Borneo Bags – a well-woven story of dedication in a rainforest setting.
The February presentation to U3A was a fascinating lecture from Jacky McLaren, the founder of Borneo Bags.
Jacky began her working life as an agricultural scientist in the UK but moved to New Zealand to undertake agricultural research in the Hawkes Bay. She subsequently accepted a teaching role in Brunei where she taught for two decades. During trekking expeditions across Borneo, she came into direct contact with one of the last remaining semi-nomadic tribes in Asia — the Penan. Located deep in the rainforests of Borneo, the Penan are amongst the last of the hunter gatherers, noted for their practice of ‘molong’ which means never taking more than necessary.
The current Penan population is estimated to be around 15,000 to 20,000 persons but is sadly in decline. These originally minimalistic hunters were Christianised by missionaries of the Borneo Evangelical Mission and although they were baptised, they still remained living in their rainforest homeland. They traditionally ate local plants, which were also used for medicine, while they hunted the indigenous animals whose hides were used for clothing and shelter.
In the 1960s, the Indonesian and Malaysian governments embarked on extensive logging programmes throughout Borneo. This was followed by several hydroelectric development projects and, more recently, by the widespread development of the palm oil industry. The Penan lands are now under severe threat or already lost, due to the wholesale devastation of the rainforests . This loss of habitat and of so many of Borneo’s indigenous flora and fauna has had a disastrous effect on the tribal peoples. The Penan tribes have lost their food sources, their shelter and many highly significant local medicines. The Penan people have had no option but to leave the forests, live adjacent to the logging camps and for the men to work for the logging companies that are destroying their traditional way of life.
Jacky has helped to establish the Penan Women Project and Helping Hands Penan charities whose aim is to educate and empower the Penan women to keep alive their traditional skills in weaving. The weaving was traditionally based on the indigenous resources of bamboo, but the loss of habitat has forced them to switch to synthetic but more durable materials. The Penan’s weaving skills have now been channelled into the production of attractive and useful baskets and related products. All funds raised through the weaving products are channelled back to support the tribal people who now live on the margins of the logging camps in the area. Jacky is currently marketing and selling these products through her website: Borneobags.com and several retail outlets throughout New Zealand.
There was some discussion among U3A members after the presentation about the ever-expanding use of the environmentally disastrous palm oil kernels by the New Zealand Dairy industry. Greenpeace has reported that New Zealand has become the World’s largest importer of palm oil kernel extracts/expellers (PKE) and it is questionable whether or not New Zealand’s current clean-green image for dairy products can be sustained by our growing use of this PKE which is blended with maize as a high protein feed substitute for our dairy industry.
Pictured: Jacky McLaren with the Headman of the Penan Tribe.
NEXT MEETING: Friday, 13 March 2026
SPEAKER: Professor Rod Jackson of the Faculty of Medicine, Epidemiologist. His talk is entitled, “You are What you Eat and It’s Never Too Late To Change.”
VENUE: Herne Bay Petanque Club, Salisbury Reserve, Salisbury Street, Herne Bay.
ENQUIRIES: Bronwen Hughes, President, Ponsonby U3A. www.u3a.nz
