the irony of us 'attempting to save the environment' while at the same time increasing our consumption of environmentally detrimental products.
okie right now i'm just rambling... can't put my thots into words as of yet... this is the best that came out from the mass of tangled thots. well.. i guess what i'm trying to say is that the video was kinda like a wake up call for me.. and it shd be for all of us.. to be more aware of the plight of certain grps of pple in the world as well as to be more aware of the environment. and try our best to like help preserve whatever we can... hahahah *wanted it to be more intellectual.. guess i ran out of steam... hahaahha *

 

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