The Batek of Malaysia
Steven Reaux
ANT 101
Instructor: Pamela Spence
November 14, 2011
The Batek of Malaysia
The aboriginal people, called Orang Asli, a.k.a Batek, live unassimilated lives in Malaysia. They live in bands that consist of five or six nuclear families located in the rain forest regions of Kelantan. As hunters, gathers, and traders, the Batek live off the land to take care of their people. Their language is in the Mon Khmer family and has some words that have been assimilated from the Malay. The nomadic group work together and share the responsibly within their own bands. Same equal gender roles are an integral part of the Batek way of life; it is this equality that is conveyed through their religious and cultural beliefs that ensure the families operate as self-sufficient economic units.
The Department of Aboriginal Affairs (Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli, abbreviated JOA) has been trying for decades to encourage the Batak to give up their nomadic lifestyle and conform to a more agricultural society, settled in traditional villages. The government has offered them land sites, tools, seeds, rations and even technical assistance in farming techniques to aide their cropping efforts. Through their numerous attempts their generous efforts have not been very successful.
Most of the time, the Batek people would only occupy the sustained villages long enough to receive the donated rations and supplies, than they would pack up and move their bands deeper into the forest. The Batek people do not believe in land ownership; it is their desire to remain stewards of the land. Because the foraging and farming ways of life demand opposing principles of ownership and distribution, there is likely to be continuing conflict and misunderstanding between the followers of these two economic systems (Endicott 1974:176-7)
Different bands do reside in specific parts of the region, divided up by the different major rivers. They follow the...