ofthe SAME TREE

In one of the Semai chermor, the ancestors of the Orang Asli leave Mengkah
and first land in Sumatra, where some leave the raft and establish the settlement
of Pagaruyung. Others of the group go ashore at Siam or Siap on the
Maluk mountain (said to be in the northern part of the Malay Peninsula), a
third continues southward to the Sahine mountain (believed to be in the eastern
side of central Perak), and the remaining members disembark at Melaka
and settle at Gunung (Mt.) Ledang. 133 The Malayu follow much later to join
their younger brothers, the Orang Asli. They land in Sumatra and occupy the
entire island. Initially, they reside among the earlier settlers at Pagaruyung,
but their aggressive ways force the Pagaruyung people to flee to Melaka. At
Gunung Ledang the people from Pagaruyung reunite with their relatives from
the first exodus, and they become known as Temuan because they had met
(temu). The Temuan decide not to stay at Gunung Ledang but to occupy the
coastal areas of Melaka. 134 Origin tales from another Orang Asli group, the
Semelai, depict Pagaruyung as a sacred place at the time of creation, when
there was no differentiation between the Malayu and the Semelai. 135
The Minangkabau also figure prominently in other stories. The Sakai in
Siak trace their ancestors to Minangkabau and Mentawai, 136 and an Orang
Rimba dongen sees Minangkabau as the home of the principal god, Tuhan
Kuaso, who creates the earth, the forest, the human beings, and the animals. 137
For the Orang Rimba, the Minangkabau kingdom possesses stronger magic
and sacred power, and hence greater stability, than any other Malayu polity.
Nevertheless, they seek to maintain common cause with the Malayu, which is
reflected not only in their origin stories but also in their tendency to “share”
cultural heroes with the Malayu and other Sumatran groups. Ultimately, of
greatest importance to the Orang Rimba is the emphasis on difference, that
though they share a common origin with the Malayu, they are the elder sibling
and hence have precedence over the Malayu. This precedence is the legitimacy
they claim for occupying various tracts of forest lands. 138
These stories of origin from Minangkabau are also found among the
Talang Mamak, who live along the tributaries of the Indragiri River and were
once closely linked to the coastal Indragiri kingdoms. While their subsistence
is based more on swidden rice agriculture, they are also forest collectors,
which explains their relationship with the Malayu kingdoms on the coast. 139
According to their “langkah lama” (lit. “old behavior or conduct,” i.e., adat),
three sons of the Parapatih nan Sebatang (one of the two Minangkabau lawgivers)
leave Pagaruyung because of a family quarrel and become leaders of
the Talang Mamak in Indragiri. 140
The identification of Pagaruyung and Minangkabau as the place of origins
of many of the Orang Asli/Suku Terasing groups may be explained by
the extraordinary spiritual reputation of the Pagaruyung rulers among the
230 Chapter 7