Batek playing Batek for tourists at Peninsular Malaysia’s national park

Abstract

the Batek are a foraging-trading people living in and around Peninsular malaysia's largest national park, taman Negara. In recent years some of their semipermanent camps near the park headquarters at kuala tahan have become tourist attractions. Batek residents allow groups of malaysian and foreign tourists to visit, and they demonstrate some of their specialised skills, including shooting blowpipes and making fire with rattan vines and dry wood, as well as selling handicrafts. In this article we examine the reasons why some Batek participate in the tourist business, how they integrate it into their overall economy, and how they preserve their distinctive cultural values and practices while offering a simplified picture of their culture to curious outsiders.

Laughing when you shouldn't

“…In addition to this, many Batek people fear that gɔp will consider them disgusting for eating meat such as monitor lizards, not because it has come from the plantation but because it is haram (Arabic/Malay: forbidden by Islamic law), and because of their many past experiences of prejudice. This sentiment of suspicion and fear of ridicule has a long history, with its roots in 19th‐century slave raiding by Malays (Endicott ; Endicott , 13–29), and it is further compounded by current attempts to force the Batek to convert to Islam or Christianity and to assimilate into Malaysian society (Dentan et al. ), particularly in the area where we were at that time.…”

“…The Batek are one of at least 19 ethnolinguistic groups of Orang Asli (Malay: Original People) of Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand (Endicott , 1) . A recent estimate puts their population at over 1,500 across the Malaysian states of Pahang, Terengganu, and Kelantan (Endicott et al.…”

“…A recent estimate puts their population at over 1,500 across the Malaysian states of Pahang, Terengganu, and Kelantan (Endicott et al. , 100). They are lowland rain forest dwellers who move between living locations in and around Taman Negara (Malay: National Park).…”

“…Interactions with gɔp often result from participation in trade and tourism (Endicott et al. ). Consequently, some Batek people spend a lot of time around gɔp , others don't.…”

Hidden Likeness: Avoidance and Iconicity in Batek

“…As Batek people navigate their lives between their forest and its borders, they therefore encounter not only forest entities but also more unfamiliar entities such as oil palms, Bangladeshi migrant workers, police, and missionaries. And, continuing a trend that has been ongoing since the 1970s (K. M. Endicott 2005), many Batek people increasingly take part in casual labor such as tourism (portering, guiding, selling crafts) (K. M. Endicott et al 2016), labor on oil palm plantations, or ad hoc trade. Indeed, in places that border forest and plantation, most now supplement or substitute hunting and gathering with oil palm plantation labor.…”