Peaceful Societies

A couple Piaroa leaders spoke out in the Venezuelan media to condemn the presence in their communities of people they claimed were FARC guerillas. An article in the online Venezuelan news service El Pitazo on November 25 described the conditions in the Huottoja (Piaroa) majority communities where the guerillas have taken up residence.

A Piaroa family in the Amazonas state of Venezuela (Photo by José Mijares formerly in Wikimedia, Creative Commons license)

The two Piaroa leaders, Antonio Palacios and Eliseo Martínez, along with their lawyer Juan Alberto Díaz, announced on a radio station that they had held a meeting on October 29 that included people from the southern portion of the Atures municipality. At that meeting, the Piaroa strongly rejected the presence of the FARC guerillas in their communities and throughout Amazonas State.

The attorney indicated that the Piaroa rejection of the FARC forces was overwhelming, especially in the villages in which they are the majority ethic group. They argue that the FARC invaders are violating their human rights as well as their natural rights. Mr. Díaz said that in several of their communities the guerillas are influencing the Piaroa to commit illegal acts.

The Piaroa leaders also maintain their evidence shows the guerillas are being supported by the government of Venezuela. The indigenous spokespeople said they had sent a formal complaint to the appropriate government agencies. But they absolutely refuse to negotiate directly with the guerillas since the latter so clearly disrespect their customs.

Liborio Guarulla, Governor of Amazonas State, Venezuela (Screen capture from the video “Diálogo Maduro-Oposición: Palabras de Liborio Guarulla, gobernador de Amazonasbbb ” on YouTube, Creative Commons license)

According to El Pitazo, complaints about the violent groups in the border areas of Venezuela are not new. The former governor of Amazonas State, Liborio Guarulla, has frequently accused the Maduro government of being the principal financier of the guerillas.

The news service quotes Governor Guarulla directly. In the Google translation of his remarks, he said, “The presence of the guerillas in the Amazon represents the invasion of armed people involved in the mining, food and fuel smuggling businesses. They rule in the mines with government authorization, because they pay the military. It is an open secret. We [have] become a land of illegal mining and Colombian guerillas.”

Italics Magazine, an English-language online periodical covering anything related to Italy and the Italian people, published a story on November 25 about Tristan da Cunha. While the overall purpose of the piece is to review the salient facts of Tristan history, the writer, Andrea Angelini, pays special attention to the Italian seamen who settled on the island.

A sign on Tristan claiming to be the most remote human settled island on earth — A sign on Tristan claiming to be the most remote settled island on earth (Photo by Brian Gratwicke on Flickr, Creative Commons license)

The author opens with the facts about the isolation of Tristan—located in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean more than a thousand miles from any other human settlement. The island was first sighted in 1506 by the Portuguese seafarer Tristão da Cunha, after whom it was named. About 137 years later, crew members from a Dutch East India ship, the Heemstede, successfully made the first landing on the shore of Tristan.

The first people to attempt to live there were an American seal hunter, Jonathan Lambert, and two sailors, Andrew Millet and Tommaso Corri, who moved onto the island in 1810. Lambert declared the island to be his personal property. But two years later Lambert and Millet were killed in an accident which Corri, who was an Italian, couldn’t adequately explain to the British marine garrison that arrived in 1816.

When the garrison was withdrawn from the island in 1817, William Glass got permission to remain with his wife and their two children and establish a settlement. Glass became the first governor of Tristan da Cunha. Angelini observes that Tristan became the world’s only true socialist entity, where no one rules others, where there is no private ownership of property, and where work, costs, and gains are shared equally.

The flag of Tristan da Cunha (Photo by Brian Gratwicke on Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Additional people gradually augmented the settlement on Tristan, either due to shipwrecks, by choice, or a combination of the two. A group of five women were brought to the island in 1827 from Saint Helena and the population began to grow more rapidly. The author mentions some of the additional men who decided, as the nineteenth century went along, to settle on Tristan and establish families.

The Italians Gaetano Lavarello and Andrea Repetto, both from the town of Camogli, arrived due to shipwreck in 1892. They were crew members of a ship named the Italia carrying a load of coal from Scotland to Cape Town which caught fire in the ocean. The captain saved the lives of his 16 crew members by steering the ship onto some rocks near Tristan, where everyone could make it to the island on lifeboats.

The residents on Tristan housed and cared for them for three months until a ship stopped and offered them passage. Lavarello and Repetto refused to leave—they had fallen for two Tristanian women. They had numerous children and added their family names to the others already established on Tristan.

The author concludes his story by recounting the saga of the forced evacuation of the island in 1961 when the volcano began erupting. The islanders were housed in the UK for 18 months until a small group of them, in the spring of 1963, returned to clean up the settlement and prepare for the others. Six months later most of the rest of the islanders followed, resuming their traditions at the world’s most remote human settlement.

Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of India’s West Bengal state, has roiled the political scene in Northeast India by expressing her opposition to India’s National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Lepchas in the state have allied themselves with the Chief Minister in opposition to the controversial law.

The NRC, a register of all citizens of India maintained by the national government, was first prepared for just the people of Assam, another state in Northeast India, in 1951 but it was mostly ignored until recently when the government began to update the listing of citizens in that state.

This process upset the Chief Minister of West Bengal, who led a demonstration in Kolkata in early September opposing any extension of the law. The Trinamool Congress, Banerjee’s party, opposes the NRC partly on political grounds—it is supported by the BJP, the party in power in New Delhi. Of more substance, Trinamool Congress members claim that huge numbers of “genuine Indians” were excluded from the new register prepared for Assam and that the new list reflects “extreme bias.”

The Lepchas, grateful for the support that Banerjee has provided for them over the years, enthusiastically joined her in opposing the NRC. A news story on November 10 reported that the Lepcha organization Shezoom has decided to support Ms. Banerjee’s anti-NRC position. The Shezoom statement indicated that the Lepchas “don’t want any disruptive exercise in the hills.”

Children playing in a Lepcha village (Photo by Kandukuru Nagarjun on Flickr, Creative Commons license)

On November 17, Shezoom organized a very large demonstration in Kalimpong, a town in the northern part of West Bengal, to show their support for the Chief Minister and her opposition to the NRC process. The rally concluded with a large public gathering at which Lepcha leaders pledged their continuing support for the Chief Minister.

They were not hesitant to remind people that they were still waiting for a government body that would focus on ways to help develop the Lepcha communities. They hoped the state government would respond to their needs shortly. Shezoom called for another march on December 1 plus a mass signature campaign in the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of the state.

The willingness of the Lepchas to participate in the political process through peaceful demonstrations and marches has been shown several times in recent years. It appears to be an integral aspect of their culture, as a review of the news stories will show. For instance, in 2013 the Lepchas with their peaceful ways had to handle a conflict with the Gorkhas, a larger group originally from Nepal who are steeped in militarism and violent responses to disputes.

Lepcha villagers in Darjeeling (Photo by Patricia Perkins on Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Early in 2013, the Chief Minister met with members of the Lepcha community in Kalimpong, a meeting that prompted Bimal Gurung, the leader of a major Gorkha organization, to declare that the Chief Minister had a divide and rule policy. The Gorkhas resented any implication that the Lepchas might have their own needs.

Mr. Gurung was not in the least subtle in his response to the meeting: “You must be ready for the next phase of the agitation. Bullets will fly. We are ready to face police bullets as this is what they will do. She [the Chief Minister] will send in the police force and their bullets, she will reopen old cases (against the agitators), we know all about it and we are ready to take bullets to achieve statehood,” he declared. The major demand of the Gorkhas was for a state of their own, independent from West Bengal.

Ms. Banerjee announced at a news conference on January 31, 2013, her decision to honor a request from the Lepcha people to form a Lepcha Development Board, which will work for the development of the Lepchas living in the hills of West Bengal. Details about the board were to be announced later, but the chair and vice chair would be appointed from within the Lepcha community. The Chief Minister’s proposal was approved by the state cabinet on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013.

Gorkha memorial in Darjeeling (Photo by Adam Jones in Wikimedia, Creative Commons license)

The Gorkhas reacted with great hostility to the announcement. Mr. Gurung announced a 12 hour, dawn to dusk, general strike in Darjeeling and adjoining regions for Saturday, Feb. 9. He sought to lay the blame for any violence that might develop from the shutdown on the government. He said, “Our agitation will be peaceful but the government will try and make it violent.” He blamed the Chief Minister of the state. “It looks like Mamata Banerjee is inviting us to start an intensified Gorkhaland agitation….It seems she has no intention of normalizing the situation and is hell bent on disturbing the harmony.”

Lepcha activists decided to launch an action of their own. The Lepcha Rights Movement began an indefinite hunger strike in the town of Kalimpong to show support for the government’s decision to form the Lepcha Development Board. The 12 hour strike by the Gorkhas in Darjeeling virtually shut down that town, but the threats of violence did not materialize, and of course the hunger strike by the Lepchas was peaceful. But violence from the Gorkhas continued to threaten the Lepchas—and the government.

Matters became more serious in March 2013 when a meeting of 10 to 15 Trinamool Congress members taking place in a hotel in Kalimpong was disrupted by a group of thugs. Just as the Trinamool members were about to hold a news conference, around 30 people, believed to represent the youth wing of the Gorkha movement, assaulted them with sticks and iron rods. Two people were injured, four of the attackers were arrested, and the police reportedly attempted to catch the others.

Gorkha regiment in the Indian Army (Photo by Jaskirat Singh Bawa in Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Some of the leaders of the Bhutia and Lepcha communities in Kalimpong were targeted by the attackers. The Lepchas, who were simply asking for some development assistance from the state and were willing to endure hunger strikes to dramatize their plight, appeared from the news reports to be pawns in the power play between the government and the Gorkha leaders.

The news stories in this website about the Lepchas, and specifically the ones from 2013, provide a lot more details about the conflict that year between them, the West Bengal government, and the Gorkhas. But the underlying theme of the 2013 story is that people like the Gorkhas who accept the idea that violent approaches to resolving conflicts are sometimes necessary will at times resort to violence to satisfy their goals.

At the same time, others, such as the Lepchas, will continue to accept the Gandhian approaches: when you have an issue, speak up about it. Even demonstrate peacefully, as they have done in their opposing the NRC. But never allow violence to intrude. The Lepcha people displayed that stance again last week.

Harvesting the tubers of the devil’s claw plants for the international health food market has continued by both the Nyae Nyae Conservancy of the Ju/’hoansi San people in Namibia and their neighbors in the N#a Jaqna Conservancy, the closely-related !Kung.

A devil’s claw (Harpagophytum procumbens) plant growing in a desert of southern Africa (Photo from Wikimedia, © CITES Secretariat)

According to an article published last week in the Namibia Economist, around 500 harvesters in the two societies gathered over 20 tons of the dried devil’s claws over the past year. The harvest netted over N$1 million (US$68,000) for the harvesters. However, the harvesting may be threatened in the area around Tsumkwe by the fences that the people are erecting, the grazing they are illegally allowing, and their indiscriminate usage of firewood and water.

The two conservancies said that the number of cattle and livestock being grazed illegally in the Tsumkwe area has increased dramatically over the past two years, as has the illegal fencing of farms. These issues need to be addressed “as a matter of urgency,” the conservancies indicated.

The two conservancies added that the effective management of their natural resources and their sustainable utilization are essential pillars of their beliefs. They are committed to ensuring that the people will continue to gather the devil’s claw roots sustainably for many years to come.

Chopped up and dried roots of the devil’s claw, Harpagophytum procumbens — Chopped up and dried roots of the devil’s claw (Photo by H. Zell in Wikimedia, Creative Commons license)

The article last week does not compare the harvest of the devil’s claw tubers in the season that has just concluded with previous years. An article published late last year indicated that about 800 Ju/’hoansi and !Kung harvested 32 tons of the tubers in 2018, valued at nearly N$2 million.

That report was also based on a news story from the Namibia Economist. Unfortunately, the newspaper last week did not indicate why the sudden drop in the harvest, as previous news stories had reported steady gains. Why the sudden decline in the number of harvesters, from 800 in 2018 to 500 in 2019? Is it because of the illegal livestock and fencing? The facts are not clear as yet.

Living conditions are difficult in sitio Danlog, a Buid community in southern Mindoro Island in the Philippines. The frequent violence perpetrated by Filipino soldiers makes it hard for the Buid to maintain their traditionally peaceful lives.

Filipino soldiers train with U.S. soldiers at a base in the Philippines (Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Ariel J. Solomon, 128th MPAD, in the public domain)

According to an article last week in Bulatlat.com, an alternative news source in the Philippines, the Buid and the other Mangyan societies are often in the cross-hairs of the military due to the activities near their villages of the communist guerrilla group the New People’s Army, or NPA. When the visiting journalist, Justin Umali, tried to get information about the violence, the responses he received from the Buid were mostly silence, muttered comments, or outright denials. Only one man, whom the journalist gave the pseudonym “Rey,” spoke up about what the army was doing in and around Danlog.

Rey said that he and his brother farm together planting palay and bananas, though they find growing the palay is difficult due to a lack of irrigation. In any event, it is not a staple of the Buid, so they only eat it in feasts and celebrations—and feed it to visitors. When the conversation turned to the military violence, Rey really opened up.

“They don’t respect us,” he said and added that when the army enters his land they run over his crops, especially the palay. Furthermore, the soldiers take personal belongings from the people without even asking. And they constantly ask the Buid if they have seen any NPA people around the area.

One day he was walking alone in Danlog when a group of soldiers confronted him. They suspected he was an NPA member. They tied him to a tree and began torturing him, determined to beat a confession out of him. When they finally realized he was not going to confess, they left, though he was still tied to the tree. Fortunately, someone came along and freed him.

A Buid boy (Screenshot from the video “Brutus, Ang Paglalakbay (Brutus: The Journey) Teaser” on Vimeo, Creative Commons license)

Another time, soldiers seized his brother and demanded that he show them the NPA hideouts in the mountains around Danlog. After some fruitless searching, the soldiers gave up and beat his brother. When some soldiers started firing at a couple working on their farm one day, they enjoyed a hearty laugh when the farmers fled.

The Buid and the other Mangyan people are caught up in a counterinsurgency program called Oplan Kapanatagan. Last June, over 600 Mangyans fled for their lives to the lowlands to escape the bombing and strafing by the soldiers.

The Bulatlat report cites the opinion of a human rights group—Defend Southern Tagalog—that the violence is a result of corporate interests. The Santa Clara Power Corporation and the Intex Mining Corporation threaten the communities with environmental destruction and military occupation, the group argues.

Last October, the NPA reciprocated the violence. The group reported having carried out tactical offenses successfully quite near Danlog, in sitio Mantay in Monte Carlo and in sitio Amaling in Manoot. Confrontations between the army and the guerrillas have not occurred as yet right in Danlog.

A patch of kaingin, slash and burn farming, Palawan, Philippines (Photo by sukaiburu in Flickr, Creativev Commons license)

Justin Umali covers other aspects of life in Danlog. He interviewed a woman named Ronalyn Ferrera who was willing to be quoted by name. She and her husband are both Ratagnon people, another Mangyan society in Mindoro. They have lived in Danlog for 20 years. He practices traditional slash and burn farming, called kaingin, to grow sweet potatoes and other root vegetables. She cares for their three children.

She describes conditions in the village as difficult at times, particularly when they need to leave the community but are unable to do so because there is no bridge across a river. Rey also complained about the difficulty of crossing the river in order to get in or out of Danlog. During the rainy season when the river water is waist high, travel in or out is almost impossible. When there is a medical emergency in the community, it can take up to two weeks to get help.

Nonetheless, the author concludes, the people of sitio Danlog remain hopeful. Rey observes that the Mangyans have lived there long before the soldiers arrived and they’ll still be there after they are gone. “As long as there are people who want to help us, we’ll manage,” he says.

The Yanadi and Chenchu people living in the Machilipatnam area of Andhra Pradesh decided to dramatize their poverty by having their kids do a lot of begging.

Manginapudi Beach at Machilipatnam, India (Photo by Ganeshk in Wikimedia, Creative Commons license)

A reporter visited the scores of children, some as young as three years old, crowded along a beach road at the popular Manginapudi Beach in Krishna District, located on the Bay of Bengal about seven miles from the town of Machilipatnam. According to a story last week in The Hindu, the two societies are among the poorest in India.

When the reporter visited the scene, he found both sides of the road for about 300 meters crowded with beggars from the two groups. The parents, who accompanied their children to the site, spread out their saris on the ground and implored the people passing by to respond to the appeals of the kids and put their offerings on the clothes. The regular occupations of the parents are fishing and agriculture.

Probably Yanadi children skipping ropes — Children, most likely Yanadi, skipping ropes (Photo from the website of the NGO Work for Earth, Creative Commons license)

Some of the parents painted their children and dressed them as Mahatma Gandhi. Some kids were able to play with others while they begged for alms. Many of the kids were girls, dressed in tattered clothing and looking tired. They all appeared to the reporter to be malnourished.

The reporter spoke with a 10-year-old boy who explained that his parents wanted him to spend the day begging dressed as the Mahatma. He continued with his assigned task of begging while the reporter took pictures. The children and their parents hesitated to answer his questions about their options for livelihoods.

One of the ways that hostile individuals in many majority groups express their negative feelings toward minorities is to invent economic problems that THEY, the minority, are causing for US, the majority. Attacking the economic difficulties that THEY supposedly cause is easy, even without facts to back up assertions.

A Hutterite colony in Martinsdale, Montana (Photo by mahalie stackpole in Wikimedia, Creative Commons license)

For instance, many majority Americans assert that immigrants are taking jobs away from OUR people. Or, to focus on the peaceful societies, some Pennsylvania people will assert, erroneously, that the Amish don’t pay taxes. The Hutterites from the plains states of the Northcentral U.S. and the neighboring provinces of Canada have similarly had to contend with allegations of economic advantages for years.

The Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana, along with some other academics, released a report on Tuesday last week which sets the record straight about the economic impact of the Hutterite colonies in their state. The figures it contains are compelling—the Hutterites are undeniably an economic asset to Montana. This research is the first attempt to study the economic impact of the Hutterites in that state.

According to a news story last week, the study concentrated on 38 of the 53 Montana Hutterite colonies which have 3,749 members. Those colonies had financial records that were readily available to the researchers.

A group taking a tour of the Milford Colony, Montana, work buildings (Photo by Roger W on Flickr, Creative Commons license)

The report from the university said that the colonies run 81 farming operations plus some manufacturing endeavors. The researchers argued that “the substantial linkages that exist between their agricultural and other operations and the rest of the state economy ultimately support jobs and income in non-Hutterite and non-agricultural sectors of the economy, resulting in a larger economic pie for all Montanans to share.”

The report provided details about the economic value to the rest of Montana from those colonies: 2,191 year-round, permanent jobs; $365.3 million in added revenues for Montana businesses; and $63.2 million in added pre-tax income for Montana households. It indicated that the colonies included in the survey produce 95 percent of the eggs in the state, 34 percent of its dairy products, 90 percent of its hogs, and so on.

Grain elevators and the Siesta Motel in Havre, Montana (Photo by Jasperdo on Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Furthermore, the report enthused, “The communities implement cutting edge technologies to help promote efficiency and reduce labor requirements in their operations.” This contrasts with the opinions of a former state representative from Havre, Montana, named Bob Sivertsen. He alleged this past summer that the supposed tax advantages enjoyed by the Hutterites with their “socialist-commune system” give them an unfair edge over non-Hutterites. He proposed a boycott of Hutterite farm products.

In fact, the article pointed out, the colonies are among the largest payers of property taxes in Hill County, where Havre is located, plus Blaine and Liberty Counties next to it. It is harder to compare the income taxes paid by the colony members compared with the general population, though the Hutterite share is probably lower because profits from their operations are divided among the colony members.

Ron Nelson, a shareholder with the law firm in Great Falls, MT, that commissioned the study last fall, expressed the hope that the report will help respond to unfair criticisms of the Hutterites. “It really quantifies something that I think we already knew, and now we have the data and analysis to support what we already know.”

Bernama, the news agency of the government of Malaysia, produced two stories about the Batek last week, the first of which reported a distressing incident. The news service report on November 3 concerned a herd of wild elephants that had destroyed the water system for a village.

A view of the town of Gua Musang (Photo by Straitgate in Wikimedia, Creative Commons license)

Over 300 residents of Kampung Aring 5, in Gua Musang, awoke on November 3 to find that the water supply for their village was gone. Rina Anjang, the 47-year-old village leader, said that sometime between 11 pm on November 2 and very early Nov. 3 a herd of wild elephants destroyed their three water tanks and some pipes.

When the villagers got up at dawn and discovered the lack of water, they had to hike an hour, about three kilometers, back into their water catchment area in order to figure out what had caused the problem. The people found evidence showing that the elephants had stamped on and scattered the pipes—and they were still hanging around the area. She said they had just retreated into the forest when they heard the villagers approaching.

Batek man bathing two of his kids in a stream, a tributary of the Lebir River in Malaysia (Photo courtesy of Kirk and Karen Endicott)

Rina told reporters that the village would have to submit a request to the Orang Asli Development Department (JAKOA) since the people did not have enough money to fund the necessary repairs. In the meanwhile, the Batek would have to use water from the river for their needs, though they were not sure how clean it is.

Husin Selik, another villager, said that this was the first time the water system had been attacked by elephants. In the past, they had only been known to destroy banana trees and other plantings of the villagers. The news story did not include any speculation as to why the elephants had attacked the water fixtures.

On November 6, Bernama produced a story saying that Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, had been scheduled to visit the village of Kuala Koh on Sunday, November 10. Her visit was planned to deliver financial aid from the national government as promised after a measles epidemic last spring devastated the community and killed 15 people.

Mohamad Pokok, the headman of Kuala Koh, said that the villagers were eager to receive the financial assistance since it would be a big help to the community. He was notified by the authorities to make all the appropriate preparations for the visit of Wan Azizah to the community.

The headman said, “We will give a warm welcome to the deputy prime minister…” He added that the Deputy Prime Minister had visited the area during the measles crisis but she had not been able to visit Kuala Koh itself since the village at the time had been designated as a “red zone.” So she had visited the nearby community of Aring 10 instead. The residents of Kuala Koh were eager to meet her.

Kulim Tebu, 72, another villager, reminded the reporter that government assistance had been promised after the epidemic had run its course but so far their needs for basic services such as clean water and electricity, as well as of course disaster relief, had not been provided. But, he said, the people were hopeful that “the leader will be able to fulfil all the promises made previously.”

Indigenous tribal communities in Kerala are learning from an NGO how to improve their earnings from the products they fabricate. An article on October 31 in The New Indian Express described the work of the NGO, the River Research Centre, with three Muthuvar, Malayar and Kadar villages in the Vazhachal Forest of Kerala.

The Vazhachal Forest (Photo by Jaseem Hamza in Wikimedia, Creative Commons license)

The tribal people have long been skilled in fabricating objects for personal use out of supplies they obtain from the forests but they have lacked the skills to earn a reasonable income from their work. With the help of the RRC staff, however, the products made by the people are now reaching markets in such major Indian cities as Bengaluru.

Two staff members from the RRC, Manju Vasudevan and Jipsa Jagadeesh, have been working with the three communities, especially the women, for three years to help them fabricate products that will appeal to consumers and then to market them effectively. The forest-based products the women make include preserves and pickles made from wild foods, cloth bags, bamboo baskets, bees wax cosmetics, and jute accessories.

The collective operating in the three villages builds to some extent on the pre-existing approaches of the tribal people but it also introduces contemporary techniques and unconventional ideas and approaches to the craft work. Manju told the reporter that the tribal women “might be weaving the same baskets during festivals but many do not realise the fact that they can bring in more profit on other days as well.”

Two women and their children, probably Kadar, showing off their fine clothing (Photo by Eileen Delhi on Flickr, Creative Commons license)

The Muthuvar people weave baskets, the Malayars specialize in producing wild food products, and the Kadar make clothing and macramé jewelry. The primary goal of the collective is to secure better livelihoods for the people while encouraging them to retain their connections to their roots.

The project has done more for the tribal women than just helping them with fabricating and marketing their work. According to Manju, they used to be unfamiliar with money but now they are quite adept at making financial decisions, including opening bank accounts for themselves. They have become quite disciplined. They get a strong sense of self-satisfaction from conducting craft classes and workshops at schools.

The two staff members of RRC mentioned future plans for the cooperative, including possible partnerships with other organizations, sessions on community development, and making seed jewelry. Manju was clearly pleased to report to the journalist that the cooperative has gotten an order from the Lumiere Organic Store, a major market for organic products in Bengaluru.

The Semai and some of the other Orang Asli societies have been introducing to Malaysian chefs tasty wild foods which the latter are starting to incorporate into the dishes they prepare for their restaurants. An article published in Aljazeera.com on November 1 explains that the original people of Malaysia are experts in finding and using forest foods. The new development is that some of the restaurants are finding creative ways to prepare local foods for their customers that the indigenous people supply.

Litsea cubeba foliage and flowers (Photo by LiCheh Pan in Wikimedia, Creative Commons license)

For instance, Raymond Tham, the chef at the restaurant Beta KL in Kuala Lumpur, was taking a walk with a guide from a hotel in the Cameron Highlands when the Orang Asli ranger started picking tiny berries from trees and giving them to the visitor to taste. Tham found that they “had a strong citrus oil that burst out when squeezed.”

The ranger, who was extremely knowledgeable about the forest, told the chef that the fruit, known as Litsea cubeba, is filled with essential oils and it is often used by the Orang Asli when they cook fish. Tham plans to experiment with the berries in his restaurant by making a citrusy essence with them and adding it to his seafood dishes.

The Dewakan restaurant in Kuala Lumpur (Photo by suanie in Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Beta KL and another restaurant, Dewakan, are known for creatively using ingredients prized by the indigenous people. The two restaurants claim that 80 percent of the ingredients they use in their dishes are domestic and based on the produce of each season. Other restaurants also include some wild ingredients in their dishes but these two pioneer in presenting them in appealing ways.

The chefs collaborate with the Orange Asli communities to obtain their relatively rare foods from the forests, which are among the most biologically diverse in the world. One food they obtain, for instance, is kulim, a fruit that smells like truffles, looks like coconuts, and tastes like garlic. The Semai cook kulim in bamboo over a fire but Darren Teoh, the chef at the Dewakan restaurant, dries it into a powder to use as seasoning. “We basically look at an ingredient and figure out the most interesting way to use it. We don’t experiment, we just cook; it’s a trial and error process,” Teoh told Aljazeera.

Kampong Asli Rening, a Semai village (Photo by tian yake in Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Raymond Tham from the Beta KL restaurant admitted that he has to adapt his cuisine to whatever the Orang Asli are gathering at the moment. Since they only forage sustainably, he takes what he can get from them. If he is able to purchase new items, he is flexible enough to simply add new dishes to his menu.

The reporter also spoke with Gaik Kheng Khoo, who teaches at the University of Nottingham Malaysia and specializes in the culture of foods. She said that when the Orang Asli forage, they only take the foods they need. When she takes her classes on foraging tours in Orang Asli communities, she tells the students, “They don’t pluck everything, they always leave a bit of the root to grow because they are essentially caretakers of the land.”

Peaceful Societies

Peaceful Societies

Piaroa Protest Guerillas in their Midst

A Brief History of Tristan

Lepchas Support Chief Minister Banerjee

Problems with Harvesting Devil’s Claw Roots

Difficult Conditions in a Buid Community

Yanadi Beggars

Economic Value of the Hutterites

Challenges to the Batek

Improvements in Kadar Marketing

Semai Foods in Malaysian Restaurants

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