Map of Punan villages in Sarawak 2020
Fig 1. Aerial photo of Punan Sama village, the uppermost Punan village along the Rejang. By the end of 2020, there are a total of 14 Punan villages, home to estimated 6,000 people distributed in Kapit and Bintulu Division. This is a six-fold increase from merely 600 people, scattered 7 longhouses in 1950s (see Rodney Needham 1955). Subsequently, Ida Nicolaisen in 1975, also tabulated 7 longhouses with population of 1,750 people - triple Needham's figure. In 1948, Punan Kaku, administratively known as Rumah Keseng, for example, was already a 48 doors longhouse (Leach 1950), with a population exceeding 400 people. But in Needham's estimate, the two longhouses Rh. Gisak and Rh. Keseng in the Kakus population was about 71 persons (Needham 1955). A much reliable data become available about two decades after Needham. Ida Nicolaisen (1976) estimated total Punan population in 1976 was about 1,750 persons. It should be noted that both Needham and Nicolaisen excluded the Punan ...