Studies of ethnic minority peoples

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CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOUTHEAST ASIAN ETHNOGRAPHY Number 1, September 1982

STUDIES OF ETHNIC MINORITY PEOPLES Edited by Anthony R. Walker

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Editor's Introduction Articles The Mirek: Islamized Indigenes of Northwestern Sarawak,

Part 1 Tunku Zainah Tunku Ibrahim

,

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Boki Agriculture and Subsistence Production in Upland Mindoro: The Case of the Buhid Mangyan

Violeta Lopez-Gonzaga

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Jah Hut Musical Culture; Context and Content Marie-Andree CouiUard, M, Elizabeth Cardoza and Maiagaret R. Martinez

35

American Perceptions of Hmong Ethnicity: A Study of

Hmong Refugees in Missoula, Montana Susanne Bessac and Frank B. Bessac

56

Economic Systems and Ethnic Relations in Northern Thailand '

William Y. Dessaint and Alain Y. Deuaint

72

Basic Themes in Akha Culture Pau! W. Lewis

86

Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu) Village Officials and

their Ordination Ceremonies Anthony R. Walker

102

The Meithei of Manipur and their Rajput Affiliations; A Study in Cultural History

Kanialesh Guha

126

A Lun Dayeh Engagement Negotiation

Jay B. Crain

142

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

H

It falls to me, as editor-in-charge of the first number of Contributions to Southeast Asian Ethnography, not merely to introduce this issue s subject matter, ethnic minority peoples, but also to say something about this addition to the periodical literature on Southeast Asia. The idea of establishing Contributions was broached some three years ago by anthropologists working in the sociology department ot the University of Singapore. We felt that, while sufficient publications were available to meet the needs of theoretical debate in our discipline, there was a lamentable absence of a publication devoted exclusively to Southeast Asian ethnography. At best, articles on the subject were (and are) scattered widely through a number of country-specific journals. At worst, valuable resource materials were being lost, rejected by the theoretically-oriented major anthropological journals as being of “insufficient general interest”. The underlying philosophy for Con­ tributions is that it shall fill this gap, by bringing together ethno­ graphic reports from all over the Southeast Asian region and by giving special consideration to the publication of valuable primary data. Contributions is concerned with all forms of human society and culture within the Southeast Asia region: minority and majority po­ pulations, indigenous and immigrant peoples. This first number happens to deal with minority peoples. The next number (see inside back cover for contents) will examine the religion of immigrant Chinese in Malay­ sia and Singapore. Contributions will also concern itself with Southeast Asians living outside Southeast Asia. An example in the present issue is the article on Hmong refugees in Montana, U.S.A. Peoples living on the fringes of the region, who share some characteristics with other Southeast Asians, likewise come within this journal’s purview. In the present volume, the article on the Tibeto-Burman-speaking, physically Mongoloid, Meithei of Manipur on the India-Burma border is an example of this interest. In future numbers we hope to include papers on the aboriginal population of Taiwan, the border-dwelling Southeast-Asian-related peoples of northeast India, east Bangladesh and southwest China, the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and even, perhaps, the Austronesian-speaking peoples of Madagascar. The editorial board has decided to make each number ot Contri­ butions the responsibility of a particular editor, sometimes a member of the board and sometimes an invitee. This will give some unity to the articles in each issue, as they will doubtless reflect the editor s own interests. Thus my professional concern with the region’s minority peoples dictated the general scope of this issue. But in the desire for an early launching of the publication, I purposely did not specify topics when soliciting papers. Consequently the range of subjects discussed - religious conversion, swidden agriculture, musical culture, ethnicity, economic relations, ideology, ritual, ethnohistory and - 1 -

marriage negotiotiations - is far tcx> great for me to attempt to pull the data together under a few simple rubrics. I would note, however, that almost every author has mentioned the effect, sometimes pro­ found, of the dominant neighbouring people upon the minority people under discussion. Future numbers of this journal may be more specific and allow extended introductory treatment, although we are also aware that publication schedules may preclude a tight theme for every issue. As editor-in-charge of this volume, I wish to thank the contributors for their papers and their patience. Some of them have waited almost three years to see their work in print, as we scoured the local land­ scape for financial support. I also thank Pauline Hetland Walker for her editorial assistance and the staff of Double-Six Press for their courteous persistence in setting several very difficult manuscripts in unfamiliar languages. The publication of this first issue of Contrihuiions to Southeast Asian Ethnography has been made possible by a generous grant from the Singapore Turf Club, whose confidence in scholarly, besides equestrain, pursuits is most gratefully acknowledged. The attractive cover is made possible by a grant from Caltex Asia Ltd., to whom also our grateful thanks. Anthony R. Walker Depirtment of Sociology National University of Singapore

THE MIREK: ISLAMIZED INDIGENES OF NORTHWESTERN SARAWAK Part One Tunku Zainah Tunku Ibrahim *

CONTENTS 1. 2. 3. 4.

Introduction The Mirek: An Introduction Mirek Adoption of Malay identity Concluding Remarks

I. INTRODUCTION

This is the first of a projected three-part study of the Mirek people who live in and around the town of Miri in the northwest of Sarawak, one of the Borneo states within the Malaysian Federation (map l).i The study is especially concerned with the process by which the Mirek have accepted a Malay identity, the consequence of their conversion to Islam within the past two centuries. In this first article I shall begin with some general remarks about the Mirek as a distinctive ethnic group. This is necessary because these people are almost unknown to the ethnographic literature on Borneo.2 I shall then turn to an examination of the process by which the Mirek, originally neither Muslim nor Malay, have come to accept Islam and, together with this religion, to identify themselves, and to be accepted by others, as “Orang Melayu” or “Malay people’’. The second and third parts of my study, in which I intend to focus respectively on the social organization of a particular Mirek village, and on the relevance of history to the ethnic identity of the Mirek people, will appear in two subsequent numbers of this publication. •M. Soc. Sc. i/ntverstri Sains Malaysia. Formerly graduate teaching assistant. Social Anthro­ pology Section, School of Comparative Social Sciences, Unlverslti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Plnang. Presently probationary officer. Malaysian Adminstrattve Service. This manuscript was received in December 1979. i. / spent two short periods among the Mirek, the first In April 1977 and the second In January 1978. the total amounting to no more than six weeks. My study was. therefore, essentially exploratory in nature and no comprehensive ethnographic coverage of the people was possible. My hope In publishing this and rhe subsequent articles on the Mirek Is that my writing will stimulate further research on this people. This article has been extracted from my M.Soc.Scl. thesis (Zainah 1978) with the help of Dr. Anthony R. Walker. Dept, of Sociology. National University of Singapore. Both original field research and subsequent analysis of the data were supervised by Dr. Clifford A. Sather, formerly of the School of Comparative Social Sciences. Universitl Sains Malaysia, to whom I owe my greatest debt of thanks. Thanks also to all my Mirek Infor­ mants, especially Hi. R^man bin Taha wJio he^ed me most ofalL 3. A recent study by Julaihl bln Buiang (1976) based on a month’s fieldwork tn 1976 is, to my mind, defective, Julaihl maintains that the Mirek people include the DaUk. Narum, -3-

Tunku Zainah Tunku Ibrahim

MAP ONE

LOCATION OF MIREK AND RELATED PROUP^

The MIrek-

2. -TpE MIREK; AJJ INTRODUCTION

Numbering around 2,500 people, the Mirek * are jone of a number of myiqrity pthnic groups in Sarawak’s Fourth J)ivision. Most of them Jive on the -outskirts of modem Miri .town, where they con­ stitute a significant population in, eight villages .and are found in smaller numbers in several other copimunities as well. Table I provides a rough guide to the Mirek population but, because I myself have collect­ ed accjurate data-for only qne village,'^K^mpung (Kg.) Pengkalan, and becausfi the Mirek have never been counted separately in the official Sarawak censuses, the data are very uneven. Table 1. Distribution of Mirek Population (Estimate Only)

Settlement

J

Estimated Population

Kg. Pengkalan Lutong * Kg. Bakam Laut^ * Kg. Tanjung Batu, Pujul ** Kg. Kuala Adong Kg.Tebangii Kg. Seberang Pujut (or Unaan)

240 700' 100 100 100 120

•

*

' Estimated Population

Settlement

Kg. falan Pujul. Lutong Kg. Loj&ng A Riam Rd. Batu Dua Kg. Sungel Miri Kecitil Kg. Song Be Butan (or Ilasau) Kg. D^ng elsewhere

’

200 400 15 10 10 SOO

TOTAL

?

2,495

• My census, Dec. 1977-^Jan. 197^ ••Estimate of village headman

"(Tie Mirek take theif, name from the major local river which they call the Likko (River) Mirek. This waterway is more widely known by its Mal^y name * the S^upgei Miri. The Mirek themselves, for that master, arefetter known^s prang Miri, the Malay form of their name. However, the^ Mpay us^ge is aipbiguous since it refers not only to the Mirelt, widely regarded as the aboriginal people of the area, but also to any long-term resident of Miri town or its immediate environs. There is good reason, therefpre,-to prefer the * indigenous ethnonym over the more commonly used Malay appellation. I learned from one elderly Mirek informant from Kg. Bakam Laut (map 1) that there are (or at least there were) two different groups among the Mirek: Mirek Bahut and Mirek Permaisuri, Bahut'is the Mirek equivalent of the Malay ulu “upstream”, and so the Mirek Bahut are the “Upstream Mirek”. According to my informant, it is this group which represents the original Mirek people who, so he maintained, share a 'common ancestry through intermarriage with the Kayan people (this despitp the constant raiding of Mirek settle­ ments by Kayan headhunters as we shall see later). My informant told me that the Mirek once lived together with the Kayan along the Batang Kayan waterway,3 presently in Indonesian Kalimantan Bakang 'ani Baong groups ai wen. My own Mirek Informants denied that these other peoples could be called Mirek. The study has other wealmesses as well (ct, Sather'1979). d. Ifn Sarawak batang Indicates a main stream, Oingel Its branches.

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Tunku Zainah Tunku Ibrahim

(Borneo), But the Mirek Permaisuri, he ‘sai3, are descendants of ond Permaisuri, a lady of royal birth who came to this area from Pagar Ruyung in Sulewesi. It seems that Permaisuri cafrfe to the Mirek area in search of her son, Tahir, who -had married ‘a Mirek woman and settled down permanently with his wife’s ‘people. This Tahir was a Muslim and so his Mirek wife, Timah, also embraced Islam. It is’ claimed that Tahir and Timah lived in the settlement which 'today goes by the name of Kg. Wireless, where even-rioilv there is a load' Jalan Permaisuri, which is said to be named iri honour of Tahir’s mother. Apparently the lady never retutned td her native Sulewesi, but died Ln this settiement. Today the distinction between Mirek Bahut and Mirek Permaisuri is of little, if"ahy7 consequence. Indeed, most modem Mirek seem quite unaware^of these divj^ons..pn thb_other hand, most Mirek do know of Permaisup, whom they regard" as a keramat or sair^ly, person, whose spirit may .grant favours to people who make and ful­ fil vows in her name. Although modem Mirek frequently identify themselves as prang Melayu, and speak Malay, their own language is very different from standard Sarawak Malay. The linguist Robert Blust (1972:13-14) has classified the Mirek language as belonging to the “Lower Baram” subgroup of the “North Sarawak’’ language family (fig. 1), All “Lower Baram’’ languages, which include those of several small ethnic groups in the area - Mirek, Dalik, Berawan, Kiput, Narum, Lelak, Lementing, Baleit and Tutorig (map 2) — are spoken by peop’les living ‘^long the Lower Baram River, its tributaries and a number of dther,’ ^mailer, waterways immediately to the north and 'south of the ^aram riVer. These “North Sarawak’^ languages .beldhg within‘the “Western In-‘ donesian” branch of the great Austronesian, language faipily {cf. Dyen 19^65). North Sarawak Language Family _-*rr
also have been at work among'the Mirek. Certainly it is reported, somewhat later it is true; that Brunei Malay missionaries actively proselytized among the neighbouring Dalik'and Bakong peoples.who became Muslims towards the end of the nineteenth century. Apart from those cases of intermarriage between Mirek and Brunei Malay, it is inlpossible at this., point in time to reconstruct with certainty the precise reasons why the whole Mirek community eventually converted to Islam and so came to identify itself,with the Malay people. Nonetheless (and without compromising the religious sincerity of individual converts), some plausible sociological factors may be suggested. Apart from the role played by the Brunei Malay, the spread of Islam among the Mirek could also have been assisted by their- contact with other Muslim communities in the sub­ coastal zone into which they moved in order to escape the Kayan headhunters. And by identifying themselves with the larger Muslim, and so Malay, community, the Mirek may have been able’ to obtain Malay support in times of danger. Another factor may have been the desire, in a new “peasant” rather than “tribal” habitat (the sub­ coastal peoples were typically peasant societies ruled by sultans or aristocratic elites, in contrast to the independent tribal societies of the interior),40 abandon their previous tribal identity in favour of the perceived greater sophistication of a Malay peasant identity. Un­ doubtedly in Sarawak there has long been an element of prestige Attached to the notion of “becoming Malay”, involving as it does the abandonment of a former tribal-organization which, among the coastal and sub-coastal people, was clearly conceived as inferior. Leach (1950:34)'is surely right * in his contention that the Malay, with their eariy contacts as coastal peoples with outsiders, became more so­ phisticated than other indigenous peoples who lived in the interior and so did not enjoy such links with the outside world. Thus, by “becoming Malay” Mirek were, in their view as well as in that of their new neighbours, becoming a more sophisticated people. So the change of identity from-tribal Mirek to peasant Malay, from inlander to sub-coastal dweller, required the abandonment of An original pre-Islamic way of ‘life and the assumption of a new, not merely Islamic but also Malay, tradition. In order to understand the end result of this process of ethnic change for the Mirek, it is.as well that we try to reconstruct; so far as is possible, something of the traditional, pre-Islamic, Mirek culture in-order to compare this with -13-

Tunku Zalnah Tunku Ibrahim

their way of life after conversion. By making this kind of comparison, we may gain some idea of the cultural content gf “Malay” ethnicity in Sarawak. Less than two hundred years ago, the Mirek were a non-MusIim people of the interior of the area which today constitutes,the Miri district. They were particularly concentrated at Padang Liku and Ulu Taniku, where their settlements took the form of riverine longhouses. These longhouses are still remembered as having been im­ posing buildings raised above the ground as high as dua sambung tangga “two lengths of ladders”, 'apparently in order to prevent thenattack by ngayau “headhunters”, especially Kayan, always the most formidable of the Mirek’s enemies. The oral traditions of the Mirek make frequent mention of the Kayan in the pre-Islamic period. It seems these people would prey rather regularly on the Mirek, forcing them to move from place to place in search of refuge. The pattern of movement seems most usually to have ,been from interior to river mouth. And the closer to the coast, the more secure the Mirek were against Kayan depredations. The indigenous ritual idiom 'Of the Mirek was obviously very different from the Islamic one they were now to accept. Modern informants most readily recall the differences with regard to death and marriage customs. At a death, according to elderly informants (not themselves bom into the pre-Islamic society), apart from weeping •and mourning there was also much merry-making and participation in special games like berbintis (which involved kicking one’s opponent’s shins), tug-of-war and water fights between men and women, old and young. Young unmarried men and women apparently took ad­ vantage of such occasions to mingle freely in public. Death celebrations, it seems, were occasions of considerable pleasure for many Mirek. There is an interesting legend .which tells of the dispersal of a group of Mirek who once lived together at a village called Beraya. The story goes that people in this village lived to such great ages that people began to regret that there were so few deaths to occasion the much-enjoyed celebrations. So, in order * to provide themselves with an excuse for merrymaking, the villagers caught a shark and treated it like a dead person. They enjoyed themselves to the full but they were to suffer mightily for this deed, for it constituted mockery of an animal, a paramount ritual transgression in all indigenous Borneo societies (cf. Needham 1964). Deaths soon became so common in this village that those who buried the dead would themselves die on returning home. The village population rapidly dwindled and the few who remained alive were -afraid to remain at Beraya lest they too should die. To escape the curse, the survivors moved to areas like Bakam and Sibuti. With regard to Inarriage customs, informants say that the old practice allowed for couples to enjoy sexual congress for a couple of nights after their formal engagement ceremony, 'both at the bride’s house -14-

The Mtrek

and the groom’s place. After each occasion, 'the man had to leave soifie gift under his pillow 'for his bride-to-be, If he did not do so, it’ is said, he would bring great disgrace upon himself. But immediate­ ly following this socially-acceptable sexual proximity, the couple wbre required to feign shyness and to avoid each other until their wedding, which-would usually take place a few months later. These non-Islamic practices had to be abandoned upon the Mirek’s becoming Muslim. In their place came the usual Malay rituals which mark th’e passage through life. Indeed, the most critical mark of “Malayness” is the observance of these'life crises rites which contain both Islamic and pre-Islamic (mostly Hindu) elements, the latter accented by all Malay as inseparable from the required Muslim rituals. So, for example, Mirek marriage practices no longer involve pre-marital sexual congress,'but they do involve the Malay henna-staining rite, b^rsanding (the sitting in state of the groom and his bride [pl. 4]) and other typically Malay nuptial customs. 'When the whole Mirek community -had completed the process of conversion to Islam, these people began to be‘known, both-locally and by outsiders, as Orang Melayu or “Malay people’’. And the Mirek themselves were by no means' slow in asserting their new ethnic identity. As we have just seen, old' practices were abandorfed, and new, Malay, ones addpted'in their place. Malay personal names soon came to be preferred ove^ indigenous Mirek ones. Settlement patterns changed, with individual Malay-type'houses (pl. 1) replacing communal longhoutes and villages being sited,'after the fashion-of the Sarawak * Malay, along river banks'or in coastal dreas (pl. 2). And'likS other Malay, many a Mirek, in-order" to obtain'religipds status and social validatibn, has- sold his land in order to obtain the wlierewithal to’ make the haj or pilgrimage to Mecca. Today Mirek dress like Malay (pl. 3, 4) and learn to speak the dominant Malay dialect, locally known as Bahasa Sarawak (the dialect of Malay traditionally spoken in and around the State- capital, Kuching). In recent years there has been an -ever-increasing tendency among Mirek to speak^ Malay in preference to their-iown language.. This is because Malay is‘regarded as.being more prestigious. And functionally, since few outsiders-speak Mirek, it iS * certainly more useful. Consequently, everyday use of the Mirek language has declined to such an extent, particularly ^gmorig the young, that today only the older members of the community are fully conversant with, and maintain a strong attachment»to, the indigenous language. Not surprisingly, it is also this older group which is most interested in preserving a traditional Mirek identity alongside the rtiore recent Malay one. Today, for all practical purposes, the special Mirek identity is de­ pendent solely on a distinctive language. Malay identity, on the other hand, is essentially a function, of the Islamic beliefs., and practices which form,such-a crucial part of Malay culture. The'Mirek, there­ fore, have a- dual identity.' They may call themselves Mirek or they. -15-

I

Tunku Zalmh Tunku Ibrahim

may call ,themselve^ Malay a5_they copceive tl^e'■occasion demands. Tfius,^ tor example,,\liey will * refer to rthemselve^’as Orang Melayu when interacting witli j^alay outsiders or with non-Malay peoples; but when associating with local Malpy they identify .thepiselves (and identified) as Orang ^^j^i. Only among the ypunger members of the community is there a tendency to identify thqmselves exclusively as Malay. This may be because of the higher social status which society at large accords to the ethnic label “Malay” over that of “Orang Miri”. Perhaps the need to identify their ethnicity more broadly when dealing with non-Malay ethnic groups has somethipg to do with it as well. The maintenance of dual ethnicity by, the great majority of Mirel; should not be seep in terms of any desire for material gain. So far at least, Mirdc have had little, if any, opportunity for material gain by identifying themselves as the aboriginal people of the area. We have seep, that tlje- community at large is clearly, an, economically depressed one. Nor, up to the present, has Mirek identification as Malay brought them any-.substantial economic benefit. I must note here that the special position of the Malay, as bumiputra “sons of the soil”, as defiped in the Malaysian constitution, is differently in­ terpreted in ,,Sarawak' than it is in Peninsular Malaysia. In Sarawak all indigenous people, be they Muslims,.Christians.or traditionalists, are defined as bumiputra/ Furthermore, one should remember that I the phenomenon -of “becoming Malay” was already .widespread in Sarawak’,long be^re that territory’s political association with the Malayan peninsula. Converts to Islam, like the Mirek, did not receive material benefits by entering the Malay community. On the ojher hand, they did certainly gain-higher soc^l prestige, at least among the already Islamized and Malayized coastal and sub-coastal peoples. 4. CONCLUDING REMARKS

I

’

I I !

The term Malay or Melayu has been so widely applied in Sarawak that it certainly cannot refer to any particular group of people inthe strict ethno-linguistic sense. Rather, the term is applicable’ to all local Muslims (excluding the Kadayan and the Muslim section of the Melanau, both of whom prefer-to retain their non-Malay ethnic identity), irrespective of ethnic origin. Robert Pringle, author of an historical-study of the Iban (1970), writes (p; xviii) that it is arguable that the term “Malay” should be entirely avoided in the Sarawak context “since it implies that the ancestors of the Borneo Malays were, at some past period, migrants from Sumatra or.Malaya” whereas “no significant physical migration took place, but.rather . certain of the Borneo pagan tribal peoples (and probably some who had been acquainted with Hinduism ip an earlier era)'Jbecame Malay’ by acdepting'Islam.” Nonetheless, as Pringle himself notes,/the term “Malay” has come to be so widely used in Sarawak that'“nohave his own special preferences which may' not' coincide ’exactly with those of others. This is parti­ cularly noticeable in the case of ginggong “Jew’s harps” and the various kinds of flute. A. AEROPHONES

(i) Nabat (figs. 1, 2). This a 7 4- 1 holed end-blown fipplc-flute. It is made of bamboo, but-the plug (fipple) is of wood. The lo\tfer end is a natural bamboo node in which a hole is bored. Holes 1-7 are placed at equidistant intervals starting at the lower end. The thufhb-hole at ’the back is placed midway between hole 6 and hole 7 (fig. 2). While playing the nabett, the’musician never * removes his fingers ’from holes 6 and 7, nor his thumb from the thumb’-hdle. Hole 5 is also covered for most of the time.-’Holes 1 and 2 are’ Idft open, i.e. unfingered, mos,t of the,time, and this is particularly so with,hole 2. If the musician ,wishes Jo incpasp.jhf volume of his naSat,\\Q sinjply stop§.playing and, using a small knife, enlarges the finger holes as,well as the moutji hole. The compass of the ndbat we pbserved is one octave, ranging from d to d' on thp Western diajonic scale. The melodics are,not accomjjanied.' There are several, long .musical patterns in^ e^ch tune. XJccasiopally a trembling effect is produced by rubbing one finger up and down thp length of the.instrument while it is being blown, thus covering all the four.holes very quickly. Informants told us that there were a total of ten nabat tunes * as follows: majuk, bujang- hilir, ■panggil budak, budak napgis, sarwardrgs,^ sama Sfltu, timanganak, panggil perempuani-dara perindu 'and lampdng mudik^ kifalck There are * stories associated wj^ most tunes.^ for examplq, is.a story .about a young Jah-Hut

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M. CouUlard, M. E. Cardoza- and M. R. Martinez

man who happened' to be playing his" nabat while navigating a river. A raja summoned him to the bank and asked the Jah Hut to play" for

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