PETALANGAN, MELAYU TUA

Petalangan history
The origin of the Petalangan ethnic group is undetermined and generally divided between two views. One contends that they are Proto Malay (Melayu Tua) who came to the region around B.C. 2500-1500. The other argues that the Petalangan are Deutro Malay (Melayu Muda) who arrived around B.C. 300 (Tenas Effendy 1995; Sudirman 1998; For general history of Malays, see Kennedy 1935, 1942). According to Petalangan Tombos, a specific genre of epic songs which depicts each Petalangan clan’s origin and history, their ancestors came from Johor on the southern coasts of Malay peninsula, or from a place symbolized as “the sea”(laut). They came by boat to “open the forest lands” (buka hutan tanah) and formed Petalangan villages in the current region, with their own local customary laws (adat) and culture (kebudayaan) (Tenas Effendy 1995:3 - 4). Linguistically, Petalangans speak various types of dialects, such as Pelalawan/Pesisir, Daerah Limo Koto-Kampar, Kuantan and Minangkabau (Sudirman 1998: 30-31). Based on their linguistic diversity, Petalangans are assumed as originate from the above dialect speaking areas, all of which ethnically categorized as Malays.
Most indigenous ethnic groups in Riau have historically maintained relations with past Malay kingdoms. Among the Isolated Tribes, for example, the Sakai people were the subjects of the Siak kingdom, located in the Siak river hinterlands. The Petalangan were members of the Kampar kingdom in the Kampar hinterlands. The Kampar kingdom changed its name to Pelalawan kingdom when its capital city moved to Pelalawan in 1761 (Tenas Effendy 1995). This kingdom became subject to Sultan Siak of the Melaka and Johor Sultanate (1806-1811) in Malay Peninsula (Tengkoe Nazir 1985: 71; For early studies on Riau Malay Kingdoms, see Hijmans van Anrooij 1885).
Under the rule of the Pelalawan kingdom, fourteen Petalangan clans received formal recognition from the ruler, and they obtained rights to possess and use their twenty-nine clan-based territories, which were called “the forest-lands of thirty subdistricts less one” (Hutan Tanah Pebatinan Kurang Satu Tiga Puluh). Each subdistrict was headed by a batin (a traditional leader of the customary law) ,and was called ‘cultural region’ (Kawasan Budaya) or ‘forest-land region’(Hutan Tanah Wilayah) (Tenas Effendy and H.T.S. Jaafar M. 1982).
According to the Petalangan origin story, Bujang Tan Domang, the ancestor who built the Petalangan villages, was depicted as a Johor royal descendant who was raised by the royal family of Pelalawan kingdom, which once controlled Johor on Malay peninsula, Lingga in the Riau islands and the Siak hinterlands on Sumatra (L. Andaya 1975). The origin story states that the leader of the Petalangan clans was appointed by the Pelalawan kingdom as monti ajo (king’s minister) in return for giving land to the king (Tenas Effendy 1997). Petalangans provided the kingdom with forest goods, bards, dancers and instrumentalists for weddings and for Idul Fitri celebrations. They offered these goods and services to maintain their position and honor within the kingdom (Turner 1997: 655). Thus, the relationship between the Petalangan society and the Pelalawan kingdom appeared to have been on an active patron-client basis, with monti ajo mediating relations between the Pelalawan kingdom and the Petalangans.
According to Petalangan informants, their livelihood under the Pelalawan kingdom’s control is depicted as affluent and peaceful. Upon the Indonesia’s independence in 1945, the last Sultan of Pelalawan formally resigned and declared his kingdom under the rule of the new Republic of Indonesia. Accordingly, Pelalawan territories—including the Petalangan communities were absorbed into the Indonesian administrative system (Tenas Effendy 1997: 633). The former pebatinan (clan-based territories) became split into Desa (administrative unit of village). Batins, the traditional leaders of the pebatinan, were replaced by the village heads (kepala desa) now appointed by the government. With this transfer, Petalangan’s rights over natural resources were also usurped by the government (ibid: 634). Thus, independence was a determinant of Petalangan marginalization both discursively and materially.