By Jayhtaleela K
MIRI, Sept 26: The Penan community has been reminded not to let irresponsible non governmental organisations (NGOs) to mislead and exploit them with negative agenda to go against the government.
Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau said today these irresponsible NGOs had proven to be not totally honest to help the Penan community.
“These people often make promises of which they are not able to fulfill to the Penans. At the end of the day, it was the government that brought development to the Penan and rural areas,” he said when speaking at the presentation of the Sarawak Tipun Penan Development Association (Petipun) scholarships at PBB Telang Usan service centre in Luak.
At the event, he presented scholarships to 25 Penan students.
However, he said, gone were the the days when the Penans were vulnerable to those kind of agendas as the community’s younger generation are educated and wary of any form of misleading agendas brought by those unscrupulous NGOs.
“Some time ago, the Penan community was very much vulnerable and had become easy target and exposed to negative agendas brought by these irresponsible NGOs. They had promised them the stars and moon but never fulfill those promises because they are not totally honest to help the community,” he reckoned.
From 2011 until today (Sept 26, 2020), a total of 222 Penan students are recipients of the Petipun scholarships.
Also present was Penan community leader Temenggong Datuk Hassan Sui.-DayakDaily
