Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society/Volume 33/The Orang Laut of Singapore
The Orang Laut of Singapore.
"We tack not now to a Gallang Prow." Kipling.
At the time of the occupation of Singapore by the British, there were living on the island, then densely afforested, one or two races of natives, known as the Orang Kallang and Orang Selitar. The former of these lived on the river of the same name, the latter along the rivers of the Johore Strait. Some accounts of these two tribes was published by Logan in Vol. i. of Logan's Journal in 1847, and illustrated by outlines of heads. The Kallangs were removed by the Tumunggong of Johore from the Kallang river to Pulai River when the island was ceded to Britain. They formerly consisted of 100 families, but in 1847 the small pox bad reduced them to eight. They were said to have lived exclusively in boats, neither building huts nor cultivating any plants. Their language at that time appears to have been Malay, and neither Mr. Logan nor Mr. Thomson who described the Orang Selitar were able to elicit any words of their original language. Of these races it is not easy now to find any traces, as they have become amalgamated with the Malays, adopting not only their language but also their customs and religion. Lately however the authors of this pote visited Kampong Roko, on the Kalang river, and made an attempt to collect what information was procurable concerning this inter- esting people. They were accompanied by Mr. R. H. Yapp (of the Cambridge expedition) who took photographs of some of the older men who were stated to be of this race. Kampong Roko itself is a Malay village of the ordinary type, built on a mud bank of the Kalang river and containing a very mixed popu- lation. The natives have for many years employed themselves in fishing and in preparing Nipah leaves for cigarettes-wrappers, so that the ground is covered for a considerable depth with a dense mass of waste fragments of leaves. We visited the vil. lage on Nov. 12th, and sought out the oldest inhabitants, the Batin Jenang, and an old man named Rabu, together with one or two others, and spent a long time with them in endeavours to obtain information as to the language, traditions, etc., of the Kalangs, but they seemed to have forgotten most of the language, and but little information could be obtained, though what was obtained was of considerable interest. They affirmed that they were Orang Daik (Malay) from Lingga, and stated that there were at least eight tribes who used to visit this district, and were mostly pirates. They were the
- Orang Tambus
- Orang Mantang
- Orang Galang
- Orang Pusek (or Persik)
- Orang Sekanak
- Orang Barok
- Orang Moro
- Orang Sugi
The first two always lived in boats, baring no fixed habitations, and were not piratical. The rest were all bad pirates, who lived on various islands and travelled as far as Siam and Cochin China on piratical expeditions. In the time of Sultan Mahmud, Raja Lang was the chief of the Galangs, and Orang Kaya Mepar (Che Muntel) was chief of the Baroks, and his grand- son is now head. They have a village at Singkep, or as one of the men said, on Lingga. The Persiks now live at Pulau Persik between Retik and Daik. They had a Batin as chief, but no Jen- ang. The Orang Tambus now live in a village in Silat Durian, among the Riau islands. They had a Batin only. The Orang Mantang lived on Pulau Mantang and were very numerous. They had a Batin. The Orang Galang lived mostly in Pulau Karas, in the Riau Archipelago, and had a Batin only. The Orang Sekanak lived on an island between Pulau Retik and Pulau Daik. The Orang Sugi live near Sulit, in Riau, and had a Batin. The Orang Moro lived in Pulau Moro, near Pulau Sugi; but they were also said to belong to the Orang Daik. It should be noted that among the Sakai tribes of the Peninsula, the Batin is usually if not invariably considered as the superior of the Jenang. Here however at Kampong Roko it was stated quite positively that the Jenang was the higher official.
The following non-Malay words were obtained from these men:
- Koyok, a dog. Used by all the above mentioned tribes.
- Kiyan, come, come here (lit. thither) cf. Belandas tribe Chan.
- Kiyun, go away (lit. hither) cf. Belandas Chun.
- Kiyoh, far off.
- Sika, come here, e g., Sika makan come here and eat.
The following words are probably all of Malay origin:
- Jengkeng or bidah, a boat (sampan or koleh).
- Lanchang, a sailing vessel.
- O-neh or O-ne, friend or comrade, used in addressing other members of the tribe whether young or old, e.g., O-neh Nan Kamana? Where are you going, friend? The O in Oneh may be merely interjectional.
- Diko = engkau, also used in addressing other tribesmen, but less polite or less friendly than O-ne.
- Pohon was used instead of Poko, tree, as on the East Coast and elsewhere.
The pronunciation was said to be peculiar, thus: s was pronounced like a soft z, e.g., Nazi for Nasi; r like h, e.g., Parang for Pahang; k like kh, e g., Khain for Kain; Khakhi for Kaki.
Too much stress however must not be laid upon these examples of pronunciation, as although what was heard is faithfully recorded, the personal equation enters too largely into this sort of questions for them to be accepted without repeated checkings. A Sakai, for instance, will occasionally pronounce one and the same word in two distinct ways, probably through nervousness at being questioned by an European.
Slight as these traces are, if taken in conjunction with the important fact that the constitution of these tribes corresponds fairly closely to that of Sakais (as is shown by the Sakai names of the chiefs) they appear to suggest the theory that the Sea-gypsies of Singapore owe their origin largely from Sakai hill-tribes in the Riau-Lingga Archipelago; that these, whether through pressure of the Malay immigration or from other causes, took to the sea, and reinforced probably by more than a sprinkling of mere Malay adventurers, developed into the famous piratical race which under the generic name of Orang Laut became for a space the terror of all who sailed these Eastern seas. Such an evolution of one of the mildest mannered and most timid races of the earth would certainly appear unaccountable, but if it is to be rejected, it involves us in still greater difficulties. The evidences may be briefly enumerated as follows.
(1.) The constitution of the tribe under Jinang and Batin.
(2). The use of undoubted Sakai words; of these Koyok Kiyan, and Kiyan are all words allied to those used by the Belandas tribe in Selangor.
(3) The Sakai "terumba" or racial records as preserved by the Besisi tribe in the Kwala Langat district (Selangor), which explicitly state that the ancestors of the original tribe descended to the sea and became sea-folk (turun kalaut jadi raiat laut) and that the sea-folk became pirates (Raiat laut jadi Bajan).
Further investigations when opportunities occur may supply more extensive information as to these wild tribes, now so nearly vanished. The foregoing notes, incomplete as they are, show that there are still some records worth the attention of any who have the chance of studying the race, and research in the district of Selitar and Pandan, where the tribe, as late as 1847, were in a very primitive state of civilisation, and in the Carimons, and neighbouring islands, may throw more light on the history and relationship of the Orang Laut.