The Malaysian Insight

THE Bateq tribe believe that when a member of the tribe dies, their spirits return to the jungle from whence they came.

A makeshift bamboo platform built deep in the forest becomes the final resting place of the dead. There, the deceased will lay unvisited by any other human for up to 20 days.

Apart from the utterance of a few words to show respect to the spirits of their ancestors, the hunter-gatherer tribe’s burial traditions see not much ceremony. 

Tribe members will assist the grieving family by building the platform and other simple preparations.

Dollah Pin found himself rendering such help to one family who had recently lost their teenage son to an unknown illness.

The 36 year old said that he and three other tribe members had helped the boy’s family build the platform and Dollah himself carried the teenager into the jungle.

He said that as no other tribe member had been laid at the site where the boy’s platform was built, he did not have to utter any ceremonious words.

“I just laid the body there and didn’t say anything.”

He said as tradition dictates, the boy’s body was covered with cloth, leaving only his face exposed.

But when family members went to check on the body some 20 days later, it was gone. Dollah suspects that wild animals had carried it off.

The boy was one of 15 Bateq who died recently due to mysterious illness.

Of the 18 indigenous tribes of the Malay peninsula, the Bateq are the most primitive and many villages still practise a nomadic way of life, living off the diminishing rainforest they call home. 

With the onslaught of unchecked development tearing through the jungles and robbing the Bateq of their natural and only resource, villages have found themselves displaced, while many tribesmen suffer from malnutrition and poor immunity. 

According to reports, the cause or causes of the deaths of the tribe have yet to be ascertained.

Pneumonia was suspected as victims were reportedly suffering from breathing difficulties before they died. However, authorities said recently that measles had led to the deaths of the 15 tribesmen.

Of the 18 indigenous tribes of the Malay peninsula, the nomadic Bateq are the most primitive. - June 19, 2019.