Senoi - Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Subsistence rests mainly on growing rice and manioc, supplemented by hunting, fishing, and the sale of forest products like rattan, resin, and wild banana leaves. The ancient starch staples were Job's tears and foxtail millet; they have been replaced in the last 200 years by maize and manioc, which were introduced by Portuguese traders. Rice seems to have spread widely only about seventy years ago. Fruit-tree groves are especially important in settled communities since inherited trees bind people more closely to their sakaq. In the last twenty-five years, some Senoi have begun growing rubber as part of a government campaign to settle them in Malay-style villages. Traditional agriculture is slash-and-burn, using only dibbles and machetes. Cereals are planted in midsummer, with the option of a smaller planting in spring. The goal is to plant cultivars of all crops so that some will survive no matter what happens. Swiddens are plagued by lalang grass, pests such as rats and rice-eating birds, deer, and elephants. Harvesting is done year-round as the need dictates; only rice harvests are marked by ritual. Basket traps are the main fishing tool. Poisons, weirs, corrals, baskets, spears, and hooks are also used. Men hunt with blowguns and poisoned darts and the Semai and Temiar use spears. Most wild meat is taken via snares, deadfalls, spear traps, and birdlines. The whole community shares any large animal such as a deer, pig, python, or binturong (an arboreal civet cat). Dogs, chickens, goats, ducks, and cats are bred, the chickens for food and the goats and ducks for sale to the Malays.

Industrial Arts. Bamboo, rattan, and pandanus are the basic raw materials. Bark cloth from four species of tree is now worn only ritually. Basketry is sophisticated, especially among settled groups. Aboriginal pottery making and metallurgy apparently disappeared as a consequence of the need to flee from slavers. Bamboo rafts and, rarely, dugouts are used for water transport.

Trade. Traditional Senoi share on the basis of need rather than trade with one another. Silent trade with the Semang is no longer important. Rattan, resin, lumber, fruits, and butterflies are traded with Malay or Chinese dealers for metal tools, salt, cloth, tobacco, and sugar or sold for money. The Jah Hut, with government encouragement, sell sculpture to tourists. Traditional Temiar trade was handled by two mikong, men descended from Thais married to Temiar women. These trusted intermediaries distributed machetes and other trade goods among their clients.

Division of Labor. Although there are no formal sanctions and many exceptions occur, there is a statistical division of labor by sex with men hunting, making blowpipes and traps, and felling large trees and women gathering plant products and making and fishing with baskets. Male and female activities are often complementary, as in planting and house building.

Land Tenure. A family has exclusive rights to the land it clears until it stops producing food. Ties between bands and their sakaq are sentimental, not jural. Land cannot be sold. Neither British nor Malay law recognizes Senoi land rights.