A - NOMAD HUNTER-GATHERERS

The Batek, Batek de' (K. & K. ENDICOTT) are referred to by their neighbours as the 'Sakai' (pejorative, 'slave'), 'Pangan', 'Orang Asli' ; in the litterature as 'Eastern Semang', 'Batek', 'Bateq', 'Pangan'. They live in the States of Kelantan (Lebir River), and of Pahang along the rivers Tahan, Keniyam and Sat) (see map). They are bilingual, most of them speaking Malay.

The Chewong (HOWELL) are divided into two groups, one already close to Malay society, the other still living deep in the rainforest and living off hunting, fishing and collecting. This second group is the one we have been referring to here. They live in the Krau Game Reserve in central north Pahang.

The Temiar (Sakai) (BEJAMIN, 1966; ENDICOT, 1979a; COLE, 1959a) are living in the NE Perak, SW Kelantan.

A conjugal family is traditionally self-sufficient economically and mobile.

Enforced settlement leads to impoverishment ; see example of the Semelai described above.

Cultural variation of acculturation

All the groups have adapted to varying degrees. Thus among the Semaq Beri, all types of subsistence activities are represented, from hunting and gathering to slash and burn agriculture. Those in north-east Pahang and in Trengannu are hunter-gatherers and are completely dependent on the forest, but they use the government village 'settlement' as a base camp.

On the other hand, the southern Semaq Beri (Trengannu) live in government settlements. These communities are accessible by road and are subject to increasing government intervention in matters of development and agricultural projects (oil palm, rubber). In short, these are the communities under greatest threat and on the way to becoming communities of poor Malays. JENSEN refers to them as semi-nomads and, though less dependent on forest products than the northern Semaq Beri, they hunt and fish regularly and do some collecting of forest products for trade (rattan, aromatic woods). It is therefore correct to say that the southern Semaq Beri do depend on forest resources (for subsistence and for trade) for their livelihood.

Some live on the reserves (the Chewong).

Habitat varies from shelters to long houses :

Name of ethnic group	Camp	Village	Distance between communities	Territory	Rotation
Jahai	4 to 5 shelters (35 people)	approx. 70 people
Batek	35 (6 to 8 families)		approx. 20 km	1500 miles2
Semaq Beri	60 (16 families)	100 (6 to 9 families)	approx. 50 km
Temiar	35 (1 kin group)	25 à 60 people			1 to 3 years
Chewong	12 to 20 (2 families)			190 miles2	2 to 3 years

Settlements are non-permanent or semi-permanent, often near water (Batek) ; camps are moved within the limits of the territory (Semaq Beri) and follow the cycles of land clearing (Temiar, Chewong). The Batek have a permanent centre : Poste Lebir, a government settlement. The whole ethnic group is free to come together and form temporary camps.

The Jahai prefer shelters covered with leaves where they keep a fire going against mosquitos, fire which they always move around with (ENDICOTT, 1983). There are no roads, and access to the camp or the village is along paths or along the river.

The Semaq Beri village of Kampong Orang Asli in 1978 : 60 people living in 16 family units ; 3 births and 3 deaths in one year. Out of 29 adults, 7 are Batek (Negritos) married to Semaq Beri (KUCHIKURA, 1988). The Batek camp includes approximately 35 people : 5 to 8 nuclear families (11 men, 20 women, and 15 children) (Karen ENDICOTT, 1986).

Mobility in the forest

These populations move around the forest all year round except during the rainy season (nov. and jan.) to hunt and collect forest products (2 to 36 days) ; some moves are linked to the ritual calendar. 2 to 15 families may be involved. The Batek moved 21 times in one year (1977-78). Areas covered by these moves can be up to 600m apart ; they are usually within the primary forest, in which case the people set up temporary camps (Batek, Semaq Beri, Jahai).

Social and political structure

The residential unit is the nuclear family or the families of one household, and includes 2 to 6 individuals (Chewong). The community structure is based on bilateral descent (Semaq Beri, Batek). The conjugal family is economically self-sufficient and politically independent (Batek, Chewong). The Jahai see themselves as forming one big family.

The power structure is egalitarian. Decision-making is based on consensus with great autonomy of action for each and everyone. No headman is elected but the government appoints an official who has no real authority. His role is to deal with the outside world. His decisions are respected but not necessarily taken into account. Inequality is beginning to appear with the development of cash returns for some products (Chewong).

Traditional territorial rights in a few societies

Among the Semaq Beri, each group has its own territory. The boundaries are clearly defined and maintained through mutual respect, and access to resources available is on demand. Rights to make a garden are acquired by felling trees.

For the Batek, the earth was created for all to use, Batek and non-Batek. But they do take into account pesaka, the place where a person grew up, spent his/her childhood, and for which strong feelings remain even if one is presently living far away from it ; but there is no sense of ownership (K. & K. ENDICOTT, 1988 : 113-4).

Rights to farm the land are family rights and only last as long as the farming activities do. The territory, vast and traditionally open to all, has lost much of its land today to the oil palm plantations.

The Western Semang : here, each tribe owns part of the forest and each family owns its own plot within the tribe's territory ; only relationships through blood or marriage give rights over the land. Each is careful not to encroach on its neighbours' territory. This attitude seems to stem from the western Semang's situation : they are caught between the Temiar and the constantly advancing Malays (id.).

The Mendriq, swidden cultivators along the Nenggeri River, also have concepts of territorial boundaries, and of exclusive rights over the territory, saka'. Each group lives on the headman's saka' because he is considered to be the owner of the land and share its agricultural use with the members of his group. On the other hand, they also consider themselves as owners of the headman's saka', even when it is not in use (e.g. fallow), and the JOA has occasionally had to help them obtain legal recognition of their rights. Just like the Western Semang, the Mendriq live in densily populated areas and have to compete for the land with Temiar and Malay farmers (id.).

Swidden agriculture is still in practice

Some groups farm sporadically clearing patches of forest or fallow and ignore permanent agriculture (Batek, Semaq Beri).

Some groups clear some 100 m² of forest per year (Jahai). The government made a few attempts at developing horticulture (2,52 ha allocated per garden), but without much success ; actually, these populations are not in the least bit adapted to agriculture (centered on rice cultivation) and have no intention whatsoever of depending on it all year round for their subsistence. They are also unwilling to become full-time farmers (Semaq Beri) (KUCHIKURA).

Staple crops are mountain rice, maize, tubers (manioc, sweet potato, taro, yam), sweet bananas and plantains, marrows, and vegetables. The Batek grow some 15 different species, the Semaq Beri 6 or 8. A little tobacco (Chewong).

Some have higly sophisticated and profitable agricultural systems ; main crops are rice and manioc ; secondary crops : maize, sugar-cane, banana, chili peppers and other vegetables (Temiar, COLE, 1959).

For rice cultivation, the best land is either cleared primary forest or well regenerated secondary forest. Manioc is planted all around the field to deter those animals who might otherwise ruin the highly valued rice crop. On the side closest to the camp, maize and vegetables are planted, and in the centre several varieties of rice, harvested at least twice. One manioc plantation will continue to yield for over 30 months, after which the field is left fallow. Small manioc gardens are maintained in the forest and provide supplies for hunter-gatherers.

Fallow land continues to be used for 1 to 3 years after agricultural activities have stopped (Chewong, Temiar). The rotating clearing cycle is 40 years long among the Jahai (one man will never clear the same plot twice in the course of his life). Those who have government gardens tend to re-use the same plots (Semaq Beri).

The introduction of cattle is recent and some fowl are kept, but some groups have neither (Batek).

There are no signs of forest degradation except around government installations with the emergence of Imperata cylindrica. The populations deplore the loss of all the good land taken over by the oil palm plantations (Batek, Jahai).

Hunting, fishing and collecting provide for most protein requirements

Small game is hunted all year round :

Squirrels, birds rodents, bats, lizards, wild cats, civet (3 species among the Batek), different species of monkeys, gibbons (Hylobates Iar) and siamangs (H. syndactilus), but they prefer vegetarian monkeys (4 species : Presbytis obscura, P. memalophos, macaque, Macacus fascicularis and M. nemestrinus), lemurs. These species can be found everywhere, but populations vary in density, from 4,5 animals/km² for the siamangs, to 74 animals/km² for vegetarian monkeys living in troops. Animals living at ground level are caught by hand or with a machete, e.g. the Burmese brown tortoise (Testudo emys) and several other species of tortoises and turtles, porcupine, monitor lizard, reticulated python, pangolin (Manis javanica), large bamboo rat (Rhysomis sumatrensis) (Jahai, Temiar, Batek, Semaq Beri). The Semaq Beri, Chewong and Jahai hunt large game such as deer (Cervus unicolor), bear, gaur (Bos javanensis), wild pig, tapir. Among the Chewong, the men hunt pig, deer and bear, while women catch tortoises, monitor lizards and porcupines though they also help make and inspect the pig traps in the fields.

Fishing is carried out by all in rivers and streams, with hooks, nets and poison ; fishing by hand brings in the best catch.

Many species of fish, turtles (Trionyx cartilagineus, Cyclemis dentata) and frogs (Rana macrodon) are caught (Semaq Beri).

The techniques involve the use of traps, blowpipes with poisoned darts, harpoons, and guns. The tools are mostly of indigenous origin (baskets, hunting implements, blowpipes) and the materials used come from the forest ; knives are bought.

Both the Semaq Beri and the Batek make about twenty different tools.

They gather many wild products, tubers, fruits, fungi, nuts, young shoots, poison for arrows.

The Jahai gather durian, yam, petai, perah nuts, fungi, and poisons for their arrows (various Ipoh). The Batek use 12 species of wild yam, only one of which, Dioscorea hispida, requires detoxification . They settle on areas where available quantities of yam can feed a whole camp for several days and then move on. Wild fruit trees (many species of Artocarpus and Durio pinanganus), the next most important source of food, are widely distributed in the forest. They can also be found in abandoned orchards : Durio zibethinus, rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) and langsat (Lansium domesticus). Bee larvae and honey are collected by smoking out the bees (Apis dorsata).

But the dietary importance of wild plants has decreased between 1975 and 1990. The Semaq Beri used to collect 23 species of tubers (yam, taro), the heart of various species of palm trees, fungi, leaves, nuts, hundreds of different fruits. But some tubers no longer play much of a role in their diet since these populations became partially sedentary and the development of market economy.

Dietary dependence on wild products is reduced

Among the Batek in 1975-76, yams, fruits, game and fish provided appoximately 54% of total calorie intake. In 1990, the same foodstuffs only provided about 20% of total calorie intake.

Dietary dependence on species cultivated by the people themselves : in 1975-76, maize, cucumber provided about 1% of calorie intake (many products obtained through trade were cultivated by others). In 1990, maize, rice, manioc provided about 10% of the calorie intake. Rice, flour and sugar, they either produce or obtain through exchange with the Malays.

Dependence on commercial foodstuffs is increasing : in 1975-76, rice, flour, sugar provided about 46% of the calorie intake, and in 1990, together with cooking oil, they provided 80% of the calorie intake.

Karen ENDICOTT (1980) provides a few figures on the amounts obtained through hunting, with and without using blowpipes, hunting bamboo rat, fishing, gathering tubers (yams), and through exchange of rattan for foodstuffs (rice, sugar).

The Semaq Beri of Trengannu extract from the forest amounts of protein and carbohydrates that exceed by far the minimum food requirements (KUCHIKURA) : all the fish, all the meat and 90% of the vegetables they eat come from the forest. But their dietary reliance on agricultural products is nevertheless important : rice bought in shops and eaten at least 5 to 6 times a week, sugar, tea, salt, onions, spices, sweets. These products are usually bought on credit and payed for with forest products : rattan, resin, essential oil, honey. Rations provided by the JOA include rice, sugar, cooking oil.

Patterns of consumption over one year (1977-78) :

Blowpipe hunting provides 41% of the game eaten during the year, hunting by hand 12,7%, fishing 33,7%. 76% of total takes come from the inland forests and consist of brown Burmese tortoises.

Village meat consumption is of 8,6 kg of game per year (several hunters, long trecks), while in camps it is 7,1 kg of game (alone, short trecks).

Traditional diet : 90% total energy intake is of plant origin. 53% protein intake is of animal origin. Animals shot with blowpipes provide 4% of total energy intake and 21% of protein intake during the year the study was carried out.

The average energy intake of a male adult remaining in the village is 2275 calories per day, and 2486 when on trecks ; these figures are slightly above FAO standards when this calorie intake is compared to the weight of adult male (average : 47,4 kg).

The tables on the sources of the different foodstuffs (wild, cultivated, bought) show that the JOA supplements their subsistence diet very adequately over periods of reduced or non-existent production, and thus restores the dietary balance (22,1% is JOA contribution in 17 weeks/29 during which the study was carried out). On the other hand, when the JOA supplies food, the Semaq Beri and the Batek no longer bother to hunt or gather.

The Semaq Beri have increased the amount of bought foodstuffs in their diet and thus have a balanced diet at present, but we do not have the data to compare this with their prior situation. However, it seems that the only item that lacked in their traditional diet (of hunter-gatherers) was vegetable oils, provided today in the village.

Unfortunately, only 40% of the money they earn is used to supplement their diet but 60% to buy gadgets from the West.

For those populations (Temiar) that have become quite proficient cultivators, 2/3 of their staple food is provided by manioc.

An increasingly predominant cash economy has implied intensifying the labour and energy inputs necessary to go further afield to collect the rattan. Before, these populations stayed longer in each camp, relying only on hunting and gathering for their daily food requirements. Degradation of rattan resources has meant intensifying the labour and energy involved in collecting it (this thick rattan has a wide diametre and is cut in primary forest ; the natural rattan resources of an area are depleted within a year and take 6 to 10 years to grow back). Moreover, the long search for rattan now coincides with the low season in the agricultural calendar ; hunting traditionally supplemented the food shortage during this period but is now in competition with rattan collecting, and food scarcity is thus accentuated (Semaq Beri).

They say that they used not to have any periods of food shortage, and this is true of all rainforest hunter-gatherer populations.

Focusing on a few bought foodstuffs such as rice, sugar and cooking oil has destroyed the diversity of their prior diet which was far superior in nutritional value.

They attach no value whatsoever to cattle meat (buffalo) or poultry (chicken) (MORRIS 1990). They never eat buffalo, chicken or goat but they do exchange them for game, and occasionally sell them (Semaq Beri, Temiar, ENDICOTT, 1979).

Alcoholic beverages are prepared with the tempoi fruit (Baccaurea malayana) (Semelai, COLLINS, 1949a ; Temuan and Temiar, RAMBO, 1979a : 46).

Cash crops

Cash cropping is little developed. In the 1970s, the JOA tried to convince some people to plant orchards but without much success : 'that isn't our aim, we are not interested in collecting the fruit, we like to keep moving, hunting and picking wild fruits following the change of seasons' (Chewong). Among the Batek, until 1976, swidden agriculture was a family-based activity and scattered over the whole territory. Now they work in the oil palm plantations.

Contacts

Mostly non-violent and particularly vulnerable, these populations fear contact with the outside world, but they have not organized any kind of defence mechanism, nor have they counter-attacked. Since they do not go to the trading centres, traders come to them. They are also in contact with foresters, sawyers, woodcutters, immigrant farmers, and government officials with whom they have a minimum of contacts (Batek).

The Semaq Beri and the Batek have Malay neighbours who are rice and rubber producers and small-scale traders. They often have debts towards the Malays, hence the rather tense relationships. Nearby centres provide markets, shops, medical and government services, but there are no missions or agricultural posts. The Semaq Beri and the Batek also have contacts (intermarriage) with hunters and fishermen but not with either poachers, foresters, woodcutters, immigrant farmers, prospectors or miners.

They have a good reputation as herbalists and healers among the Malay

They use many forest products, the properties of which are sometimes quite remarkable (Semaq Beri, Batek, Temuan). Pharmacological inventories are available but they have not been analysed chemically. However, see BURKILL (1935). There is a collection of Semaq Beri medicinal plants at UKM Bangi, Selangor.

Their view of the world :

The deep forest areas constitute their environment : the forest is a cool place, provides the basis for their subsistence, is a barrier for diseases, and provides relief from the heat of the villages near the river (Semaq Beri, MORRIS, 1990 ; Chewong).

Religious rituals are closely linked to their use of the forest :

Rituals take place mainly around the fruit and honey season which is also the rainy season (storms) ; more precisely, the Semaq Beri and Batek have rituals between the fruit season and the rainy season. There are no specific ritual areas but there are traditionally dangerous places, dangerous species and dangerous periods. Big ceremonies take place wherever there are strong mythological associations. The forest is peopled with non-human beings who are an integral part of the human environment. They communicate with and guide human beings during the latter's dreams and trances. They are everywhere in the forest, they are the plants, the animals, but also the stones and the mountains. These associations entail many taboos regarding forest animals and plants. Plants are used to induce shamanic trance and for various therapies. There is no religious leader and any individual may use trance and chanting (Jahai, Semaq Beri, Batek, Batek de', Chewong).

Political and legal status of the Nation and the problems involved

Each village has a representative designated by the government after briefly consulting the community. They are the forest guards in the national park and provide itinerant medical aid (Batek, Semaq Beri).

The point of view of the state authorities is that though these territories are their natural habitat, indigenous populations have no legal title or control over them. Legally the land belongs to the state and the Batek are quite simply 'squatters', though they and other Orang Asli in Kelantan have permission to occupy the land while it is not in use. But they have no power to stop the state from deciding to use the land (which it can do at any time) and no way of securing their own interests over it (ENDICOTT, 1982).

The legal situation regarding land varies for different ethnic groups

-For the Semaq Beri, land is controlled by the state, not by the federal government. The land belongs to the state and is divided into national parks and forest reserves. Their immediate concern is a plan to develop the land, plan which does not provide any protection for them and obliges them to commit themselves to sedentary life or face prosecution.

-The Batek are under JOA control. Their territory is owned by state and by the federal government. The policy defines minimal protection in the small reserve around Poste Lebir, but it is never officially guaranteed. The government is trying to settle them in Poste Lebir and turn them into Muslim rubber collectors : the JOA has temporarily obtained a big area, but the state has refused to establish a permanent reserve for the aborigines. A school and medical station have been built, and seeds and young hevea plants have been distributed. But women still spend at least half of their time collecting forest products.

Attitudes towards change

They express a strong desire to preserve their traditional culture and ethnic identity. Development projects aim at changing them into small-scale farmers (Semaq Beri, Batek).

The destruction of the forest occurs on land sold by the state for logging and it has dramatic consequences for some populations : at the end of the 1980s, one third of the area traditionally occupied by the Orang Asli had been cleared. Another third was sold for its timber to various concessions, and one may safely assume that by the end of the 1990s the totality of their territory outside the national park (around Poste Lebir) will have been cleared. The consequences are dramatic for them : their primary source of subsistence and of cash revenue is destroyed ; also, they will have to rely on their own farming, situation for which they are not prepared, not to mention the demoralizing effect of the disappearance of their cultural and religious world (Batek, ENDICOTT, 1982).