Published
Video length: 4 min
VIDEO. Komeok Joe: “Since deforestation, everything has changed for my tribe”
He was 6 years old when deforestation companies started arriving on his land. Now 58 years old, Komeok Joe continues to raise awareness about the situation affecting his tribe, the Penans. He lent his voice to the film “Sauvages” by Claude Barras presented at the Cannes Film Festival.
(Raw.)
He was 6 years old when deforestation companies started arriving on his land. Now 58 years old, Komeok Joe continues to raise awareness about the situation affecting his tribe, the Penans. He lent his voice to the film “Sauvages” by Claude Barras presented at the Cannes Film Festival.
If he is at the Cannes Film Festival, it is to present the film “Sauvages” directed by Claude Barras and to which he lends his voice. In his daily life, Komeok Joe is far from the Cannes red carpets. He lives in Sarawak, the largest Malaysian state and is part of the Penan tribe, which he represents during the Festival. Its people have been threatened for several years by deforestation. “When I was little, I was happy. The rivers were clear. I heard the birds, the monkeys. Our minds were at peace. Today we live like fish that have been thrown out of water. If we no longer have river water, the fish die. This is our life” explains Komeok Joe.
Its community has been weakened by different elements: the government which forced it to settle down and the arrival, at the same time, of deforestation companies. From that moment, “everything has changed, for me, my parents, my brothers and sisters, my family and my entire tribe” comments the Penan representative. Today, their lives are marked by “the sound of bulldozers and falling trees”. Nevertheless, “80% of us still live in the forest”. He wants to continue to raise awareness about the situation so that deforestation stops: “I believe that people from outside need to talk to the government of Malaysia, ask to stop destroying the forest, not to plant palm oil, not to build dams.”
