The Orang Rimba

When the crew of The Burning Season was shooting on location in Sumatra, they encountered one group of indigenous Indonesians who are threatened by the agricultural and industrial threats to their territory. Known as the ‘Orang Rimba’ (people of the jungle), they’re also referred to as the ‘Anak Dalam’ (children of the forest interior). Traditionally, they have been identified by the derogatory name ‘Kubu’, which can be interpreted as ‘savages’.

There are less than 2,500 Orang Rimba still leading traditional lives (a fraction of Indonesia’s population: approximately 235 million). Usually, groups of families live deep in the jungle in thatched shelters. Completely dependent on the forest for their livelihood, they hunt snakes, mouse deer, porcupines, wild pigs and fowl for their sustenance. They also fish in the rivers, dig for tubers, tap latex sap from rubber trees, and grow cassava using swidden agriculture.

The Orang Rimba have a sacred relationship with the forest, believing in animistic gods like the monkey, elephant and boar spirits. Keeping ‘farm animals’ is banned, because the Orang Rimba believe such animals to be more like pets than livestock, and consider it a betrayal to slaughter an animal which has grown to be part of their lives.

The Medicinal Biota Expedition (University of Indonesia, Bogor Institute of Agriculture, Indonesian Institute of Sciences and the Ministry of Health) found that the Orang Rimba gather 101 medicinal plants and fungi to treat over 50 maladies, including skin rashes, coughs, malaria, hepatitis, rheumatism, diabetes and dysentery. Some plants are also considered natural contraceptives. Usually the sap, roots, bark and/or leaves are boiled, then the water drunk as a herbal extract. This was of particular help to The Burning Season’s crew when our great driver, Dedi, was suffering from the ongoing effects of an old bout of malaria. The Orang Rimba we met gave Dedi a special medicinal root to make tea from, and it did seem to alleviate his suffering.

The people of the forest also trade jungle products with the nearby villagers, and some Orang Rimba work for the villagers for cash. Renowned for their reclusiveness, they were not previously known to venture beyond the fringes of the jungle. When they left items there for trade, they relied on the good character of the ‘Orang Terang’ (People of the Light) - the outsiders - to leave a fair swap. A reliable outsider could become a ‘jenang’ (a trusted ally, leader, mediator, or business manager), an important friend for the ‘children of the interior’.

The Orang Rimba dress in cloths: loincloths for men and sarong-like cloth skirts for women. Soap and fragrance are proscribed. Although the women used to go topless, nowadays they often wear a western-style bra. New cloths are put on for special occasions, like weddings. Cloth is an important commodity, used in transactions, dowries, and fines. The number of cloths a family owns represents their wealth.

Every Orang Rimba is bound by traditional regulations; consequences for transgressing them range from fines in cloths to exile from the group. The proceeds of cloth fines are given to the family most affected by the violation.

The culture’s regulations reflect a deep respect for the sanctity of life. Babies are born in a specific area of the forest considered blessed by the Gods and set aside as a ‘maternity wing’. A Shaman responsible for all tribal rituals selects this area. Parents are forbidden to hit their children, whose self-expression is cherished.

Most Orang Rimba marry young. After presenting a gift of cloths to his intended wife’s family, the groom demonstrates his seriousness by building a simpler version of the traditional hut. He has to do this within a day to prove his worth… but he does get three attempts to get it right!

When a family member passes away, the group will ‘melangun’ (migrate to a different area of the forest). The higher the status of the decedent, the farther the group moves.

Their native language is a form of ancient Malay, but it’s generally spoken (not written) and literacy rates are low. Some Orang Rimba have been duped out of their land by unscrupulous villagers or loggers who exhort them put their fingerprints to documents they can't read, so it’s of primary importance to Indigenous rights NGOs that the group’s literacy and education be addressed.

Homelands

The traditional homeland of the Orang Rimba was, until recently, completely covered by lowland tropical forest. Much of this has been cleared for plantation agriculture, which now impinges on protected forest areas. While the government has attempted to resettle the disenfranchised Orang Rimba, time has shown that they generally leave the resettlement projects once the initial food supplies and handouts have been expended.

Some Orang Rimba have resettled in nearby villages, foregoing their people’s ways and converting to Islam.

Central: Bukit Duabelas

The Bukit Duabelas (12 Hills) region is in the centre of Jambi, which also represents the central concentration of Orang Rimba culture and the geographic centre of their distribution. The Orang Rimba area of Bukit Duabelas National Park is managed under customary laws which are recognised by the local villagers but not by the government. Large-scale logging activities have been carried out by private enterprise on the fringes of this area, with the subsequently degraded land being converted for agriculture.

A note on transmigration

Transmigrasi (transmigration) was an Indonesian government initiative to relocate people from the overpopulated areas of Java to less densely populated places like Sumatra, Kalimantan, Papua and Sulawesi. Ostensibly, the objectives of transmigrasi were to alleviate poverty and overcrowding, to better utilise the resources of the outlying islands, and to provide opportunities for underprivileged city folk. However, the program has proved controversial, with critics alleging that the government is using the program to weaken separatist movements and destabilise indigenous populations. Conflict between transmigrants and indigenous populations has been known to occur.

The program was at its peak between 1979 and 1984, but was officially ended in 2000 due to a lack of funding.

East: Bukit Tigapuluh

Bukit Tigapuluh (30 Hills) is located north of the Batanghari river in the middle of Sumatra’s eastern plain, in the region of Bukit Tigapuluh National Park. Most of the area which borders on the park has been zoned for conversion to plantations. There are serious problems with deforestation, due to both legal and illegal logging. The Orang Rimba population lives on the southern buffer zone of the park, with access to it for the collection of forest resources.

Some of the world’s highest biodiversity figures have been recorded in the globally significant Tesso Nilo Complex, in which Bukit Tigapuluh is located.

West

The Orang Rimba lands in the foothills of the Barisan Mountains lie in the western part of Jambi province, which is transected by the Sumatran Highway. The road was built in the early 1980s; it has had a drastic impact on previously remote areas, which were previously inaccessible to developers.

The Orang Rimba’s dilemma is particularly dire in western Jambi, where the forest has been severely depleted. Not only have they lost their forest-fringe agricultural land, but their forest-core homeland as well. As a consequence, many marginalised western Orang Rimba are living in the six transmigration settlements along the highway between the borders of South Sumatra and West Sumatra.

Threats

Deforestation by Big Agribusiness, forestry and illegal logging is having a drastic impact on the Orang Rimba’s ancestral lands. Countless numbers of plants and animals, many of them endangered, are disappearing every day to make way for more plantations. There are also concerns that future carbon trading and avoided deforestation schemes might further impact the Orang Rimba’s land rights. Organisations such as WALHI and WARSI are working to defend indigenous rights in Indonesia and establish equitable land rights precedents.

You can learn more about them here:
WALHI: http://www.eng.walhi.or.id/ [Available in English]
WARSI: http://www.warsi.or.id [Some English text available]