Kubu tribe shuns modernity

JAMBI: The people of the Kubu tribe, who have followed a hunter-gatherer lifestyle in remote forest areas of the province for centuries, said they would not adapt to modern ways unless they were promised certain items.

Erdy Taufik, the spokesman for the Foundation of Kubu Tribe Empowerment, said that the Kubu people would be ready to resettle in certain locations that were prepared for them only if they were given their daily requirements of rice, cigarettes, matches and salt.

"A number of Kubu people who were resettled during the New Order era have returned to the original group in the province," he said.

He said the tribe made contact with outsiders only when they went to local markets to sell rattan and other forest resources and most were still trading under the barter system. --Antara