Podcasts · Global Roaming with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald
Borneo's vanishing rainforest: Omar Musa on palm oil, power and colonial ghosts
· 29 min
Episode Borneo's vanishing rainforest: Omar Musa on palm oil, power and colonial ghosts
Fresh from winning the 2026 Miles Franklin Award, writer and artist Omar Musa joins Global Roaming to take us into the rainforests of Borneo, a place where environmental destruction, colonial history, economic development and cultural identity collide.
Drawing on the themes of his award-winning novel Fierceland, Musa explores how palm oil transformed Malaysian Borneo: lifting many families out of poverty while accelerating the loss of rainforest, Indigenous lands, languages and traditions.
With Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue, he discusses the enduring legacy of colonialism in Southeast Asia, the tensions between multiculturalism and nationalism, Australia's relationship with the region, and his own journey growing up between Queensland and Borneo.
It's a conversation about memory, belonging, faith, identity and one of the world's most remarkable forests.Guest: Omar Musa, Author of 2026 Miles Franklin award winning novel Fierceland
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