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
14 - Tribality and Globalization: The Orang Suku Laut and the “Growth Triangle” in a Contested Environment
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
RIAU AND THE “GROWTH TRIANGLE”
The Orang Suku Laut (Tribe of Sea People) are tribal indigenes of the Riau Archipelago, Indonesia. They are commonly referred to by Indonesians as Orang Laut (Sea People) and in this chapter, we will use this shorter term. In Riau, they are generally recognized as the “indigenous Malays” (Melayu Asli). For centuries, the sea and coastal areas have been both home and workplace for them. They live in an area which has, in recent times, been undergoing accelerated changes in the name of economic development. Global demands for strand- and sea-resources confront them with new forms of territorial tenure which either threaten their livelihoods or exclude them from their habitats and resource zones.
The geographical focus of this chapter is the archipelagic part of Riau Province (Propinsi Riau) in Indonesia. The province comprises the Riau Archipelago (Kepulauan Riau), covering over 3,200 islands in the South China Sea, and the Riau hinterland (Riau Daratan), located in the mideastern part of Sumatra. The total population of Riau Province is 4,733,948. Approximately 725,865 of the total population reside in archipelagic Riau, with a multi-ethnic mix that includes Orang Laut and other Melayu, Javanese, Baweanese, Minangkabau, Bugis, Flores, Chinese, and others (<www.riau.go.id/ penduduk/penduduk.php>). Presently, the main economic activities of the local inhabitants of Riau Archipelago are fishing, farming, forestry, and trading.
In late 1989, the Riau Archipelago became a key part of the “Growth Triangle” – a three-country economic subregion comprising Singapore, Johor in Malaysia, and Riau in Indonesia. Hence the “Growth Triangle” is also known as SIJORI (Singapore–Johor–Riau) or the IMS (Indonesia–Malaysia– Singapore) Triangle. (See Map 14.1.) The concept of the Growth Triangle was first mooted in December 1989 by Mr Goh Chok Tong, who became Singapore's Prime Minister in November 1990 (Business Times, 9 October 1990, p. 11). The economic logic was that these three geographically contiguous areas would form a larger supranational region with a greater growth potential than each area alone. Their different resource endowments and comparative economic advantages would enable them to complement, rather than compete with, each other.
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- Tribal Communities in the Malay WorldHistorical, Cultural and Social Perspectives, pp. 318 - 363Publisher: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak InstitutePrint publication year: 2002