Jambi's Kubu tribespeople hope for positive change via education

Jon Afrizal ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jambi   |  Wed, 10/15/2008 10:34 AM  |  The Archipelago

A growing number of Kubu tribespeople in Jambi, who are becoming increasingly integrated with broader society, have expressed a wish to send their children to school, in hopes of lifting them out of isolation and poverty.

"Every child from the Kubu tribe must know how to read and write," said Temenggung Tarib, an elder of a Kubu tribal group in Pematangkabau village, Airhitam district, located within the Bukit Duabelas National Park in Sarolangun regency, Jambi.

He said Kubu children desired knowledge, but failed to realize their goals because their nomadic life in the forest limits opportunities for education.

According to Tarib the children often have to skip school or even drop out in order to help their parents with traditional duties.

Tarib suggested a suitable school for the Kubu children would not resemble a regular school, but be tailored to meet the specific needs of the Kubu people.

The teacher should be a person who can socialize with the isolated tribe and he or she must understand the life of the tribespeople, from their customs and habits to taboos in the jungle, he said.

Kubu tribespeople depend greatly on the forest to live and must use its resources sparingly. The most important criteria for any prospective teacher is respect for nature; they must refrain from damaging the forest as it is the Kubu home, he added.

"We are not against knowledge or change but it (school) should correspond to the way of life we lead."

The Kubu tribe is also known as the Rimba or Anak Dalam tribe.

Over time, they have opened up to the outside world and now socialize with villagers living around the Bukit Duabelas National Park. Many of them, including Helmi, have married villagers and no longer live in the forest. Helmi once led the traditional nomadic life, hunting animals and finding resin in the forest, but he now owns a rubber farm, a semi-permanent home in the village and a motorcycle. He has even performed the haj pilgrimage to Mecca. As many as 75 of the total 1,500 Kubu tribespeople have embraced Islam. The majority, however, still adhere to animistic beliefs.

Helmi said he started interacting with the villagers as the condition of the forest began to deteriorate. Despite the destruction, he said, it is difficult for the Kubu tribespeople to completely abandon their habits and traditions, which have been passed down through untold generations.

"The forest has given us life and knowledge from generation to generation," he said.

A shopkeeper at the Pasar Batu Aji market in Pematangkabau village, Sumarni, said many of the Kubu tribespeople are more savvy now and can no longer be fooled, especially during financial transactions.

The tribespeople usually sell forest products and, in return, buy a week's supply of daily necessities.

"They now bargain with others," said Sumarni.

She added that it was increasingly difficult to distinguish Kubu tribespeople from villagers because they now wear the same clothing; the only difference is their accent.

The Bukit Duabelas National Park covers an area of 60,500 hectares. Before its designation as a national park in 2000, it was a limited production forest.

The rate of deforestation from illegal logging and forest conversion carried out by surrounding villagers is estimated to be 2,000 hectares annually.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.