Kubu tribe shuns modernity

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