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Spotted Doves at War the Praak Sangkiil

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Spotted Doves at War the Praak Sangkiil R o b e r t K n o x D e n t a n State University o f New Yor\ at Buffalo Spotted Doves at War The Praak Sangkiil Abstract Senoi Semai of Malaysia have a reputation as one of the most peaceable peoples in the world. But their nonviolence seems not to stem from “cultural tradition” but from a real­ istic accommodation to a violent political ecology. Epic accounts of the Praa\ Sangkiil (“non-religious war”）like the two texts presented here illuminate the people’s violent past. Although able to resist organized mass invasion, the people remained subject to sporadic vicious raiding by bands of slavers and child-stealers. Eventually, armed resist­ ance gave way to “passive” resistance by flight into the rainforest. This article is a schol­ arly version of the first chapter of a proposed book that will explore how violence and nonviolence interlace in Semai life and history. An appendix addresses the question of why events like those described find no place in Malaysian history books. Keywords: Senoi Semai— slaving— violence— Orang Asli— Peninsular Malaysia Asian Folklore Studies, Volume 58，1999: 397-434 If the pressure of outside influence is too great, and their hereditary freedom is in jeopardy, their only defense lies in flight to the interior. But they will take counter action if the pressure is weak, or they think they are being imposed-on or cheated. There are many cases of Chinese and other traders, who, having penetrated up the main rivers, have tried to cheat the hill people, or molested their women. They bide their time, but one night the trader finds his house on fire and his goods destroyed. Such extremes, how­ ever, are only resorted to if the safety of the group thereafter can be assured; which means an overwhelming attack force, followed usually by flight. There are other exam­ ples of them succumbing initially to threats of violence, and even violence itself; but they have always taken swift retaliatory action if they think they can win. —R. 〇. D. Noone, Communist Subversion of the H ill Tribes1 O n several points, the writer [a Semai anthropologist] agrees with Dentan’s writ­ ings. In general it cannot be denied that in most matters this people tends more to com­ promise with or to mock at than to confront people or to act violently. This nonviolent character not only runs through behavior peculiar to members of this culture but also pervades all aspects of their lives: it is salient in their taboos, customs and belief systems, for example. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that this people certainly tend towards violence if they are pressed too hard. This fact emerges from the oral narratives of this people__ In stories which contain historical elements, this fact emerges when the Indigenous People [Orang Asli] are forced to kill the followers of Panglima [Malay war chief] Ham id because the activities of Panglima H am id constantly threatened their peace and security. In these narratives, although the violent part is sketched symboli­ cally, still that sketch shows that this people have the tendency to resort to violence when they have no other choice. Thus this [nonviolent] character does not seem as over­ whelming as Dentan describes it. — Juli Edo, Tradisi Lis an Masyarahat Semai \ HE Senoi Semai PEOPLE of Peninsular Malaysia have a deserved reputation as “what may be the most peaceful society known to Tanthropology” (SPONSEL and G r e g o r 1994，69). But, like the peace- ability of other societies, Semai peacefulness seems rooted in a violent past (DENTAN 1992 and 1994). Documentation for that past, however, is scanty. The following account of what Semai call the Sangkiil War is the first avail­ able in any language but Malay-Indonesian.2 [398 ] SPOTTED DOVES AT WAR 399 That version (Juli E d o 1990) is the story as told by Mat Ariff，who has played a significant role in Semai history since the 1920s (see Appendix II). His narrative reflects, of course, his own sense of how Semai should react to the dominant ethnic group in the area, loosely called “Malays” (cf. Rawski 1998). The Semai leader, clearly modeled on himself，repeatedly outwits the violent and stupid “Malays.” In more widespread versions, Semai (some­ times led by Malays) overwhelm attacking “Malay” forces by magic or guer­ rilla warfare. The following account conflates these versions. This essay is a fairly literal translation of an account of the Sangkiil War that I taped in Semai with an old Waar River headman who did not want his name made public and whom I therefore called “Tataa，M anah，” Old Elder. He was not very happy with this account, which is unpolished, with some repetition. I am not very happy with the translation. To try to keep some life and accuracy in the narration, I have used some transcription techniques pioneered by Dennis TEDLOCK, the ethnopoetics expert (e.g., 1983; cf. D e n ta n 1988a，55—57). The lines break where the nar­ rator paused briefly for breath; words in smaller letters indicate whispers; and triple asterisks represent long pauses. Italics are used for imitative sounds. Hyphens indicate long d-r-a-w-n o-u-t words. Words in all capitals represent L O U D words. I use crude German to translate the accented Malay spoken in the story by the invading Rawas (“Rawey” in the text) from Indonesia.3 W hen the narrator’s gestures seem important, I ，ve put them in brackets in a different font. Ellipses (...) indicate where I ，ve reluctantly left out part of the story. T H E STORY About those olden times I know that I don’t know still despite the fact I don’t know well, you could say that of the Sangkiil story I ，ve preserved a little This Sangkiil story was at the very beginning of those olden times “MALAYS” was their name ours “ H U M A N S ，，4 There really wasn’t any other reason for it These people wanted to contest5 with us here so they said. That Malay race [was] not rural Malays from around here well, that race of Malays [was] the Raweys from inside Rawey outside the country not this country. 400 ROBERT KNOX DENTAN Start of [the city of] Tapah [in southern Perak state] there was none Start of [the city of] Bidor [in southern Perak state] there was none In Tapah no stores were open yet in the time of our origins when war was waged against us by the Raweys according to MY grandfather according to MY grandmother so that was how they [came to] war against us Well after that they challenged6 our race7 the Humans [to war with them] THEY [the Humans] D ID N ’T WANT TO Our race the Humans said “We can’t make war effectively “we here don’t have enough “not enough weapons “not enough things “muskets among us there are none” They said, “Yes you can. “Here W E are “[ready to see] who’s stronger “who loses.” “Well” said the Humans “W e ，we don’t know how to make war e ffe c tiv e ly ，，8 Well, not very long after that well, figuring they would take [us] on. “Take’em on, what’s wrong with that?” While they were taking us on in olden times they invaded Sungkey they invaded Bidor they invaded this Waar area in three places so the chief9 of Bidor-Sungkey [in south Perak] was Bah Mnra’ by name Well, after that, after “Bah Mnra’ by name” well, not far from here on tms Waar [River] in the time or Vanishing Ogre [Ny\)\)p Smna’ 10] that Vanishing Ogre, see, [was one of the] people who make war effectively [Malays] [The Rawey] they tried [and] fought with us Humans TO EXTINCTION they declared war in every place against us Humans here... Well they had enough weapons their swords their machetes their metal-tipped spears their bows in the old days well, among us Humans the only weaponry was just split-bamboo spears SPOTTED DOVES AT WAR 401 the weaponry, just dart-quivers the weaponry, just blowpipes the weaponry, just darts “So how many of you want to try fighting, Humans?” “OKAY! “LET’S TRY But we [normally] don’t do it.” So the Malays said, “We can war upon your RACE. “[We’ll see] who’s stronger “who loses “if [you] lose, Humans, you [will be] EXTERM INATED [by] us, who are known as ‘the Malay p e o p le ，，’ “〇 now the cooking’s over, if that’s how it is, what can you do,” thus [replied] the Humans. so when they started the war in those days what did they carry? they carried their swords they carried their metal-tipped spears they carried their... they carried their muskets the muskets in their language were a kind of musket called they arrived \an \an ^an they tamped down [gestures tamping down muzzleloaders] plo00oh the sound of their guns not like guns NOWADAYS so, getting back to the story, so they fought [with us] “Ah，wait,” the Humans, “Have mercy on us, no way can we do this war, “now you all make war on us Humans, on our race, we don’t do that “even though you do that, we don’t do that, “really, we Humans we don’t know how to wage war “rajahs have we none, you have rajahs “you have rajahs, you of the Malay race, you of the Rawey race” Said the Raweys arrogantly, “We don’t think you’re human if you’re not spotted doves11 “if you’re not spotted doves, who cares?” O f the Raweys how many came up into this country? A hundred! [To] places like this settlement hwiiimi min they shrilled [on their war flutes12 ] what did they shrill? “Herr Kriegsfiihrer lassen wir toten greifen wir an!” As to the Humans TO THE LAST MAN they fled TO THE LAST MAN 402 ROBERT KNOX DENTAN they ran away oh were they afraid! Let me take “they were afraid” back, half of them were afraid half of them killed after that after a while, no matter where.
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