Semai people
![]() | |
Total population | |
---|---|
50,000[1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
![]() | |
Languages | |
Semai language,Malay language | |
Religion | |
Animism,ChristianityandIslam. | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Temiar people,Lanoh people,Khmer people |
TheSemai(also known asMai SemaiorSengoi Hik[2]) are a semi-sedentary ethnic group living in the center of theMalay PeninsulainSoutheast Asia,known especially for their nonviolence.[3]This characterization was made by Robert Knox Dentan, an anthropologist who studied the Semai in the 1960s, though he offered a more nuanced view after subsequent fieldwork.[4]They speakSemai,anAustroasiaticlanguage closely related toTemiar,spoken byTemiarsnearby. The Semai are bordered by the Temiars to the north and the Jah Hut to the South.[5]The Semai belong to theSenoigroup, and are one of the largestindigenousethnic group in the Peninsula and the largest of the Senoi group. Most Semai subsist by cultivating grain crops, hunting, and fishing.
Origins
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Semai_nymonh.jpg/170px-Semai_nymonh.jpg)
It is thought that the Semai are the descendants of the original population of Southeast Asia, arriving on the Malay peninsula approximately sometime during 8000 to 6000 BC.[6]According toKeene State College's Orang Asli Archive, in 1991 there were 26,627 Semai[7]and according to the Center for Orang Asli Concerns in 2000 there were 34,248[8]Semai living on the Malay Peninsula. This number has increased in recent years with the advent of better nutrition as well as improved sanitation and healthcare practices. These numbers, however, do not include other peoples of Semai or mixed descent, most of whom have assimilated into other cultures and have abandoned their ancestral tribal lands in order to seek better employment and education opportunities, especially in the larger cities.[citation needed]
A genetic study conducted in 1995 by a team of biologists from theNational University of Singaporehas shown a close relationship between the Semai and theKhmerof Cambodia. This is in line with the linguistic situation of the Semai, whoselanguagebelongs to theMon-Khmerfamily. Furthermore, the Semai seem to be more closely related to theJavanesethan to their Malay neighbors on the peninsula.[9]The Malays are thought to have arrived on the peninsula approximately 1000 years after the Semai,[6]at first trading peacefully with them. However, when the Malays created kingdoms and converted to Islam, this relationship changed. The Malays began considering the Semai as "despised pagans"[6]and sanctioned murdering Semai adults and kidnapping young children.[6]Several Malaysian state governments have religious agencies that have programs to convert the Semai to Islam.[6]
Subsistence
[edit]The Semai are semi-sedentary horticulturalists who practice "slash and burn" agriculture.[5]They mainly rely on growing rice and manioc or cassava roots for their subsistence.[6]The Semai use machetes to clear forested areas, after which they burn and plant crops in that area.[5]After two or three harvests when the land is worn,[5]the Semai will begin planting in a new area. The Semai also supplement their diet with hunting and fishing, as well as raising chickens (for their own consumption) and goats and ducks (to sell to the Malays). Fish are mainly caught by women, who use basket traps to scoop fish, whereas hunting is primarily done by men, using blowguns, poison darts, and spears.[6]Any large game caught, such as deer, pigs, pythons, orbinturong(bearcat), are shared among the community.[5]
Culture
[edit]Settlement
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/M14837_my.png/220px-M14837_my.png)
The Semai live in settlements of 30 to 200 people.[6]Individual households consist of nuclear families with sometimes a few extended relatives.[5]Most dwellings are built with wood, bamboo with weaved walls and thatched roofs using palm leaves. Semai houses have no visible bedrooms, especially for the children, as they all sleep in the main hall. The only separation seems to be in the form of wooden-beaded curtains for the parents' chambers. This form of separation is also adopted by the coastal Malays, who use instead curtains made ofseashells,and deutero-Malays, who use thebatikcloth to form the curtains. There are no locks or otherwise, usual devices used to preventing an unwanted entry into any of these rooms. A simple way of telling that an entry is unwanted is by drawing down the curtains. To allow entry, the curtain is drawn to the sides and tied to form an opening. Expressed permission must be requested in cases where entry is needed when the curtains are closed. An entry without permission is a transgression and entails some sort of natural retribution.[citation needed]
With regards to space and dominion, there appears to be no distinction between the public and private realms, and thus, "the Western concept of privacy, domestic or otherwise, is not to be found".[10]This concept is also shared by the rural Malays, of whom, many are descended from mixed marriages with the Semais and otherOrang Aslipeople. They carry with them the wisdom and lore of the Semais, including their non-violent andpacifisttendencies, harmonized with other prevailing religions of their adoption.[citation needed]
Marriage
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Pagan_races_of_the_Malay_Peninsula_%281906%29_%2814781104392%29.jpg/170px-Pagan_races_of_the_Malay_Peninsula_%281906%29_%2814781104392%29.jpg)
The vast majority of Semai marriages are monogamous. Less than five percent of women are married polygynously.[6]Semai marriages are exogamous: East Semai may not marry consanguineal kinsman, or blood relations, and West Semai are not supposed to marry anybody who descended from one of his grandparents.[5]Therefore, in most marriages, the couples are from different settlements. This might be the reason why Semai tend to have an ambilocal residence pattern after marriage,[6]or shuttle between living with the wife or husband's kinsman every few weeks, slowly lengthening the time period stayed until the couple decides to settle down. One reason the Semai give for shuttling between residences is homesickness.[5]Even after settling down, couples occasionally separate, "going on week- or month-long visits to his or her consanguineal kinsman".[5]The ambilocal residence pattern may also explain why few marriages are polygynous,[5]for both practical reasons in managing travel and because couples tend to separate after long periods of living apart,[5]and divorce and remarriages are fairly common.[11]
Non-violence
[edit]The Semai are known for their extremely low levels of violence.[12]While there is some violence amongst the Semai, it is reportedly rare; writing in 2004, Robert Dentan reported only four murders had occurred since the 1970s, though the Semai could be reluctant to disclose information about fighting. It has been suggested that the Semai's non-violence is a response to historic threats from slaving states; as the Semai were constantly defeated by slavers and Malaysian immigrants, they preferred to flee rather than fight, and this evolved into a general norm of non-violence.[13]The Semai value "getting along", and avoid violence by having a high tolerance for bad behaviour in order to prevent conflict.[14]The Semai generally attribute learning to argue as a consequence of outsider influences, such as schools, though arguments amongst the Semai predate such contact; the Semai's self-image does not tolerate the admission of being argumentative, aggressive or angry.[15]
This does not mean the Semai are incapable of violence however; during the Malayan Emergency, the British recruited some Semai to fight against communist insurgents and Dentan argues the Semai believe that as Malaysia industrialises, it will be harder for the Semai to use their strategy of fleeing and they will have to fight instead.[16][17][18]In addition, Bruce Knauft argues that while Dentan reported only two murders between 1955 and 1977, this was in the context of a study population of 300 and would give a homicide rate of 30.3 per 100,000 people, three times higher than the United States in the 1990s (though this has been contested due to issues concerning the relevant base population, which could yield substantially lower homicide estimates).[19]Physical violence has also occasionally been known to occur over sexual jealousy.[20]
Worldview
[edit]The Semai worldview is that they live in a hostile and dangerous world beyond their control. The jungles surrounding their villages are viewed as being full of terrifying forces and malevolent entities (to the extent that the Semai are reluctant to go into the jungles alone, especially at night). Since the Semai see themselves as helpless in a hostile world, the only source of safety and nurturance lies with their community. This is the cause of Semai's emphasis on community harmony and non-violence, as violence threatens to destroy their only perceived source of safety.[21]
Punan
[edit]An important belief that affects many aspects of Semai culture is Punan. Punan is the idea that making somebody else unhappy, especially by imposing your own wishes or denying his or her desires, is taboo. The Semai believe that committing punan will increase the likelihood of themselves being injured physically.[5]The importance of punan in Semai life can be seen in their food sharing norms, leadership style, method of child rearing, for example.
Food sharing
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Orang_Asli_bei_der_Zubereitung_einer_Durian_%282874318755%29.jpg/220px-Orang_Asli_bei_der_Zubereitung_einer_Durian_%282874318755%29.jpg)
Food sharing, or the system by which Semai distribute food, is one of the most significant ways in which members of the community interact.[5]When large game is caught, it is shared equally among members of the community.[5]It is considered a social norm to share whatever one can afford. Smaller catches are shared among one's nuclear family or close neighbors. If it is a larger catch with more surplus, the meat is shared across the entire settlement.[5]It is considered punan to refuse a request for food or to ask for more than the donor can give.[5]This type of food sharing not only helps build relationships among the community, but also helps provide food security to individual households because it increases the probability of having a good meal each day.
Leadership
[edit]The Semai haveno police and no government per se.According to Dentan, adults appear to be controlled primarily by public opinion. The Semai themselves say "There is no authority here but embarrassment." Although popular and verbally facile individuals are influential in public affairs, the Semai have no formal leaders.[citation needed]
Disputes in the Semai community are resolved by holding abecharaa,or public assembly, at the headman's house. This assembly may last for days and involves thorough discussion of the causes, motivations and resolution of the dispute by disputants and the whole community, ending with the headman charging either or both of the disputants not to repeat their behavior lest it endanger the community. The Semai have a saying that "there are more reasons to fear a dispute than a tiger."[22]
Childhood
[edit]Semai children are never punished or forced against their will.[23]If a parent asks a child to do something and the child says "I don't want to," the matter is ended. However, Semai parents use fear of strangers and violence in nature such as thunderstorms and lightning to control children's behavior if ever it becomes necessary. A concept similar tokarmais also prevalent where children are told stories ofsprites(mambang in Malay) and forest spirits who will take retribution if their sanctity is violated. Children also appear to be taught to fear their own aggressive impulses.[24][25]The concept ofmengalahor giving in is most cherished where children since young are taught to 'give way' to others so as to preserve the peace and harmony of the village. Unlike American children, who are taught to be self-reliant and courageous, Semai children are encouraged to be fearful, particularly of strangers. Because thunderstorms are particularly threatening to the Semai due to the damage they cause, when a child is angry the parents will yell "Tarlaid!" - an act that is Tarlaid is one that is said to be able to rouse the anger of spirits and bring forth natural calamities; Semai parents use the fear that accompanies these storms to encourage the children to control their own aggressive impulses. Parents may also threaten to hit their children and raise a fist or machete, though they do not actually carry out the threat, with the worst the child receiving being a tap.[26]
The games Semai children play are non-competitive.[27]These games include forms of sports that encourage physical activity and exertions so that the body becomes tired and are therefore made ready for sleep and the subsequentdreaming.One game involves hitting at other children with sticks; the sticks, however, always stop short a few inches from their target so that no one actually gets struck. Modern games are also played but with significant modifications. A game of badminton for example uses no partition nets and keeps no score. The shuttlecock is deliberately hit so that it could be easily intercepted by the other player and passed back, and so forth. The objective seems to be purely for exercise. Children do engage in rough and tumble play but it is extremely mild, involving minimal or no physical contact.[28]While the Semai have no competitive games themselves, they have imported competitive games from other cultures and modified them. In games of competition, when conflict arises, they are quickly solved by deference to the older player, who is always considered right.[29]
The Semai people is also known for their traditional Sewang dance, where it is usually performed in events such as celebrating birth, funerals, circumcision ceremony, healing of sicknesses and for othersuperstitions;of which some of those events can last for three to six days.[30]
Spirituality and beliefs
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Semai_-_remaja.jpg/220px-Semai_-_remaja.jpg)
The animist traditions of the Semai include a thunderdeitycalledEnku.[citation needed]A small eyelesssnakeis called Thunder's headband.[citation needed]One of the most important beings associated with thunder are theNāga,[31]a group of huge, subterranean dragons that ravage villages during thunder-squalls and are associated with rainbows.Chuntahis a ritual performed to make the evil spirits leave.[31]Chuntah is performed in the middle of a storm where a man collects rain in abamboocontainer until it is nearly full, then gashes his skin and lets the blood run into the container.[citation needed]
The Semai divide the animal world into three categories:chebfor those which have feathers or fly, 'kafor those which have rounded scales or moist skin and live in or near water, andmenharfor those which live on the ground or in the trees. Menhar also includesfungi.The Semai have restrictions on eating animals that straddle two groups, for examplesnakesare considered inedible because they live on land (likemenhar) but have scales and lack legs (likeka).[citation needed]
Settlement area
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/SemaiMap.png/170px-SemaiMap.png)
Some of the settlements that the Semai people are located includes:-
- Kampong Kuala Bot, Sungai Bot,Tapah,Perak
- Suak Padi, Padang Changkat,Parit,Perak
- Chenderiang,Tapah, Perak
- Batu 6, Batu 7 and Batu 8,Batang Padang District,Tapah, Perak
- Kampung Chinggung,BehrangUlu, Perak
- Kampung Ulu Geruntum,Gopeng,Perak
- Kampung Batu Berangkai,Kampar District,Perak
- Kampung Orang Asli Redang Punggor,Hilir Perak District,Perak
- Kawasan Bandar Runding, Tapah, Perak
- Village settlements in South Perak, Perak
- Pos Gedong, Perak
- Kampung Orang Asli Kuala Senta,Bidor,Perak
- Rancangan Penempatan Semula Betau,Kuala Lipis,Pahang
- Sungai Ruil,Tanah Rata,Cameron Highlands District,Pahang
- Kampung Harong, Kampung Jentil, Lanai, Kampung Pantos[30]and Kuala Medang, Kuala Lipis, Pahang
- Kampung Orang Asli Sungai Semalin, Sega,Raub,Pahang
Population
[edit]The population dynamics of the Semai people inMalaysia:
Year | 1960[32] | 1965[32] | 1969[32] | 1974[32] | 1980[32] | 1991[33] | 1993[33] | 1996[32] | 2000[34] | 2003[34] | 2004[35] | 2010[1] | 2020[36] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Population | 11,609 | 12,748 | 15,506 | 16,497 | 17,789 | 28,627 | 26,049 | 26,049 | 34,284 | 43,892 | 43,927 | 49,697 | 60,438 |
In all age groups, men tend to outnumber women, perhaps due to high mortality rates during childbirth.[6]
Popular culture
[edit]- Asli(2017),[37]a film directed by David Liew is about a bi-racial girl on a road to rediscovering her Semai heritage. This is the first film to feature theSemai languagein about 50% of the dialogue.[38]
Notable people
[edit]- Amani Williams Hunt Abdullah,lawyer and Orang Asli activist.[39]
- Ramli Mohd Nor,former police officer and currentMPforCameron Highlandsconstituency.[40]
- Bahari Belaton, dean of Universiti Sains Malaysia’s School of Computer Sciences.[41]
References
[edit]- ^abKirk Endicott (2015).Malaysia's Original People: Past, Present and Future of the Orang Asli.NUS Press. p. 3.ISBN978-99-716-9861-4.
- ^Ivor Hugh Norman Evans (1968).The Negritos of Malaya.Cass.ISBN0-7146-2006-8.
- ^Csilla Dallos (2011).From Equality to Inequality: Social Change Among Newly Sedentary Lanoh Hunter-Gatherer Traders of Peninsular Malaysia.University of Toronto Press.ISBN978-144-2661-71-4.
- ^"Semai: The Naked Truth".Columbia Center for Archaeology.2022-04-19.Retrieved2023-06-27.
- ^abcdefghijklmnopDentan, Robert Knox (1968)."The Semai: A Nonviolent People Of Malaya".Case Studies In Cultural Anthropology.
{{cite journal}}
:Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^abcdefghijkDentan, R. K., & Skoggard, I. A. (2012). Culture Summary: Semai. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files. Retrieved fromhttps://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/document?id=an06-000
- ^"Orang Asli Archive".Keene State College. Archived from the original on 2014-10-09.Retrieved2018-05-26.
{{cite web}}
:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^"Orang Asli Population Statistic".Center for Orang Asli Concerns. Archived from the original on 2011-10-02.Retrieved2017-07-11.
{{cite web}}
:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^N. Saha, J. W. Mak, J. S. Tay, Y. Liu, J. A. Tan, P. S. Low, M. Singh, "Population genetic study among the Orange Asli (Semai Senoi) of Malaysia: Malayan aborigines",Human Biology,National University of Singapore, February 1995, 67(1):37-57
- ^David D. Gilmore,Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity(Yale University Press, 1990:ISBN0-300-04646-4), p. 213.
- ^Fix, A. G. (1988). Semai Senoi Population Structure And Genetic Microdifferentation. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International. Retrieved fromhttps://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/document?id=an06-006
- ^Kemp, Graham, and Douglas P. Fry. Keeping the peace: Conflict resolution and peaceful societies around the world. Routledge, 2004, p.137
- ^Leary, John. Violence and the Dream People: The Orang Asli in the Malayan Emergency, 1948-1960. No. 95. Ohio University Press, 1995, p.262
- ^Younger, Stephen. "Violence and revenge in egalitarian societies." Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 8, no. 4 (2005).
- ^Royce, Joseph. "Play in violent and non-violent cultures." Anthropos H. 5./6 (1980): 799-822.
- ^Leary, John. Violence and the Dream People: The Orang Asli in the Malayan Emergency, 1948-1960. No. 95. Ohio University Press, 1995.
- ^Kemp, Graham, and Douglas P. Fry. Keeping the peace: Conflict resolution and peaceful societies around the world. Routledge, 2004, p.139
- ^Robarchek, Clayton A., and Robert Knox Dentan. "Blood drunkenness and the bloodthirsty Semai: Unmaking another anthropological myth." American Anthropologist 89, no. 2 (1987): 356-365.
- ^"Knauft, Bruce M., Martin Daly, Margo Wilson, Leland Donald, George EE Morren Jr, Keith F. Otterbein, Marc Howard Ross, HUE Thoden van Velzen, and W. van Wetering."Reconsidering Violence in Simple Human Societies: Homicide Among the Gebusi of New Guinea [and Comments and Reply."Current Anthropology 28, no. 4 (1987): 457-500." "Ellsworth, Ryan M., and Robert S. Walker."Sociobiology of lethal violence in small-scale societies."In The Routledge International Handbook of Biosocial Criminology, pp. 85-102. Routledge, 2014. "For a debate on homicide in simple societies, see" Betzig, Laura, Robert Knox Dentan, Bruce M. Knauft, and Keith F. Otterbein."On reconsidering violence in simple human societies."(1988): 624-636. "
- ^Ethology, Peace, Peter Verbeek, and Benjamin A. Peters. "The Developmental Niche for Peace." (2018).
- ^Gray, James Silverberg J. Patrick. Aggression and peacefulness in humans and other primates. Oxford University Press on Demand, 1992, pp.200-203
- ^De Waal,Our Inner Ape,p. 166.
- ^Ken Rigby (2002).New Perspectives on Bullying.Jessica Kingsley Publishers. p.24.ISBN184-6423-23-6.
- ^Kirk Endicott (2015).Malaysia's Original People: Past, Present and Future of the Orang Asli.NUS Press.ISBN978-997-1698-61-4.
- ^Douglas P. Fry (2015).War, Peace, and Human Nature: The Convergence of Evolutionary and Cultural Views.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-019-0232-46-7.
- ^Moss, G. (1997). Explaining the absence of violent crime among the Semai of Malaysia: Is criminological theory up to the task? Journal of Criminal Justice, 25(3), 177–194.doi:10.1016/s0047-2352(97)00003-2
- ^Bonta, "Cooperation and Competition in Peaceful Societies."
- ^Narváez, Darcia, Kristin Valentino, Agustin Fuentes, James J. McKenna, and Peter Gray, eds. Ancestral landscapes in human evolution: Culture, childrearing and social wellbeing. Oxford University Press, 2014, p.180
- ^Royce, Joseph. "Play in violent and non-violent cultures." Anthropos H. 5./6 (1980): 799-822.
- ^ab"Mengenali kehidupan masyarakat Semai Pantos".Sinar Harian. 15 November 2013.Retrieved2018-05-26.
- ^abShazwan Aqif."The comparison between Lanoh and Semai people".Academia.Retrieved2018-01-18.
- ^abcdefNobuta Toshihiro (2009)."Living On The Periphery: Development and Islamization Among Orang Asli in Malaysia"(PDF).Center for Orang Asli Concerns.Retrieved2017-10-27.
- ^abColin Nicholas (2000).The Orang Asli and the Contest for Resources. Indigenous Politics, Development and Identity in Peninsular Malaysia(PDF).Center for Orang Asli Concerns & International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs.ISBN87-90730-15-1.Retrieved2017-10-27.
- ^ab"Basic Data / Statistics".Center for Orang Asli Concerns. Archived fromthe originalon 2020-10-29.Retrieved2017-10-27.
- ^Alberto Gomes (2004).Modernity and Malaysia: Settling the Menraq Forest Nomads.Routledge.ISBN11-341-0076-0.
- ^"Basic Data / Statistics".JAKOA.Retrieved2022-10-30.
- ^"Asli".Cinema Online.Retrieved2017-10-20.
- ^Ivan Loh (19 October 2017)."Semai dialogue a first in local film".The Star.Retrieved2017-10-20.
- ^Azdee Simon Amir (14 June 2019)."Rough ride to Orang Asli villages".New Straits Times.Retrieved2020-01-06.
- ^Shannon Teoh (26 January 2019)."BN crushes PH in closely-watched Cameron Highlands by-election".The Straits Times.Retrieved2020-01-06.
- ^Martin Vengadesan (20 June 2020)."From humble beginnings to USM's first Orang Asli faculty dean".Malaysiakini.Retrieved2023-02-28.
Further reading
[edit]- Orang Asli Archive,Keene State College.
- Dentan, Robert Knox,1968,The Semai: A Nonviolent People of Malaya,Holt, Rinehart and Winston,ISBN0-03-069535-X;repr. 1979 as Fieldwork Edition, Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology, New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
- De Waal, Frans, 2005,Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are,Riverhead Books.
- Bonta, Bruce D. 1997. "Cooperation and Competition in Peaceful Societies."Psychological Bulletin121(2):299-320.
External links
[edit]- http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaaiRWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
- http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-66BF-5@viewSemai in RWAAI Digital Archive
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