The Batek of Malaysia - Research Paper Example

? The Batek of Malaysia The Batek are originally from Malaysia and are found in the rainforest of peninsular Malaysia. They gather food by hunting rather than animal husbandry and so their place of settlement varies within the limited boundaries of the area that they occupy. Around 800 members of the Batek community stay in Taman Negara which is a national park in the Malaysian peninsula. They are one of the groups of Malayan aborigines (Orang Asli) and from historic times they have always been gathering food by hunting and gathering natural resources (Bisht and Bankoti, 2004, p.100). This paper will focus on forage as primary mode of subsistence of the Batek population and its impact on some aspects of their culture. The Batek have maintained their primitive lifestyles but with time they might be facing challenging with respect to upholding their beliefs and traditions. There is a population of 133,000 Orang Asli in Malaysia and they are divided into 3 groups which again has 18 ethnic sub-groups. Each group has an identity of their and differ in language, culture and also architecture. In the age of urbanization they have adopted modern lifestyles and have come to live in urban areas. However, the Batek still maintain their traditional nomadic lifestyle (Beswick, 2010). The Batek people claim to have a strong and positive relationship with the forest. They hunt for food in the forests and also take refuge in the forests. In spite of their dependence on forests, their everyday life can be in danger. As with other nomadic groups, the Batek too suffer from this fear. The major factor that contributes to their fear of life is falling of trees. The Batek have an inherently practical approach to this problem. They cut down a tree if they think it has the possibility of falling over their camp. If cutting down of a tree does not seem possible then they escape from the way of the tree. As the best and hassle free solution they build their camps in place where there are no old trees so that they are saved from the threat of potential falling trees. In general term, this fear of the Batek of falling trees is a fitting environmental behaviour and can be considered normal for people living among trees. The Batek people believe that the world will cease to exist if no people live in the forests and so according to their belief they are holding up the world by remaining attached to the forests. Administrative boundaries do not restrict the Batak and they move freely in and out of Taman Negara Park. Based on their political and sexually democratic structure, there exist no boundaries among groups. The main characteristic of their daily camp life is fluctuation. The Batek people always look for new zones for resource and so their encampments are always fresh and in established sites (Tuck-Po, 2005, pp.250-251). A camp group has an average of 38 people and in general does not remain in one place for more than two weeks. They move from one rive valley to another in three to four months. Their movement is not random through the forest. They follow a definite walking trail and other pathways including rivers and streams (Tuck-Po, 2005, pp.250-251). The Batek do not have ownership of lands and they only look after lands. This makes them easier to move every five months so that the forest can replenish (Beswick, 2010). In Batek society leadership is not ascribed. It is based on situation and activity. Although individuals make decisions, still group decisions act as the best compromise between peaceful agreements and chaotic conflicts. Dominating behaviour is not favorably accepted and even the children have the right to object and refuse obedience. The nuclear family is the primary unit for production and consumption. An important social performance is the practice of sharing of food between households. The largest share of food that they gather goes to the family members of the hunter and their closest kin and the remaining portion of the food is distributed among the other members of the camp. Wild tubers, fish and forest fruits are food items which are not generally shared although are never refused if asked. They believe in sharing before asking. Their social life is a balance between sharing things with others and retaining control of things procured by one’s own labour. They hate to live as parasites by depending upon other people as they believe in self sufficiency (Tuck-Po, 2005, p. 252). Since the Batek believe in sharing of food, so they have tables and benches made of bamboos which are suitable for feeding an entire village. Although the Batek believe in sharing, but some items like men’s blowpipe and the comb of a woman are considered as personal items. When the family expands by birth of new members, they do not extend the size of their houses. Instead a new hut is built in the village for accommodation. This is because building of a hut takes only a single day. A man is considered lazy if he has eight or lesser number of children. The roofs of the huts are built from leaves which are taken from the spine of a plant and then are sewn to make tiles. It is the job of the women to do the sewing jobs as they have been trained to do so from early age. The huts are rectangular and are raised on stilts and are situated parallel to rivers. The huts are raised not because of the fact that they are built near to the rivers but to allow maximum of air movement below the huts. The shape and size of the huts are maintained based on the limited span of the roof and by palm widths (Beswick, 2010). In Batek society there is no right to anyone to force other adults to do or say anything. Even the authoritative force of the parents over their children is weak and the children can easily ignore any reprimands from their parents. There are some men and women who are natural born leaders and others often ask them for guidance and advice. In spite of this, these leaders cannot force their influence on others. People can make effort to persuade others but they cannot force them in any way. Most importantly, physical aggression is completely unacceptable. (Bisht and Bankoti, 2004, p.101) Due to the nomadic characteristic of the Batek, their activities remain flexible and they change their suit of activities according to opportunities that are available. The economic structure of the Batek is based upon this changing track of activities. The Batek people have the tendency to maintain variation in their work and they do not like monotony in their work processes. They have the ability to adapt to newer economic structures. This acts as a virtuous economic strategy as this protects them from any imminent failure in any particular track of work. In a single day a Batek individual takes up different courses of work which varies from collecting forest products and hunting and gathering activities. Work groups are based upon friendship which in turn depends upon the type of work. Hunting can be done by a single male individual or the hunting group can consist of multiple families or three generations of the same family or the group can consist of females too. The change in activities can be daily, seasonal or annual, but in the entire course of the changes, hunting and gathering of food from forests remain the main activities. They prefer hunting to cash purchases and as such this activity is valuable to them. They adopt such routes through which the children develop the skill of foraging from early age and also become knowledgeable about forests. Collection and trading of forest product are the main source of cash income for the Bateks (Tuck-Po, 2005, pp.251). The three items which they purchase by cash are rice, tobacco and sugar which they consider indispensable. Although foraging is their main activity, there do other works too like guide for tourists, doing day labour and planting food crops which are fast growing like cassava. Since the Batek do not like monotony in their work, so farming is the least preferable work for them. Among seasonal activities, they collect honey both for the purposes of eating and selling. They also harvest fruits which are their favourite form of food. (Tuck-Po, 2005, pp.251, 252) There are virtually no difference in the contribution of men and women in camp life. Although the duties of the men include building of huts which are simple and without roofs, making blowpipes and going for hunting and that of the women include digging tubers, both men and women participate in all types of activities. All activities are considered of equal status and none is viewed as a high status work. Even chief of a group can be a woman (Bailey, 2009). It is the responsibility of both men and women to take care of children. Platonic relationship between men and women are expressed in any number of ways and this actually proves to be beneficial as this allows for flexibility in working relationships between men and women even if one of them is married. If in case divorce happens, then the children get more parents who can look after them and rear them. Any individual irrespective of male or female can make decisions and act as leader of group if he or she has the talent, personality and proper knowledge of the group’s activities (Yeoh, 2009, p. 673). In case of marriage, people of both genders have equal right to choose their life partner and anyone can start divorce proceedings if he or she is not satisfied. In family matters both men and women have equal authority (Bisht and Bankoti, 2004, p.101). The Batek have their own theories of social ecology of forests. They hold an anthropocentric view of the environment. Their idea of correct environmental behaviour is different from the conservation related ideas of the Euro-Americans. According to the Bateks it is they who take care of the forests because they believe that if no people lived in the forests then the world would be destroyed by storms and floods. On the basis of this logic they also believe that by staying attached with the forests, they are holding up the world. Although they cut down trees which they think will fall upon their camps, but they believe that they are doing so as an effort to live within ecological constraints. They consider there is difference between cutting of trees by them and by the Malays. They argue that by cutting trees for urbanization, large scale mono cropping and industralisation, the Malays are killing the world. The Batek continue to follow their practices and rituals and also their sense of moral rightness in the absence of support from the government (Tuck-Po, 2005, pp. 250, 258). As there are pressures for them to become Muslims, the Bateks have changes their views and way of life. They consciously try to separate themselves from the Muslims by different beliefs and practices. For them Allah is god of the Malays and is similar to their Tohan. The Bateks have their own sessions of singing and these they compare with the Islamic prayers. They also compare their exclusion regarding food-mixing to food taboos of the Muslims. The Bateks make an attempt to hide their rituals and their beliefs regarding religion from the outsiders. The Batek of the Taman Negara Park denies having any religion to the outsiders (Bisht and Bankoti, 2004, p.100). Although the Batek defend their reason of cutting trees, the problem of deforestation persists. The Batek people have a quaint life and are not recognised by the Malaysian government. Their nomadic lifestyle and ability to adapt to new economic structures give them the convenience to avoid any economic failures. The traditional idea of the Batek that resources of the nature are not owned by human beings until they are collected and also the food sharing habit of the Bateks are appropriate to their nomadic lifestyle. The Bateks are now forced to adopt farming and their habit of sharing is not suitable for peasant farming. It will be psychologically challenging to give up their age old practices as food sharing is a major component of their identity and also it is a major binding force of the families as a society. This transition in lifestyle can present problems from social and ideological angles (Ingold, Riches and Woodburn, 1997, p.127). References Bailey, R. (2008) Peaceful, egalitarian hunter-gatherers retain traditions despite homeland loss, Dartmouth News, retrieved on 6th September, 2011 from: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2008/02/26.html Bisht, N. S. and T.S. Bankoti, (2004), Encyclopedia of the South-East Asian Ethnography, Delhi: Global Vision Publishing House Beswick, J. (2010) Exploring Eye: The Batek Tribe of Malaysia and their Architecture”, The Architectural Review, 228. 1364, 22nd September, 2010, retrieved on 6th September, 2011 from: http://www.architectural-review.com/essays/exploring-eye-the-batek-tribe-of-malaysia-and-their-architecture/8606050.article Ingold, T., Riches, D. and J. Woodburn (1997) Hunters and Gatherers: Property, Power, and Ideology, Berg. Tuck-Po, L. (2005) The Meanings of Trees: Forest and Identity for the Batek of Pahang, Malaysia, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 6.3, pp. 249-261 Yeoh, S.G. (2009) The Headman was a Woman: The Gender Egalitarian Batek of Malaysia, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 15.3, pp.672-673   Read More