SEMAI OF MALAYSIA - Research Paper Example

? SEMAI OF MALAYSIA al affiliation 7thMarch 0 Primary mode of subsistence. The Semai of Malaysia is unique in a way from other groups or tribes of the American society. What make them different are their beliefs, kinship and health issues; these aspects have made them to survive for many years in this dynamic world. It is believed that the Semai tribe is what remained from the original ancient populations of South East Asia, who then belong to the Senoi ethnic groups. The lands in Malaysia are fertile and productive; this has made the Semai society to practice horticulture- planting crops in their fertile lands. In the recent times, the indigenous community has been made to shift to Malaysia hills and mountains by powerful technologies and peoples. (Dentan, 1983). But at times,the Semai community practice a mixed system of arboriculture, shifting cultivations, hunting and gathering. In general they practice hunting and horticultural farming. The main crop that is grown by Semai of Malaysia is rice; at times they plant arrow roots, grapes and corns in their farms (Jennings, 1995). The Semai community is living in densely forested mountains. The horticulture they practice is non- mechanized, that is non-intensive form of plant cultivation performed non- repetitively on a plot of land. The Semai people live in ‘Kampangs’ (close villages) close to their farms and during planting seasons they head back to the forest to go and hunt for the rest of the year. They have low population densities, which has made them to be scattered in different parts of the huge farms and be able to practice shifting cultivation (Robarcheck, 1979). When such horticultural factors are done, the families are grouped in scattered clusters moving from one location to another. They are known by anthropologists for their behaviour which is non- aggressiveness and a version to interpersonal violence of any kind. The relationship is that married men do not batter their wives, nor beat their parents. Children are not allowed to engage in activities like fights, physical assaults and murder which are virtually unknown to the community. In moving the horticulturalists are immobile as forages that may control rearing among is not a strict within their culture as is with forages. Majority of the children help their parents with providing labour in the fields enhancing productivity (Fix, 1990). The Semai community practice what is referred to as generalized reciprocity which means they can exchange goods and services without having any track or measurements of the exact value of what they have traded with an assumption that the transaction will balance itself in some time to come. This act of generalized reciprocity happens between parents and children, or between couples, or in advanced stages involving clans and large kin groups. This is a formal way of exchange that involves total trust and minimal distance between the two parties. For the Semai community, the main reason for eating is to make one feel full and satisfied. The meal to be eaten should include starch dish which is preferably rice. Eating meat, fowls or fish without any starch is ridiculous to them. The other economic activities include fishing, hunting and gathering. They use weapons for hunting such as, blow pipes and poisonous darts. They also use ‘rattan’ (climbing palms in forests) to make binders, house building, basketry, fish-traps others .(Norwak & Laird, 2010). 2.1Beliefs and values The Semai’s beliefs and values are enshrined in their religion, which embraces of belief on the forest and natural spirituality; a kind of animism. Animism involves traditions of thunder god called “Enku” which is associated with other kind of animals like a small eye less snake, beings working hand in hand with god, dragons that are present during thunder squalls associated with rainbows. Other animals include a flying animal with feathers and those with rounded scales and moist skins living inside or near water bodies (Dentan, 1983). The Semai values involve living in a peaceful and non-violent environment. This is demonstrated by having a peaceful conflict resolution. With the use of public assemblies, the community fear disputes over things like fire or animals like tigers. In their religious functions, they practice ‘chuntah’ which is an event performed in a middle of a strong storm, where the person performing the ceremony collects raindrops using a curved bamboo stick, and when it is filled, the person pricks the skin so that blood can flow to the container. The practice is done to chase away evil spirits out of the community (Jennings, 1995). The community has restrictions on the type of animals to eat. Animals associated with cultures of Semai gods are tabooed, not to be eaten completely. For instance, snakes are not part of their diet in totality because of its link to god ‘enku’ and due to its presence on the lands which the Semai people term as unusual. The Semai have a main festival called ‘Genggulang’ ;a festival done after a good harvest to appease and give thanks to the land spirits. During the festival, chickens, flowers and un-husked rice are used for making offerings. The main festival is more of a cultural event rather than a religious event. The community does not have any interest or is not concerned with any religious dogmas. Even the modernized and exposed Semai is still gripped and follows old beliefs. Their system of following procedures and doing activities is based on their central beliefs. The religious leaders and elders are not given any power or special considerations. Associations between individuals are based on ‘punan’- where if you make one person unhappy, you have physically harmed that particular person. Their belief is that any kind of unfulfilled hope or wishes of sex, food or anything of value would make the individual vulnerable to attacks by animals or spirits that causes illness or even death. The Semai society also believes that any unusual happenings like injuries, deaths are caused by evils that are preying on them. To prevent these calamities, they ask or call on spirit kin to prevent and guide them (Jennings,1995). The Semai community believes that the forest is surrounded or is inhabited by evil spirits, which are ready to attack anyone who goes to the forest alone. Anyone who goes and stays in the forest alone is regarded to be mad or is ailing from a mental illness. The community also believe that the world is not safe as it contains other evils, and the only and best solution is to live together peacefully. Some of the Christians in Semai are still having old beliefs and would most likely believe in witchcraft than on pagan cultures. The cultural beliefs among the Semai society are passed from one generation to the next. Their proud heritage is then passed from mother to daughter and from father to son or from aunts to uncles. They have a unique culture and due to this, they are proud of their culture and all are responsible in passing the traditions to next generation (Norwak& Laird, 2010). 2.2 Gender relations This is an aspect that distinguishes the Semai community from other communities of the world. They only recognise a bi-sexual descent, which means that Semai is a community that does not recognize any kind of relationship based on gender. Both extended families from the two couples are highly recognized. The community still practice an aspect of matrilocal, where the husband is expected to live with the family of the bride for a period of time. A modern aspect that is portrayed by the Semai’s old tradition is that there is no gender segregation, which means no gender type is placed to overrule the other and all are viewed to be equal (Jennings, 1995). Work stereotyping does not exist; all work or tasks are to be done by both genders. The essence of marriage ceremony does not exist in Semai community. This is because it is logical that when a man lives, sleeps, eats and spends time together with a woman, then the couple is proclaimed to be married. If they do not practice such things together then they are said to have separated. The community cherishes relationships between husbands and wives, both parties are expected to live peacefully and in harmony. Conflicts or disputes arising in the course of their marriage should be solved amicably. A public assembly called ‘becharaa’ hosted at headman’s venue could solve such conflicts between the two genders. Children are encouraged to share with others at early stages of their lives as this is to preserve the concept of peace and harmony in the community. This tradition is called ‘mengallah’. Then, as they are growing up to become adults, they would have already acquired or adopted the culture of good relationships (Dentan, 1990). 2.3 Kinships The relationship between communities is based on pooling resources together, and sharing any kind of day’s productions on equal measures. In the community, family ties are dominant with all friends, relatives and neighbours regarding themselves as one big family. In Semai community, the word ‘thank you’ is out of their vocabulary as it is termed as spending time calculating the worth of what you have received(Fix, 1990). The relationship is more than kinship, all individuals present are given a share of what is available, even those who are sick or injured are given the portion of what is available. The idea is that one needs to pay and not expect to be repaid sometimes later. A Semai individual is encouraged to trade or do business with individuals who are unable to store any food. The Semai community has an advantage of doing their own activities without any outside interference. The society of the Semai is made up of nuclear families who are the main owners of the fields which are basic to them. The family may also include extended families that are mutually integrated with the nuclear families. But the difficult task is to distinguish the two types of families. When communities move to different places they still own rights to the trees they left behind. The Semai community have a larger group which include kindred’s (jek) and ram ages (guw) who are spread in different places. The ‘Guw’ are spread on watersheds or rivers named territorial kin pins (Fix, 1990). The Semai society is made up of social bands comprising of nuclear families. In such, there are no set political structures to Semai bands. In Semai society the male elder is regarded as the headman of the Semai band, who is given the key responsibility of keeping peace. The elders are given full respect from the experience they hold for they are the ones who are to provide stability and peace to the community. The decision making process for the semai is the responsibility of both men and women. The women feel shy to participate in decision making but are encouraged to do so (Robarcheck, 1979). The Semai society have an informal age grading which is reflected in the kinship and such designations is made when a person is at adolescent stage, has not settled down example are: neonate, child, adolescent, girl/ boy, old man or woman. Among the Semai kinship technology, there are differences among the groups on linearity and generation aspects. For example, the central Aslian distinguishes elder and younger siblings but not brother and sister, while the south Aslian distinguishes an elder brother from elder sisters. Young people are expected to be respectful to mature and old people when using technology.(Dentan, 1990). 2.4 Sickness and healing The Semai community is not faced with serious sickness or any major kind of epidemics .This is because much of their environment.Forests in Malaysia has medicinal plants, herbs, fruits and nuts. The Semai individuals use these variety of plant matters and products for medicinal and health purposes. When they are faced with diseases, herbs are used to treat such illness. Some plants, fish and birds also provide proteins for their diets, and this helps to build their body immune system. In the healing ceremony a number of 45-60 types or kinds of leaves are collected and arranged, used or burnt for ritual (Dentan, 1990). Every plant in the forest has a specific use and the Semai elders have mastered the art or practice of treating ailments using the plants of the jungle. Stones for example, were used for body and face treatment to hasten and eliminate toxins, alleviate any joint pains and even loosen tense muscle. If Semai individuals are faced with any illness or sickness, a conclusion on belief is made on the cause of such happenings resulting from evil spirits. The community will then need to seek guidance from kin spirits to protect or guide them from the evil surroundings (Dentan, 1990) 3.0 Conclusion The Semai community is regarded as one of the most peaceful existing communities; this is derived from various ethnology and ethnography documents. The Semai communities live harmoniously with any kind of conflicts being solved by council of elders. Another distinctive feature of the community is the way gender relations exists in the community, women and men share equal rights and privileges as no sex is superior to other. Lastly the community is also well known for brotherhood and sisterhood and the sharing of available resources without any repayment or restrictions. It discourages any kind of selfishness and greediness, making the community one of the best examples of peaceful existence. . The beliefs, kinship and health issues are some of the factors, among others, that have made the Semai community to be different from rest of the American society. Even though they are different from the modern societies, they have learnt to adapt and overcome the challenges in their environment. It is worth noting that these elements are what have helped the Semai community over the years in this ever changing world. References Dentan, R.K (1983) the Semai: non-violent people of Malaysia: New York: U.S, Rinehart& Winston publishers. Dentan, R.K (1990)Blood drunkenness and blood thirsty, Semai unmaking another anthropological myth, American anthropologists association 89(2) pages 236-365. Fix, A.G (1990) the demographic of SemaiSenoi, Berkeley, US, University of California press. Jennings, S (1995) theatre, ritual and transformation: the Semai. London: UK, Routledge publishers. Norwak B.S & Laird P.F (2010) cultural anthropology, San Diego, C.A, Bridge point education Inc. Robarcheck C.A (1979) conflict, emotion and abreaction: resolution of conflict among the SemaiSenoi, American Anthropological Association vol 2 pages 104-123. Read More