ofthe SAME TREE

the Suma Oriental, the distinction is implied in the Permaisura’s search for a
secure and favorable place to settle. When the Permaisura flees Palembang, he
is accompanied by a thousand Malayu and thirty Orang Laut. Their economic
activities are clearly distinguished in the search for a permanent settlement. In
Singapore “his people planted rice and fished and plundered their enemies,”
and at Muar the Permaisura, “with a thousand men,” cleared the jungle to
plant rice and orchards. But at Muar they also fished “and sometimes robbed
and plundered the sampans that came to the Muar River.” It was the Orang
Laut who recommend Bertam to Permaisura because “they saw how well this
place was adapted for a large town, and that they [the Malayu] could sow large
fields of rice there, plant gardens, pasture herd.” Upon considering a move to
Bertam, the Permaisura explains that he plans to “leave the fourth part of my
people in Muar to profit from the land where we have devoted so much work
to reclaiming.” 106
Although Pires does not explicitly identify farming with the Malayu and
fishing/raiding/trading with the Orang Laut, the pattern of settlement in Bertam
and Melaka imply this division. While the Permaisura settles with his
subjects in Bertam because it is ideal for agricultural pursuits, his son and successor
Iskandar Syah decides to move his residence downstream. He “ordered
the people of Bretam [Bertam] to come, and only left people like farmers
there, and he sent all the Celate [Orang Laut] mandarins [nobles] to live on
the slopes of the Malacca hill to act as his guards.” Among these are his fatherin-law,
an important Orang Laut leader who had been made the “chief mandarin”
in the Permaisura’s government, and three hundred of his Orang Laut.
In keeping with an old relationship dating back to the days of Sriwijaya, the
Orang Laut flock to the new settlement to forge links with a Malayu lord who
promises to create a new entrepot and restore trade stability in the area after
years of turmoil. According to Pires, “people began to come from the Aru side
and from other places, men such as Celates robbers and also fishermen, in
such numbers that three years after his coming Malacca was a place with two
thousand inhabitants.” 107
The obvious economic and political benefits accruing to the Orang Laut
community in a Malayu entrepot in the past would have encouraged the preservation
and even accentuation of their distinctive lifeways and identity. In
more recent times, however, the Orang Laut would have less reason to maintain
difference because of the change in circumstances. Some may nevertheless
adopt the strategy of the Urak Lawoik and the Moken, who may not see
any political or economic advantage in their way of life yet strongly hold to
practices that define them in opposition to the landed communities. The
main reason for enforcing difference is to retain a way of life that promises
far greater freedom and independence than any other. Therefore, they make a
The Orang Laut and the Malayu 199