The Batek of Malaysia

The Batek of Malaysia

The Batek of Malaysia

Introduction

This paper is a description and discussion of the ideas and practices of the Batek De' of Malaysia concerning the rights of people over material things. It also explores the political concomitants of Batek views of property. I make limited comparisons with other Semang groups when they shed light on the Batek material. The Batek De' are a dialect group of Semang inhabiting the watershed of the Lebir river in the interior of the state of Kelantan in Peninsular Malaysia. The Semang are distinguishable from the other populations of the Malay Peninsula in their 'negroid' physical features, which include dark skin, curly hair and broad, flat noses. The language of the Batek De' is in the Mon Khmer family, but it also contains numerous loan words from Malay, an Austronesian language. The Batek population in 1975-6 was about 300, of which roughly 200 were nomadic foragers and traders of forest produce. The nomadic Batek had access to approximately 1870 square kilometers of rain forest, giving them a population density of about one person per 9.3 square kilometers. The area inhabited by the nomadic Batek until 1976 was almost entirely covered with primary and old secondary rain forest. In recent years, however, the area has been subject to intensive logging, and it is likely that by 1990 little or no primary forest will be left outside the national park (Taman Negara) (Endicott 1982). Before the Second World War, there were numerous villages of Malay farmers scattered along the Lebir and Aring rivers, but these people were resettled by the government in 'new villages' on the lower Lebir soon after the war ended, as a means of protecting them from communist insurgents who were based in the deep forest. The departure of the Malays opened up a larger area for exploitation by the Batek and made available many domesticated fruit orchards that had been planted by the Malays, but it also removed a source of cultivated crops and manufactured goods, as the Malay farmers had once supplied such things in return for forest produce or work in their gardens.

Land

The idea of exclusive ownership of land is an absurdity to the Batek. They say: 'Only the Batek hala' [superhuman beings] can own the land'. They believe the land was created for all people to use, both Batek and non-Batek, and no one has the right to exclude anyone else from living or working anywhere they wish. The Batek do, however, recognize a special connection between each individual and a certain place or places which they call pesaka'. The pesaka', which is normally indicated by the name of a river or stream, is basically the area in which a person grew up, the primary place of residence of the parents during the person's childhood. The term pesaka' can refer to the person's actual place of birth, a whole river valley, or a vaguely-defined region, depending on the context of ...