KOTA KINABALU, June 28 ― Sarawak’s Penan community practice of teenage marriage needs to change, said Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau, as reported by The Borneo Post Online.

Ngau said marrying young does not benefit the community or the teenagers and their families and called on parents to discourage their children from getting married too early.

"Some of them are as young as 15 years old ― school dropouts ― and after completing Form three, five, and six. After dropping out, failing in examinations or completing school, as if giving up hope for a better life and with nothing better to do, they could only think of getting married and having a family,” he said during the Youth Worship and Sports Carnival in Long Lilim recently.

"Teen marriages will not bring benefit to the community apart from increasing the population of the Penan community. They are still not mature in thinking and without jobs. How are they going to support families of their own and improve the socio-economy of the family and community as a whole?” he asked.

Ngau asked them to concentrate on their studies and think of ways to improve the socio-economic status of the family and community instead of starting a family so soon.

"Getting married is not the way out of poverty. You and your community will continue to live in poverty with more mouths to feed if you start a family without the financial means to support it,” he said.

He said that apart from academics, they could excel by getting skills training in the various institutions around that will give them a leg up in the employment and business world.

He also advised the Penan community to utilise their land, culture, and heritage to generate an income.

"Take up modern farming by cultivating your lands rather than leaving them idle and just as an inheritance for future generations. Those with skilful hands and creative minds, especially women, may exploit your culture and heritage to generate income through handicraft making and culinary skills,” he said.

The Penan, a forest dwelling community, have been fighting for their land against development, either for agriculture use, or large-scale infrastructure plans like a hydro electric dam that would require them to move.