ofthe SAME TREE

The Malayu kingdom of Jambi in the late seventeenth century was made
very much aware of the consequences of abusing the trust of the interior
groups. When three of the Orang Batin Sembilan children presented to the
Jambi ruler were later sold to a third party, the group viewed this as a grave
affront. They took up arms against the Jambi ruler and were joined by Orang
Batin Sembilan groups from the Lalang and Komering Rivers in Palembang.
They blocked the land route that passed through their land to the Jambi capital,
forcing the Jambi court to seek a resolution of the conflict. 40 A combined
Orang Batin force operating within their own areas of exploitation in the forest
made them a formidable enemy. Also weighing on the mind of the ruler
was the real possibility that the Orang Batin would divert their forest products
to another river basin, thus favoring a rival Malayu lord. Since the major rivers
were linked by their numerous tributaries and short land passages, moving
one’s products down another river basin would not have been difficult. 41
What is also evident in this incident was the balanced relationship based on
economic self-interest between the downstream kingdom and the upstream
Orang Batin. Before the nineteenth century, there was little real attraction for
the Orang Batin to seek a lifestyle associated with the Malayu because it was
their specialized skill in the rain forest that assured their value to and respect
from the Malayu.
Another major group of forest people in Sumatra is the Petalangan,
whose traditional areas of exploitation are in the lowland tropical rain forest
between the Siak, Kampar, and Indragiri Rivers. The Petalangan are said
to consist of twenty-nine Pebatinan (Pebatinan kuang oso tigo pulou, thirty
“Batinates” minus one), each headed by a batin. They were important forest
collectors and also engaged in dry rice agriculture (ladang) and horticulture.
In exchange for tribute of honey and wax to the Siak ruler, they obtained
iron, salt, and cloth, items of great value to the interior populations. 42 The
Petalangan were typical of the forest peoples both on the Malay Peninsula and
in Sumatra who from early times established lucrative exchange agreements
with the Malayu.
The Petalangan are associated with two early kingdoms, about which very
little is known. The first was the kingdom of Gassip, which was established on
the Siak River and named after one of the interior groups that constituted the
realm. Each of the groups was headed by a leader who was given a title by the
ruler, such as batin, pembilang, jokerah, patih, anten-anten, panghulu, or tuatua.
The Petalangan were the most important of the ruler’s subjects because
it is said that they and the progenitors of the royal family originated from
the Minangkabau highlands. There is, however, little evidence to support this
view, which may only have arisen because the Minangkabau and the Petalangan
share similar matrilineal practices (adat kamanakan). 43 Contact between
The Orang Asli/Suku Terasing and the Malayu 209