Riau's Talang Mamak tribe faces ever-shrinking lands

Riau's Talang Mamak tribe faces ever-shrinking lands

Rampant illegal logging by forest concessionaires and forest
clearing activities, such as those for oil exploration in
Bengkalis regency, have taken a heavy toll on the lives of the
many isolated ethnic tribes in Riau province.

The indigenous Sakai people in Riau province, for example, who
used to live in lush green jungles, now have to dwell in nearly
barren areas in Bengkalis. Another tribe, the Talang Mamak in
Indragiri Hilir, Indragiri Hulu and Jambi, are facing similar
situations as their forested surroundings, too, have been cut
down for oil palm plantations or have been turned into industrial
forests.

Despite their nomadic life, to these people, the earth and
forests are part of their lives and something they must care for.
They know how to manage their lands and forests, a knowledge that
is passed down from their ancestors, which has enabled them to
coexist harmoniously with nature and maintain their environs for
many generations.

The majority of the Talang Mamak tribe, which comprises only
6,400 or so people, are illiterate. Most of them live in the
districts of Seberida, Kelayang and Rengat Barat in Indragiri
Hilir, and a small number of them live in Surnai, Bangko Tebo and
Bukit 30 National Park, bordering Jambi province.

The Talang Mamak are currently languishing: the presence of
forest concessionaires has been detrimental to their way of life
and rendered it barely sustainable.

The state schools located far from their villages still remain
a luxury for the animist tribespeople and, to make matters worse,
many of them refuse to go to school, arguing that conventional,
modern education would mean a departure from their long-
maintained customs and traditions. They fear modern education
will change their beliefs. According to tradition, converts are
no longer regarded as members of the tribe.

Quite a few have embraced Christianity, but they still
practice their indigenous customs, such as worshiping the animist
spirits at sacred places. Others have converted to Islam, after
which they become known as "Malay people" among the Talang Mamak.

The Sakai, Bonai, Talang Mamak and Duano tribes are socio-
culturally and ethnically Malay, but have not been exposed to the
Hindu, Islamic and European cultures. These people were
segregated by the Malays for their "unhygienic" way of life.

Most Talang Mamak people are reluctant to become Muslims,
because Islamic teachings, according to them, are contrary to
their customs and traditions. For example, pork is traditional
fare at wedding parties. They still use bark and leaves for
clothing.

Being nomadic, they are able to prevent the government from
annexing their ancestral lands and still lead a simple way of
life, unaffected by external impurities. Their huts, usually
measuring 3 meters by 4 meters, are built on stilts and have
walls made of bark. It is in these homes that they cook, receive
guests and chat. They cultivate the land around the huts --
usually less than 1 square hectare, to grow cassava and sweet
potatoes as their staple foods.

"We have planted cassava and sweet potatoes all our lives for
many ages," said Mohammad Supermi, 34, village chief of Durian
Cacar.

Apart from farming, some of the tribespeople go to the forest
to harvest rattan and honey from trees, which they call sialang.
They sell the honey at the market or drink it with traditional
herbal medicines.

Now, however, the ancestral forests, on which they depend
their lives, are about to disappear, with the forests, the Talang
Mamak way of life.

-- Haidir Anwar Tanjung