Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Pronunciation Guide
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 On Being Tribal in the Malay World
- 3 Tribal People on the Southern Thai Border: Internal Colonialism, Minorities, and the State
- 4 Developing Indigenous Communities into Sakais: South Thailand and Riau
- 5 Organizing Orang Asli Identity
- 6 Traditional Alliances: Contact between the Semais and the Malay State in Pre-modern Perak
- 7 Forest People, Conservation Boundaries, and the Problem of “Modernity” in Malaysia
- 8 Engaging the Spirits of Modernity: The Temiars
- 9 Against the Kingdom of the Beast: Semai Theology, Pre-Aryan Religion, and the Dynamics of Abjection
- 10 Culture Contact and Semai Cultural Identity
- 11 “We People Belong in the Forest”: Chewong Re-creations of Uniqueness and Separateness
- 12 Singapore's Orang Seletar, Orang Kallang, and Orang Selat: The Last Settlements
- 13 Orang Suku Laut Identity: The Construction of Ethnic Realities
- 14 Tribality and Globalization: The Orang Suku Laut and the “Growth Triangle” in a Contested Environment
- 15 The Orang Petalangan of Riau and their Forest Environment
- 16 Inter-group Relations in North Sumatra
- 17 State Policy, Peasantization and Ethnicity: Changes in the Karo Area of Langkat in Colonial Times
- 18 Visions of the Wilderness on Siberut in a Comparative Southeast Asian Perpective
- 19 Defining Wildness and Wilderness: Minangkabau Images and Actions on Siberut (West Sumatra)
- 20 Gender and Ethnic Identity among the Lahanans of Sarawak
- Index
16 - Inter-group Relations in North Sumatra
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2017
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Pronunciation Guide
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 On Being Tribal in the Malay World
- 3 Tribal People on the Southern Thai Border: Internal Colonialism, Minorities, and the State
- 4 Developing Indigenous Communities into Sakais: South Thailand and Riau
- 5 Organizing Orang Asli Identity
- 6 Traditional Alliances: Contact between the Semais and the Malay State in Pre-modern Perak
- 7 Forest People, Conservation Boundaries, and the Problem of “Modernity” in Malaysia
- 8 Engaging the Spirits of Modernity: The Temiars
- 9 Against the Kingdom of the Beast: Semai Theology, Pre-Aryan Religion, and the Dynamics of Abjection
- 10 Culture Contact and Semai Cultural Identity
- 11 “We People Belong in the Forest”: Chewong Re-creations of Uniqueness and Separateness
- 12 Singapore's Orang Seletar, Orang Kallang, and Orang Selat: The Last Settlements
- 13 Orang Suku Laut Identity: The Construction of Ethnic Realities
- 14 Tribality and Globalization: The Orang Suku Laut and the “Growth Triangle” in a Contested Environment
- 15 The Orang Petalangan of Riau and their Forest Environment
- 16 Inter-group Relations in North Sumatra
- 17 State Policy, Peasantization and Ethnicity: Changes in the Karo Area of Langkat in Colonial Times
- 18 Visions of the Wilderness on Siberut in a Comparative Southeast Asian Perpective
- 19 Defining Wildness and Wilderness: Minangkabau Images and Actions on Siberut (West Sumatra)
- 20 Gender and Ethnic Identity among the Lahanans of Sarawak
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter I examine changes in inter-group relations in North Sumatra following the incorporation of the Batak and Malay settlements into the colonial state of the Netherlands East Indies. Paying primary attention to the Karos, I argue that the identity of a group is determined by its inclusion within a larger group rather than by the preservation of its racial or cultural heritage.
This argument can be traced back to Van Wouden's study (1956, English translation 1983) which revealed that a person may belong to more than one group and that, in turn, different groups may combine to form a larger group. Van Wouden (1983, p. 196) emphasized that
this is no simple system, even if we regard the organization at the top as a completely modern creation which is highly debatable … This pyramid-like development of a great number of levels is characteristic of Indonesia and, in fact, all later Indonesian forms of the state are based on this very principle.
Van Wouden leaves open the question whether the introduction of a colonial or national state affects the existence of a group and of inter-group relations. My intention is to show how people or the literature perceive the relationship between groups in North Sumatra. It is based on the assumption that inter-group relations in North Sumatra have always changed following the relationship between an observing group and an observed one.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF GROUPS IN NORTH SUMATRA
The province of North Sumatra has been described as the homeland of three main ethnic groups: the Bataks, the Malays, and the Nias. On basis of the older ethnographic literature, and in reference to current local issues concerning the unity and diversity of people, culture and society, current ethnographic literature depicts each of these groups as subdivided into several smaller groups. The Malays are subdivided according to their presumed areas of residence. Thus, along the east coast of Sumatra there are the Melayu Langkat, Melayu Deli, Melayu Serdang, Melayu Asahan, and Melayu Batubara; and the Malays on the west coast of Sumatra are known as Melayu Pesisir, “coastal Malays”. The Bataks are similarly subdivided into Karo, Simalungun, Pakpak- Dairi, Toba, and Angkola-Mandailing. The people of Nias are divided into Northern Nias (Nias Utara), Central Nias (Nias Tengah), and Southern Nias (Nias Selatan).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Tribal Communities in the Malay WorldHistorical, Cultural and Social Perspectives, pp. 384 - 400Publisher: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak InstitutePrint publication year: 2002