S.E. Asia - a new exploration

[stormbind]

You need to make a thread about your visit to South East Asia it sounds awesome.

Ok Karalysia, but I have learned not to expect much interest

I am a computer programmer, and I have returned from a three-month expedition into uncharted rain forest in South East Asia. In that time, I did discover a fledgeling nomadic tribe. I did learn their religion and their verbal histories. The results of my discoveries were screened in a 20 minute film last September.

I visited many societies along the way, including the richest and poorest. Each culture had a different level of development. Photos, stories and discoveries are available on request. I took an anthropological approach (rather than touristic one) and I may have been exposed to high dangers at many times. However, I have avoided all serious injuries. What would interest you?

The real me can be verified at http://www.facebook.com/arthur.glen

 

[TheLastOne36]

Interesting, talk more about that Nomadic Tribe!

 

[GoodSarmatian]

South East Asia is kind of vague, where have you been exactly ? Cambodia ? Thailand ? Indonesia ?

 

[stormbind]

Interesting, talk more about that Nomadic Tribe!

The nomadic tribe live in the uplands of a rain forest and are subjects of the Philippine government. Their ancestors were a short dark people with tight curly hair. Although most Batak resemble negros and were termed negrito by the British Empire, there is no genetic link between these racial groups.

They are known as the Batak. For clarity, these are not the same as the Indonesian Batak. Very ancient Chinese writings hint at the possibility that the Batak may have migrated from South China, through the Malay peninsula, and stopped in Palawan before rising seas separated them from the mainland. Though the Batak do not write with ink, there is a hint of Sanscrit in their culture. The Batak previously traded with the Brunei Empire and were later studied by the Spanish Empire. Verbal accounts of their much stronger pre-WW2 civilisation does not resemble their current condition. Verbal history suggests the Batak fought for survival against the Japanese and Americans in WW2. The Batak are excedingly peaceful and in their current state, their most powerful weapons are carefully guarded secrets.

Unfortunately, the Batak people face imminent genetic extinction and their numbers are so few that they have accepted DNA migration from neighbouring ethnic groups such as the Tagbanau. Batak suffer many hardships and have discovered different technologies to our ancestors. They have happy lives in a beautiful place

Government, Missionary, and NGO efforts have all pressured the nomadic peoples to settle. Due to various outside pressures, most of the Batak have settled in villages barely outside the easy reach of Filipinos. The leader of the nomadic group asked that I do not publicly disclose his location. However, he would like me to disclose his location to English and American visitors {interpretations applicable} on the assumption that they will bring rice or other resources to his people. Primary imports are sugar, coffee, tobacco, penicillin, knives, fish.

In addition to imminent genetic extinction, their decendents face cultural erosion. Their greatest spiritual and polital leader is Chief Padaw. He announced himself as my father, and me as his son. This was a great honour for me and may go some way towards explaining why I possess a deep academic and practical knowledge of the Batak

I have returned to London with some artefacts, though I made a point of leaving behind all items that might be valuable to the Batak. What more would you like to know?

 

[stormbind]

South East Asia is kind of vague, where have you been exactly ? Cambodia ? Thailand ? Indonesia ?

Palawan and Brunei.

 

[Yared]

Their greatest spiritual and polital leader is Chief Padaw. He announced himself as my father, and me as his son. This was a great honour for me and may go some way towards explaining why I possess a deep academic and practical knowledge of the Batak
?

That's amazing!

 

[Karalysia]

Tell us of dangers. Were any of the tribe hostile? Were you armed? What kind of wild animals did you encounter? The Phillipnes have issues with rebels did you happen across any of them?

 

[stormbind]

Tell us of dangers. Were any of the tribe hostile? Were you armed? What kind of wild animals did you encounter? The Phillipnes have issues with rebels did you happen across any of them?

As it was my first venture, the selected route was a relatively touristic with reserved plane seats etc. During this, I was almost arrested in very strict Brunei because my assistant rebelled and the argument caused a stir. Manila was disgusting.

Tourism-conscious economics in Philippine politics has outlawed unregulated communication with Bataks. Consequently, the government and universities were not my trusted partners. Someone did betray me to the authorities, who had apparently searched for me along the highway. However, by that time I was protected by the Batak inside unmapped virgin rainforest so nier to them!

Inside the rainforest are many poisonous snakes, scorpions, centipedes and deadly spiders. Many of these are unique to Palawan and are more venemous than their relatives in other locales. Large predators include pythons and monitor lizards, but I did not encounter these because I kept close to Batak trails. The crocodiles are now extinct due to excessive hunting. One of the more aggressive animals is the wild bearded pig, nearly extinct. My protection included a large machete (known locally as an itak or bolos). Other protections included a highly secretive enchantments that will lose all power if I disclose how they work! Some literal threats to my head included very large cut vines (with spear-like tips) that hang from the canopy. These are too high to endanger a Batak but just right to penetrate a westerner's skull. Although pained, I did not record any fractures. I would wear a helmet on future visits. Other weapons of mine included a Batak bow made entirely of ratan and bamboo. There was also a Batak smoothbore pistol that I bought to examine and later returned to them. The primary weapon of a Batak hunter is his self-made smoothbore rifle.

The Batak prefer to live near rivers and I experienced many typhoons and electrical storms. The storms did create some danger such as powerful flooded rivers that forced movement. For example, a hired hand was swept downstream and on another occation I was injurred when my ankle was turned between rocks in river basin. The wound went septic and forced 10 days rest at a rented brick house. This house was in the nearest city (which is quite a distance). Medical insurance is not always useful in Palawan. There were some disturbances at the house including break-ins.

Gago (a term to describe bad people in the Philippines) are often poor and consequently dangerous. Many live in polluted shanty towns and would apparently relish a chance to commit crimes against a Joe: the local term for any white person, derived from GI Joe. When visiting these places the locals did refuse to allow me shelter and water. This alienation, combined with threat of crime, forced me to retreat. I was not foolish enough to be there at dusk.

The Batak have several rituals and no lasting harm came to me. Oh, and bats horsehockyted on me. At some point in the expedition I picked up intestinal paracites for which I later received treatement at The Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London. The form of malaria in the uplands is serious and I used Malarone anti-malarials.

The rebels (Communist and Muslim) are not visibly present in Palawan and have concerns elsewhere. This has not prevented the Philippine military from carrying out precautionary excercises inside Batak territory. It has been suggested that tourists should wear bright colours to avoid being mistaken for rebels. Military strategy requires all Batak to settle, and forced settlement is a serious problem that undermines Batak survival.

What would you like me to elaborate on?

 

[stormbind]

That's amazing!

Thank you

Chief Padaw or Tatay (meaning dad) taught me the basic rituals and provided me with a ritual cup made of bamboo. He believes the cup will assist me in befriending spirits.

The ritual cup represents my holy grail. Although hand-carved in one day and easy to reproduce, such cups are scarce and I have the only known example in my living room. Unfortunately the dyes have faded from red and green, to brown. However, I filmed Padaw while he made it and the one in my room is clearly the same object.

What else might amaze you?

 

[Masada]

Ok Karalysia, but I have learned not to expect much interest

I'm hearing you..

I did discover a fledgeling nomadic tribe. I did learn their religion and their verbal histories. The results of my discoveries were screened in a 20 minute film last September.

You presumably weren't the first to make contract though? And I would be interested to get a run through of their religion and verbal histories if that was possible.

I visited many societies along the way, including the richest and poorest. Each culture had a different level of development. Photos, stories and discoveries are available on request. I took an anthropological approach (rather than touristic one) and I may have been exposed to high dangers at many times. However, I have avoided all serious injuries. What would interest you?

Whatever you can provide would be welcome.

Very ancient Chinese writings hint at the possibility that the Batak may have migrated from South China, through the Malay peninsula, and stopped in Palawan before rising seas separated them from the mainland.

I'm not inclined to believe this. No offense or anything but past experience with Chinese sources would seem to suggest that that level of specificity is extremely unlikely at best and impossible normally. Not to mention that some of the material facts seem unlikely at best to have been mentioned or even understood by the Chinese. To the best of my fairly extensive knoweldge of Chinese sources (many of which are shared with Palawan) the Chinese were not aware of the rising sea levels, which occurred long before they had ever drifted into the region in force. But I do find it probably, and even likely, that they made a link between the Malay Peninsula and Palawan. They did much the same with Sumatera and Borneo.

Though the Batak do not write with ink, there is a hint of Sanscrit in their culture.

That would be an unusual place for it to hide. Could you describe that more fully please?

Unfortunately, the Batak people face imminent genetic extinction and their numbers are so few that they have accepted DNA migration from neighbouring ethnic groups such as the Tagbanau.

Were those kinds of relationships considered unusual by historical standards?

Government, Missionary, and NGO efforts have all pressured the nomadic peoples to settle. Due to various outside pressures, most of the Batak have settled in villages barely outside the easy reach of Filipinos. The leader of the nomadic group asked that I do not publicly disclose his location. However, he would like me to disclose his location to English and American visitors {interpretations applicable} on the assumption that they will bring rice or other resources to his people. Primary imports are sugar, coffee, tobacco, penicillin, knives, fish.

That sounds about right.

As it was my first venture, the selected route was a relatively touristic with reserved plane seats etc. During this, I was almost arrested in very strict Brunei because my assistant rebelled and the argument caused a stir.

Rebelled how so?

Manila was disgusting.

Go to some second or third tier cities and you'll get some perspective, quickly.

 

[warpus]

I have several questions:

Was it easy to become Chief Padaw's son?
What did you have to do?
If you ever went back to the Batak people, would you come as my sidekick?
What sort of stuff did they eat?
Did you get to sleep with any of their women?

 

[stormbind]

I'll answer the others later. I'm going to sleep now

You presumably weren't the first to make contract though? And I would be interested to get a run through of their religion and verbal histories if that was possible.

Batak society has changed significantly over time, and they have had contact with traders for thousands of years.

I am not the first westerner to report on Batak villages. However, I am the first westerner to report on a specifically Diwata-centric Batak group. They had actually fissured from a known settled village and nomadic activities are outlawed in Palawan. An NGO that I collaborated with was working to pursuade them to resettle permanently.

An important detail that the NGO cannot undo is that Padaw's group fissured due to religious dispute.

Diwata (Sanscrit: Diwatha) is a religion that exists in many variations throughout the Philippines. The Batak know of Diwata and Christianity. For comparison, the settlements are Christian with faint showcase remnants of Diwata that may benefit tourism. In contrast, the splintered group are isolated Diwata believers (my emphasis).

Chief Padaw is the last Diwata-worshiping negrito-Batak shaman and there is unlikely to be another person who will share those traits. Padaw may pass the title to his son-in-law, who is an immigrant of Tagbanau origin (it is not a hereditary title). However, there are tests and nobody to date has passed those tests.

Diwata are like shy humans with smoothed features. They used to live as humans in the rain forest. Then a male human played a practical joke on a female diwata. Specifically, he wrapped human excrement in banana leaves and hung it in a hut. Thinking it was a gift of rice, the diwata took it and was subsequently embarassed. Some diwata were furious and others were embarassed. Either way, they unanimously concluded that humans did not deserve to see them and so they became the invisible Diwata forest spirits. Most Diwata are benevolent, the remaining aggressive Diwata are known as Panya'en. Popular culture takes the view that Diwata are female and Panya'en are male - this considered untrue among Padaw's Batak.

The Diwata have a rich and detailed society in the forests, with families and homes. The forest belongs to entirely to them. Humans and other animals are permitted to live in the forest. At times, Diwata will merge with animals and take visible actions. There can be diwata of bees, pigs and so forth. However, these spirits have specific homes and are not found everywhere.

For example, I chanted to the Diwata of the Bees as a request for honey (to inform him that I would take honey). The alert is only to show respect and give the Diwata time to move aside so that he wouldn't be whacked with an axe.

Unlike most humans, the Shaman can see Diwata and converse with them. During rituals, his soul will merge with the soul of a Diwata and he will perform miracles such as healing the sick. Good shamans heal people, bad shamans (in other villages) make people sick.

Verbal history shows that prior to WW2, the Batak had villages along the coast. These were relatively advanced trading posts, with high-protein diet of seafood and a rich culture using brass instruments. According to written accounts, there were many more villages than today and a much higher population.

Then something happened and written accounts fail to make sense. Apparently, villages and social knowledge disapeared. According to verbal history, WW2 had brought death and slavery to the Batak. The Japanese may have wiped them out on one side of the large island.

Furthermore, according to this verbal history, the Batak retreated into the mountains and everyone (women and children) defended themselves with fast-acting poisoned darts and poisoned arrows. They didn't just fend off the Japanese. Others came with advanced weaponry..

Post-WW2, the Batak were prevented from permantly re-settling along the coast by the introduction of an American/Philippine highway. From this time, the Batak became dependent on nomadic slash-and-burn argiculture. They cannot farm the same land two years running because the soil quality erodes. The poisons are outlawed by government and a guarded secret by the Batak, who do not use it for hunting.

In the modern era they are forced to live inland and prevented from relocating. Each year their supply of rice is less, and they are being gradually starved out of existence. The race is no longer genetically viable and I have photographic evidence.

That is an incomplete account. Please ask for more details. I'm going to sleep now!

 

[stormbind]

If you ever went back to the Batak people, would you come as my sidekick?

I should have posted my thread months ago because I intend to return and make a more serious film with the Batak. I would like to visit tribes in Borneo too. However, I do need some commited persons to join me. Really gone to bed now

 

[Masada]

Batak society has changed significantly over time, and they have had contact with traders for thousands of years.

I would be interested in hearing about details regarding that -- my economics specialization was in Southeast Asia trade.

I am not the first westerner to report on Batak villages. However, I am the first westerner to report on a specifically Diwata-centric Batak group. They had actually fissured from a known settled village and nomadic activities are outlawed in Palawan.

Interesting. Surely though, for a group to have Christianized there must have been some interface between, presumably, Spanish Catholic missionaries and the locals before conversion? Or was that a latter event involving clergy from the large islands who, I guess, might not count as Westerners?

An NGO that I collaborated with was working to pursuade them to resettle permanently.

What's the role of NGOs on Palawan?

Diwata (Sanscrit: Diwatha) is a religion that exists in many variations throughout the Philippines. The Batak know of Diwata and Christianity. For comparison, the settlements are Christian with faint showcase remnants of Diwata that may benefit tourism. In contrast, the splintered group are isolated Diwata believers (my emphasis).

This would seem to mirror the experiences of other groups in Indonesia. And what do you mean by showcase? I'm relatively familiar with the literature and a factor that is hit upon, again and again, is the external adoption of say Christianity with the locals internalizing it in a fashion that is broadly commiserate with past religious practices. Thus, Christ might be understood in terms of local God given new prominence by the religious interpolation of the missionaries. It helps explain how Javanese can quite happily claim to be Muslims while worshiping at Hindu-Buddhist temples or animist shrines. Is that the case? Could the 'showcasing' of indigenous religious practices simple be a reflection of an 'incomplete' conversion that has managed at least consciously to supplant pre-Christian religious practices in the minds of the new-found believers while at the same time simultaneously failing to recognize that religious and cultural practices are usually inseparable.

Chief Padaw is the last Diwata-worshiping negrito-Batak shaman and there is unlikely to be another person who will share those traits. Padaw may pass the title to his son-in-law, who is an immigrant of Tagbanau origin (it is not a hereditary title). However, there are tests and nobody to date has passed those tests.

Interesting: so Chief Padaw presumably has a daughter who has settled down and cohabits with an immigrant. That would seem to imply that she converted to Christianity? It might not, and certainly, it probably doesn't but that kind of cultural-religious interfacing is fascinating and unusual to say the least.

Verbal history shows that prior to WW2, the Batak had villages along the coast. These were relatively advanced trading posts, with high-protein diet of seafood and a rich culture using brass instruments. According to written accounts, there were many more villages than today and a much higher population.

So, the Batak or at least your Batak were coast dwellers as well as forest dwellers, presumably both still practiced a semi-nomadic existence at the least? I guess the geography of Palawan makes that possible. Do they still use brass instruments and were did they source them from?

Then something happened and written accounts fail to make sense. Apparently, villages and social knowledge disapeared. According to verbal history, WW2 had brought death and slavery to the Batak. The Japanese may have wiped them out on one side of the large island.

Fail to make sense in what way? I certainly don't doubt the level of upheaval that the war could cause. And I certainly don't doubt that the Japanese were capable of all kinds of nasty -- fun fact: the Japanese routinely exterminated nomadic groups simply because they felt them to be a threat. The Japanese acted like absolute cultural Philistines during the war.

Post-WW2, the Batak were prevented from permantly re-settling along the coast by the introduction of an American/Philippine highway. From this time, the Batak became dependent on nomadic slash-and-burn argiculture. They cannot farm the same land two years running because the soil quality erodes. The poisons are outlawed by government and a guarded secret by the Batak, who do not use it for hunting.

So they weren't nomadic beforehand? They were actually settled agriculturalists? That's very interesting.

 

[civ_king]

1) you are awesome
2) I feel sorry for your Batak

 

[Cato the Elder]

What language did you speak to each other? Did you have to learn any new languages to be able to do this?

 

[Shaihulud]

Good job on your adventuring! Pehaps you could chronicle your adventure? What made you anxious to explore the jungle? How did you encounter the Batak?
I don't doubt that they are a group with deeply meaningful culture, but I always feel that it is doing 'primitive' society an injustice by isolating them, for the sake of preserving their culture, for study? Tourism? motive at its best is o prevent them from being exploited. Genetic extinction is an obtuse term for not inbreeding, I think of it as a good thing actually.

 

[stormbind]

Masada, you have many questions and I will gladly answer them all. This will take me a long time!

Were those kinds of {inter-marriage/immigrant} relationships considered unusual by historical standards?

My photographic evidence suggests that the unique genes which produce distinctive Batak traits are recessive to those of rival groups. In other words, the appearance of mixed offspring contrasts with negrito appearance and consequently suggests that visibly negrito individuals must have two negrito parents. Consistent with visual evidence, verbal history suggests that the concept of DNA migration would be out of the ordinary.

By tradition, the Batak polygamous, with a courtship ritual involving currency. This is something the missionaries have begun to change.

Supported by local government, which includes the private tourist board, various immigrants have taken up positions of influence in Batak society. For example, Kalakwasan is a settled village with significant exposure to tourism. The elected chieftain at Kalakwasan had no Batak ancestory - he is of Tagbanau and Visayan decent.

Academic accounts suggest the Batak would traditionally prefer fissure over democracy. Verbal history recounts an outside interference that led to acts of universal forced prostitution and the adoption of democracy. However, those events do not appear to have changed negrito appearance. At least one colleague has suggested that a problem (institutional rape) was introduced to Batak society so that the fix (democracy) could later be imposed.

Kalakwasan is heavily influenced by the tourist board and missionaries, leading some reports to describe the site as fictional and Disney-like.

Interesting. Surely though, for a group to have Christianized there must have been some interface between, presumably, Spanish Catholic missionaries and the locals before conversion? Or was that a latter event involving clergy from the large islands who, I guess, might not count as Westerners?

The Batak seem to have consistently avoided Catholic missionary influence. I suggest this might be because Batak territory had been the battlefield of wars between Islamic and Catholic empires. In other words, missionary efforts would have been very dangerous.

In modern times, smaller sects of the Christian church have established themselves. These churches are more closely alligned Protestantism. Clergy have come from the west and from the Philippines.

Go to some second or third tier cities and you'll get some perspective, quickly.

I rented a nice house in Peurto Princessa City. By contrast, Manila is disgusting. I visited many disturbing areas and subsequently found relaxation in the Asia Mall.

 

[stormbind]

What language did you speak to each other? Did you have to learn any new languages to be able to do this?

The Batak have their own language, which I suspect is being gradually eroded. They are also quick learners and they are fluent in Tagalog - a common language in the Philippines. They were learning the Roman Alphabet and their interest provided a talking point.

I did sit around camp fires with only raw humanity as a common language, gradually learning their Batak vocabulary using non-verbal communication.

Obviously I could not ask deeply philosophical questions using hand-gestures and facial expressions. Consequently, meaningful discussions with the Batak were held in Tagalog, with the assistance of a much trusted Filipino

 

[stormbind]

What made you anxious to explore the jungle?

I'm a computer programmer. My home is thourally modern apartment in the middle of London. I can discuss OpenGL to a level of detail that I can bore even myself!

However, technology does not exist without humanity. For example, the visual output from a computer is interpreted by a human mind. In other words, the product is meaningful only with a human perspective. Consequently, I studied Visual Cultures, Perceptual Psychology and Visual Anthropology.

My interest demands that I distill my knowledge to its most basic constructs. Aboriginal societies provide raw and powerful examples of humanity's fundamental systems of perception. With their demonstrations, my computer programming can be more potent

Also, I like to listen to people and to learn new things

How did you encounter the Batak?

Exposed settled villages can be found by paying tour guides, or even looking on a map.

In contrast to paying for a rehearsed show, locating the fissured group was problematic. There are political forces at play and the settled villages denied the existence of Padaw's fissured group.

Finding them involved many acts of social engineering and exploration. I had discovered abandoned Batak huts and vanishing trails. These signs were studied for age and use. There was one evening in which I accepted defeat and retreated from the rain forest. That same night, on the highway, I passed a lone Batak woman and contact was made. She brought news of my interest to the fissured group, and they came down from the mountains to meet me

I don't doubt that they are a group with deeply meaningful culture, but I always feel that it is doing 'primitive' society an injustice by isolating them...

Could isolating them be synonymous with ignoring them and not studying them?

I do not think exploitation is avoidable. Every interaction between humans shrouds an exploit of some kind. I have been open and honest with everyone concerned, encouraging them to make their own decisions, and that is the best that I can do.

Genetic extinction is an obtuse term for not inbreeding, I think of it as a good thing actually.

Visual appearance fosters the development of personal identity. Sometimes identities can be harmful, and at other times protective.