Sumatra's remote tribes hanging on to existence

Sumatra's remote tribes hanging on to existence

Kafil Yamin, Inter Presse-Service, Pangkalan Ranjau, Jambi

At first glance the structure, with bamboo walls and a roof of thatched coconut palm leaves, looked uninhabited.

Inside however were the figures of sleeping children, who did not remain asleep for long.

They jumped up in fright and were about to run away with their mother when an authoritative and old voice calmed them.

"They always run away when strangers approach," explained Bujang Ismail, who at 80 has seen the land and the way of life for its people change dramatically. The old man spoke to them softly, comforted them and convinced them there was no harm at hand.

Around the small structure the Sumatran forest was still, and the little family -- mother, children and tribal elder -- warily settled down again.

Members of the Anak Dalam tribe, they have seen their ancient habitats shrink, their traditional coexistence with the forests threatened by the unchecked spread of the plantation economy, their sacred places destroyed, the future of their identity jeopardized.

Here, in the village of Pangkalan Ranjau, live 76 families. Away in all directions stretches the dense green of the remaining forest in Jambi province toward the south of Sumatra island.

Jakarta seems very far away indeed -- and it is, 2,800 kilometers away to the east, and after that a tough six-hour ride along tortuous trails in a four-wheel drive vehicle, and then another three-hour trek to reach the place where the Anak Dalam gather.

Civilization, as many like to call it, is an age away.

Eventually, the young mother, whose name is Isa, felt comfortable enough to speak about her life and her children, whom she raised by herself. Her first husband, she explained, died two years ago, leaving behind two daughters while her second husband abandoned her and their son.

Isa said she leaves her children in the rough shelter they call home to search for food in the forest and along the river. She sets out every morning and returns only after sunset, for she also tends her farmed plots deep inside the forest where she has planted cassava, banana and sugarcane.

Isa has also to take care of the elderly in the Anak Dalam villages. "I search for cassava, fish, and banana in the forest for my children and old people here," she said, holding her youngest son.

Beside her, a daughter coughed and spat repeatedly.

"She is sick," said Isa sadly. "I could not get herbal plants for her illness in the forest so far. It's different now -- herbs seem to be disappearing."

Despite the apparent lushness of the forest, the staple food for Isa and her children is cassava mixed with salt.

"Occasionally we have rice," said Isa. "But it is getting hard to find these days. So we just have cassava flavored with salt."

The Anak Dalam get their rice by bartering fish, banana or rattan.

At Tanjung Lebar, another village about 75 kilometers away, where 200-odd Anak Dalam families live, it became clear that the simple economic exchange the tribe favors is also under threat.

Mugiono, the village headman, said: "There used to be an abundance of fish in this river. When we went fishing, each one of us could return home with kilograms of fish. We would exchange the fish with rice and other necessities. Now, we can only take home one or two small fish for our own consumption.

"We may also go home empty-handed after a whole day of fishing."

"I have been wandering along the river since morning," an old woman interrupted. "I got nothing."

Mugiono explained that fish has become scarce ever since the transmigration site was built in the 1980s in the nearby forest.

"The men in the transmigration compound used chemical substances to get fish," he recalled. "Yes, they got a lot of fish, but the fish population is continually decreasing."

The transmigration program -- a gigantic and disruptive relocation of entire peoples from overpopulated islands, especially Java, to other islands in the sprawling archipelago -- was zealously followed during the 33-year-rule of Soeharto.

The fallout was severe social and economic trauma for both the migrants and the host societies.

For the Anak Dalam, the migration policy came close to being a death knell for their society.

The subsistence model of the tribe included hunting and food gathering in the forest, as well as practicing simple agriculture. To provide for their daily needs they depended greatly on what they could harvest, extract and gather naturally. Traditionally, hunting was done by male members of the community, both individually and in small groups, using spears and assisted by dogs. They hunted boar and 'a type of turtle.

Some remain untouched, even today. An estimated 450 Anak Dalam live in the jungles of the nearby Surolangun area, rarely seen as they hide from any visitors. They are said to wear garments made of bark and fiber, and are as close to the ancient ways of the tribe as their cousins in Tanjung Lebar have moved away from the forest existence, with their televisions and radios.

Elders like Bujang Ismail have little time for such indulgences. The tribal elder said that waste vented into the river from nearby palm oil plantations has destroyed fish stocks in the river.

That isn't his only complaint -- the forest is far from the reliable source of food it used to be.

"Nothing is left in the forest for us to eat,'' said the old man.