Moken

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The Moken ( Thai : มอ เก น ) are one of the Southeast Asian nations, as sea nomads in the eastern Andaman Sea , in the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea live. Their way of life is semi-nomadic. During the monsoon season they stay on the islands, during the rest of the year they move from island to island in boats and live mainly from catching fish and seafood. Diving for generations to find their livelihood without technical aids has greatly improved their ability to see under water.

The Moken are often (in the older literature as "sea gypsies" English : Sea Gypsies ) denotes a pejorative collective term for different ethnic groups , similar to the Thai name Chao Leh ( ชาวเล . - literally people of the lake ), or Chao Naam (lit. . Water People ). In contrast, the Burmese name Selung (also Selon , Salon or Salone ) only refers to the Moken.

They are divided by some authors into two groups, the Moken Pula (in the Burmese islands of the Andaman Sea) and the Moken Tamub (in the Surin Islands , in the municipality of Ko Phra Thong in the district of Khura Buri and on the coast of the district of Takua Pa in Phang Nga Province in southern Thailand ). However, other subdivisions are also used.

Close relatives of the Moken are the Moklen living in Thailand in Takua Pa, on Phuket ( เกาะ ภูเก็ต ) and the surrounding islands.

The Moken, Moklen and the Urak Lawoi (on Rawai Beach on Phuket, on the Siray Islands, on Phi Phi ( หมู่ เกาะ พี พี ), Lanta ( เกาะลันตา ), Muk ( เกาะ มุก ), Bulon ( เกาะ บุ โหลน ), Lipe ( เกาะ หลี เป๊ะ ) and Adang ( เกาะ อา ดัง )) are usually referred to by the Thais with the imprecise term Chao Leh and are wrongly regarded as a group.

Moken Children (Southeast Asia)
Moken Children (Southeast Asia)

Language, origin and settlement area

The Moken language belongs to the western branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, a subgroup of the Austronesian language family. Ethnologists suspect that the ancestors of the Moken were Proto-Malay , who came from southern China around 2500 BC. Colonized the Malay Peninsula and Borneo . Around 70,000 direct descendants of these early inhabitants of the region still live there today (West Malaysia: Orang Asli = original people , Borneo: Dayak ). After the ancestors of the Moken had adopted the way of life of sea nomads, they expanded their settlement area in the west over the islands of the Andaman Sea and in the east to the Sulu Archipelago (now part of the Philippines ).

With the immigration of other peoples throughout Southeast Asia, the emergence of various empires, the period of colonialism and the emergence of today's states, the sea nomads repeatedly experienced restrictions on their nomadic way of life. The Moken settlement area was finally concentrated in the eastern Andaman Sea, from today's Myanmar in the north via Thailand and Malaysia to the Indonesian islands in the south.

Although many Moken still live semi-nomadically on their boats and the islands of the Andaman Sea, the freedom of movement is severely restricted. In Thailand in particular, they have been pressured into settling down in the past. The traditional nomadic way of life was mainly preserved by those Moken who live in the Mergui Archipelago in southern Myanmar. Their number is estimated at several thousand. However, the Myanmar government has also begun to urge sea nomads to settle on Pu Nala Island . However, only a few Moken have the passports of the countries in which they live; the majority are stateless.

society

A central role in the lives of the Moken play their boats naturally, Kabang called. They were (and still are for the nomadic people) the “houses” of the Moken, including the kitchen, sleeping area and living room. They move from island to island in groups of around six to ten boats, each of which houses a family. The sea nomads spend around eight months of the year at sea. They only colonize the island coasts for a few months during the monsoon season, which varies from region to region between June and November. This time is used to repair the boats and, if necessary, to build new ones.

A Moken boat (Surin, Thailand)

Traditionally, building the boats, which is done in teamwork, fishing with nets, spears and traps and diving for mussels , sea ​​cucumbers and other seafood are among the tasks of the men. The women look after the children and provide shelter on the coasts of the islands. The basis of life is still primarily the sea, i.e. fishing. In addition, they also use a variety of plants as food, as medicine, as building material and for the production of household items, musical instruments and tools.

Fish and seafood are primarily used for personal consumption; surpluses are used to sell them on markets. Instead, rice, oil, and gasoline are bought for the increasingly popular engines of boats, nets and everyday objects. In addition, income from tourism, which is just beginning in this region, is also gaining in importance.

As almost everywhere where state authorities try to regulate the traditional way of life of indigenous peoples , the living conditions of those who gave in to the pressure and settled down are problematic . The loss of the traditional way of life is often associated with the loss of one's own culture and gradual assimilation to the majority peoples of the region. Attempts to integrate the Moken children into the state school system have so far largely failed. The children usually prefer to go fishing with the adults.

A special problem is how unscrupulous business people deal with the "sea gypsies" who, for example, bring tourists to their settlements on Phuket in buses or with excursion boats as if they were zoos for people. The UNESCO Andaman Pilot Project has existed since 1997 . It is intended to help the Moken to preserve their traditional way of life and to adapt it to the changed framework conditions (state regulations, tourism, etc.) in a way that preserves their culture and their knowledge of the sea and local nature. The aim is not only to enable the Moken to have extensive self-determination again, but also to use their knowledge of nature for the sustainable development of tourism in the region.

An existential problem for the Moken, as for all sea nomads in the region, is the gradual deprivation of their livelihood, fishing, due to competition from large fishing fleets. The trawlers (trawlers) are moving their fishing areas from the high seas closer and closer to the coasts, i.e. to the traditional fishing grounds of the sea nomads, and make it more and more difficult for them to bring in productive catches.

The earthquake in the Indian Ocean in December 2004 destroyed a number of Moken settlements on the islands of the Andaman Sea, especially on the Surin Islands, on Phuket and Ko Phi Phi. Since they recognized the signs of the tsunami , in their language "the wave that eats people" - the retreating sea - they were able to get themselves and some tourists to safety in time, and there was only one death to mourn. Thanks to private donations and the support of UNESCO and the highest council of the Buddhist religious community in Thailand (Sangkarat) , the Moken who had fled to the mainland were able to return to the islands as early as January 2005 and were provided with the essentials (tools, kitchen utensils, etc.) Ä.). The stilt huts, which are renewed annually anyway, could be rebuilt within a few days. The main problem is to replace the destroyed boats.

religion

The ethnic religion of the Moken is animistic , determined by the belief in natural spirits and the spirits of the ancestors. Shamans are in contact with the spirit world, make prophecies and, above all, are the healers of the community. The most important festival of the year is the Ne-en Lobong , at the center of which are the Lobong , stakes that house the spirits of the ancestors. Relatives and friends from distant areas come together for this festival. Work is suspended for three days and nights. Instead, people fast and sing, and dancers put themselves into a trance . At the end, a small boat, the Lajang , is sometimes brought out to sea, which is supposed to carry away misfortune, illness and evil forces.

literature

  • Dirk Ruppik: Nomads of the Sea . In: Deutsche Seeschifffahrt , Issue 5/2009, pp. 50–51, Storck Verlag, Hamburg 2009, ISSN 0948-9002

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maik Brandenburg: The children with the super eyes . In: spiegel.de, March 1, 2005, accessed June 9, 2018.
  2. ^ Merritt Ruhlen: A Guide to the World's Languages, Vol 1, p. 344, Stanford University Press, ISBN 0-8047-1894-6

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