View source for Semang

{{Short description|Indigenous ethnic group in Malaysia and Thailand}}
{{Cleanup lang|article|date=August 2021}}{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Semang
| native_name      = Sakai / Pangan / Ngò' Pa
| image            = [[File:Taman Negara (30509997143).jpg|300px]]
| image_upright    =
| caption          = A Batek family in [[Kuala Tahan]], [[Pahang]], [[Malaysia]]
| total            = Approximately 4,800
| popplace         = '''[[Malay Peninsula]]:'''
| region1          = {{flag|Malaysia}}
| pop1             = Approximately 2,000–3,000
| ref1             = <ref>{{cite book|author=Geoffrey Benjamin & Cynthia Chou|title=Tribal Communities in the Malay World|year=2002|page=36}}</ref>
| region2          = {{flag|Thailand}}
| pop2             = 300
| ref2             = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/14839/TH |title=Kensiu in Thailand |publisher=[[Joshua Project]] |access-date=2016-11-10}}</ref>
| languages        = [[Jedek language|Jedek]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/listen-unknown-language-discovered-in-southeast-asia |title=LISTEN: Unknown language discovered in Southeast Asia |author=Joanne Yager & Niclas Burenhult |publisher=[[Lund University]] |date=6 February 2018 |access-date=2019-06-29}}</ref> [[Batek language|Batek]], [[Lanoh language|Lanoh]], [[Jahai language|Jahai]], [[Mendriq language|Mendriq]], [[Mintil language|Mintil]], [[Kensiu language|Kensiu]], [[Kintaq language|Kintaq]], [[Ten'edn language|Ten'edn]], [[Thai language|Thai]], [[Malay language|Malay]], [[English language|English]]
| religions        = [[Animism]] and significant adherents of [[Christianity]], [[Islam]], [[Buddhism]] or [[Hinduism]]
| related-c        = Other [[Orang Asli]], [[Maniq people|Maniq]], [[Andamanese]]<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3316490 |title=Andamanese-Semang-Eta Cultural Relations |author=John M. Cooper |journal= Primitive Man|pages=29–47 |volume= 13 |issue= 2 |date=April 1940 |doi=10.2307/3316490 |jstor=3316490 |access-date=2020-12-25}}</ref>
}}
The '''Semang''' are an ethnic-minority group of the [[Malay Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.andaman.org:80/book/chapter35/35-map.gif |title=35 Map |publisher=The Andaman Association |date=18 August 2002 |access-date=2017-11-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031120005305/http://www.andaman.org/book/chapter35/35-map.gif |archive-date=20 November 2003 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.andaman.org/book/chapter35/text35.htm |title=35. The Negrito of Malaysia: Semang |publisher=The Andaman Association |date=18 August 2002 |access-date=2017-11-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021225215922/http://www.andaman.org/book/chapter35/text35.htm |archive-date=25 December 2002 }}</ref> They live in mountainous and isolated forest regions of [[Perak]], [[Pahang]], [[Kelantan]]<ref>{{cite book|contribution=Association of British Malaya|title=British Malaya, Volume 1|year=1927|publisher=Newton|oclc=499453712|page=259}}</ref> and [[Kedah]] of [[Malaysia]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman|title=The Encyclopedia of Malaysia: Early History, Volume 4|year=1998|publisher=Archipelago Press|isbn=981-3018-42-9}}</ref> and the southern provinces of [[Thailand]].<ref name=":0" /> The Semang are among the different ethnic groups of [[Southeast Asia]] who, based on their dark skin and other perceived physical similarities, are sometimes referred to by the superficial term ''[[Negrito]]''.
They have been recorded since before the 3rd century. They are ethnologically described as [[nomad]]ic [[hunter-gatherer]]s.<ref name=Fix>{{cite journal | last = Fix | first = Alan G. | title = Malayan Paleosociology: Implications for Patterns of Genetic Variation among the Orang Asli | journal = American Anthropologist |series=New Series | volume = 97  | issue = 2 | pages = 313–323 |date=June 1995 | doi = 10.1525/aa.1995.97.2.02a00090 | jstor=681964}}</ref>
The Semang are grouped together with other [[Orang Asli]] groups, a diverse grouping of several distinct hunter-gatherer populations. Historically they preferred to trade with the local population. For more than one thousand years, some of the Semang people remained in isolation while others were either subjected to slave raids or forced to pay tribute to Southeast Asian rulers.<ref name="books.google.co.uk">[https://books.google.com/books?id=y0ExAQAAIAAJ&q=Srivijaya+enslaved+negrito Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America]</ref>
==Name and status==
In [[Malaysia]], the term Semang ({{Lang|ms|Orang Semang}} in Malay) is used to refer to the hunter-gatherers, that are referred to more generically as ''Negrito,'' [[Spanish language|Spanish]] for 'little negro'. In the past, eastern groups of Semang have been called '''Pangan'''. Semang are referred to as Sakai in Thailand, although this term is considered to be derogatory in Malaysia.<ref name=Hajek>{{cite journal  | last = Hajek | first = John | title = Unraveling Lowland Semang | journal = Oceanic Linguistics | volume = 35 | issue = 1 | pages = 138–141  |date=June 1996  | doi = 10.2307/3623034 | jstor=3623034}}</ref>
In Malaysia, the Semang are one of three groups that are considered to be [[Orang Asli]], the hunter-gatherer people of the Peninsula. The other two groups are the [[Senoi]] and the [[Proto-Malay]] (Aboriginal Malay). The Semang have six sub-groups: [[Kensiu]], [[Kintaq]], [[Lanoh people|Lanoh]], [[Jahai people|Jahai]], [[Mendriq]] and [[Batek people|Batek]]. The Malaysian federal government has designated the [[Department of Orang Asli Development]] (''Jabatan Kemajuan Orang Asli'', JAKOA) as the agency responsible for integrating the Orang Asli into the wider Malaysian society.
The three category division of the indigenous population was inherited by the Malaysian government from the British administration of the colonial era. It is based on racial concepts, according to which the [[Negrito]] were seen as the most primitive race leading the vagrant way of life of [[hunter-gatherer]]s. The [[Senoi]] were considered more developed, and the [[Proto-Malay]] were placed at almost the same level with the [[Malaysian Malays|Malaysian Malay]] Muslims.
In [[Thailand]], the terms Semang and [[Orang Asli]] are replaced by the terms ''Sakai'' or ''Ngopa'' (''Ngò 'Pa'' or ''Ngoh Paa'', which literally means 'curly/frizzy (haired) people').<ref name="SO">{{cite web|url=https://www.everyculture.com/East-Southeast-Asia/Semang-Orientation.html |title=Semang - Orientation |publisher=World Culture Encyclopedia |access-date=2018-12-12}}</ref> The first term is derogatory in Malaysia, with the connotation of savages, subjects or slaves.<ref name="SO"/> The Semang have had a degree of patronage from the royal family of [[Thailand]].
==Physical features==
[[File:Image from page 621 of "Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution" (1846).jpg|thumb|A Semang group in [[British Malaya|Malaya]], 1846.]]
[[File:TreeMix analysis of worldwide populations (2022).jpg|thumb|Population genomic "TreeMix" analysis of Semang and closely related populations (eg. East Asians and Andamanese peoples).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Göllner, Larena, Kutanan, Lukas, Fieder, Schaschl |date=10 February 2022 |title=Unveiling the Genetic History of the Maniq, a Primary Hunter-Gatherer Society |journal= Genome Biology and Evolution|volume= 14|issue= 4|doi=10.1093/gbe/evac021 |pmc=9005329 |pmid=35143674}}</ref>]]
They have dark skin, often curly-hair, and are stockily built.<ref>{{cite book|author=Marta Mirazón Lahr|contribution=R. A. Foley; Nina Jablonski; Michael Little; C. G. Nicholas Mascie-Taylor; Karen Strier; Kenneth M. Weiss|title=The Evolution of Modern Human Diversity: A Study of Cranial Variation|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=05-214-7393-4|page=303}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 20|year=1990|publisher=Grolier Incorporated|isbn=07-172-0121-X|page=76}}</ref>
==Ethnic groups==
[[File:Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula (1906) (14781129892).jpg|thumb|upright|A Semang group in traditional dancing attire in Kuala Sam, [[Kelantan]], 1906.]]
The Semang do not have a sense of common ethnic identity. The term Semang is applied on them from an outside view, however the Semang refer to themselves only with their tribes names.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alberto G. Gomes|title=Modernity and Malaysia|year=2007|pages=23–24}}</ref>
In total there are at least ten tribes that are classified as ''Semang'' in Malaysia (not all of them are officially recognized by the Malaysian government):-
* [[Kensiu]] live in the northern part of [[Kedah]], near the borders with [[Thailand]]. Most of them settled in the district village, Kampung Lubuk-Legong, which is in [[Baling District]], [[Kedah]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Ab. Aziz Mohd. Zin|title=Dakwah Islam di Malaysia|year=2006|publisher=Akademi Pengajian Islam, Universiti Malaya|isbn=98-310-0381-0|page=18}}</ref>
* [[Kintaq]] also have only one village, which is located near the city [[Gerik]] in [[Hulu Perak District]], [[Perak]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Raihanah Abdullah|title=Pembelaan kumpulan minoriti di Malaysia: isu dan cabaran|year=2009|publisher=Pusat Dialog Peradaban, Universiti Malaya|isbn=978-98-330-7034-3|page=96}}</ref> Traditionally they wandered around Klian Intan in [[Hulu Perak District]] and near [[Baling District]] in [[Kedah]].
* [[Lanoh people|Lanoh]] located in three villages situated in the [[Hulu Perak District]] in the northwest of [[Perak]] near [[Gerik]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Contributions to Southeast Asian Ethnography|year=2004|publisher=Board of Editors, Contributions to Southeast Asian Ethnography|page=101}}</ref> Among these people there are also distinct tribal groups such as the Lanoh Yir (probably nomadic), Lanoh Jengjeng (semi-settled) and possibly others.<ref name="AGTASATL53">{{cite book|author=Robert Parkin|title=A Guide to Austroasiatic Speakers and Their Languages|year=1991|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=08-248-1377-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/guidetoaustroasi0000park/page/53 53]|url=https://archive.org/details/guidetoaustroasi0000park/page/53}}</ref>
** Semnam are not included in the official list of JAKOA, however they are grouped with the [[Lanoh people|Lanoh]]. They live at the Ayer Bal River near Kampung Kuala Kenering in the [[Hulu Perak District]], west of [[Gerik]].<ref name="AGTASATL53"/>
** Sabub'n are also grouped together with the [[Lanoh people|Lanoh]]. The remnants of this nearly extinct tribe, along with other [[Lanoh people|Lanoh]] groups, live near [[Lenggong]] and [[Gerik]] in [[Hulu Perak District]].<ref>{{cite book|contribution=Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde|title=Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Volumes 77-78|year=1952|publisher=A. Asher & Company|page=200}}</ref>
* [[Jahai people|Jahai]] live in the mountains separating the states of [[Perak]] and [[Kelantan]], at south of the borders of [[Thailand]]. This is the only mountain that the Semang inhabit. Their settlements are mainly along rivers or near lakes. In [[Perak]] they live along rivers such as Sungai Banun, Sungai Tiang and near [[Temenggor Lake]] in the [[Hulu Perak District]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://repository.unri.ac.id/bitstream/handle/123456789/8754/Hamid%20Mohd%20Isa%20%26%20Mokhtar%20Saidin.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |author=Hamid Mohd Isa & Mokhtar Saidin |title=Sustainable Hunters and Gatherers in Belum-Temenggor Tropical Rainforest |publisher=Centre for Global Archaeological Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia |year=2014 |access-date=2018-12-13}}</ref> In Kelantan, the [[Jahai people|Jahai]] are concentrated along rivers namely Sungai Rual and Sungai Jeli in [[Jeli District]].<ref>{{cite book|editor=Nazaruddin Zainun & A. S. Hardy Shafii|title=Nusantara daripada Pelbagai Perspektif Kearifan Tempatan|year=2018|publisher=Penerbit USM|isbn=978-96-746-1171-2}}</ref>
* [[Mendriq]] live in several villages along the middle reaches of the [[Kelantan River]] in the remotes of [[Gua Musang District]] in the southern state of [[Kelantan]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/36557551 |author=Riduan Makhtar |author2=Nurliyana SM Soflee |author3=Mohd Sharifudin Yusop |author4=Abd Ganing Laengkang |title=Pengaruh Dialek Kelantan Dalam Bahasa Temiar: Satu Analisis Fonologi Struktural |journal=International Journal of Education, Psychology and Counseling |issue=11 |volume=3 |page=44 |year=2018 |access-date=2018-12-13}}</ref>
* [[Batek people|Batek]]:-
** Bateg Deq live mostly at the Aring River in southern [[Kelantan]], partly in the neighbouring districts of [[Terengganu]] and [[Pahang]]. JAKOA does not distinguish between different [[Batek people|Batek]] groups.<ref name="ASAPITMP">{{cite journal|url=http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/benjamin1976austroasiatic.pdf |author=Geoffrey Benjamin |title=Austroasiatic Subgroupings and Prehistory in the Malay Peninsula |journal=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications, No. 13, Austroasiatic Studies Part I |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |pages=37–128 |year=1976 |access-date=2018-12-13}}</ref>
** Bateg Nong, another [[Batek people|Batek]] group, live in the [[Jerantut District]] of northern [[Pahang]]. In total, there are 7 villages in the [[Pahang]] state, of which 5 of them are in the [[Lipis District]] and the other 2 are in [[Jerantut District]]; while in [[Kelantan]] there are 4 hamlet villages in the [[Gua Musang District]].<ref name="ASAPITMP"/>
** [[Mintil]] or "Mayah" live along the riverbanks of Sungai Tanum near Chegar Perah in north-central of [[Lipis District]], [[Pahang]].<ref name="ASAPITMP"/> Officially, they are recognized as part of the [[Batek people|Batek]].<ref name=Lim>Lim, Teckwyn. 2020. [http://hdl.handle.net/10524/52461 Ethnolinguistic Notes on the Language Endangerment Status of Mintil, an Aslian Language]. ''Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society'' (''JSEALS'') 13.1 (2020): i-xiv. ISSN 1836-6821. University of Hawaiʼi Press.</ref>
A few smaller groups of Semang live in the southern provinces of [[Thailand]]. These nomadic groups are mentioned under the names such as [[Ten'edn|Tonga]], [[Ten'edn|Mos]], [[Pearic peoples|Chong]] and [[Ten'edn|Ten'en]]. They call themselves [[Mani people|Mani]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter36/text36.htm |title=36. The Negrito of Thailand: The Mani |author=Thonghom |editor=George Weber |publisher=The Andaman Association |date=2003 |access-date=2017-11-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520173144/http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter36/text36.htm |archive-date=20 May 2013 }}</ref> but their linguistic affiliation remains uncertain.
Because of the small number of some of these Semang groups, they are on the verge of disappearance.
==Settlement areas==
[[File:Paganracesofmala01skea 0446.jpg|thumb|upright|A map from ''Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula'' (1906). Blue = Semang; yellow = Sakai tribe; red = [[Jakun people|Jakun]].]]
The Semang live mainly in the more isolated lowlands and foothills within the primary and secondary wet tropical jungles of the northern [[Malay Peninsula]]. Only the [[Jahai people|Jahai]] live at higher altitudes.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/semang |title=Semang |publisher=Encyclopedia |access-date=2019-01-13}}</ref>
In the past, the territory of the Semang settlement was wider, but neighbouring ethnic groups pushed them into hard-to-reach areas. Kensiu now live in the northeast of [[Kedah]], the Kintaq of which are settled in the adjoining areas of [[Kedah]] and [[Perak]], the [[Jahai people|Jahai]] are in the northeast of [[Perak]] and in west of [[Kelantan]], the [[Lanoh people|Lanoh]] in the northeast of [[Perak]], in the north-central [[Perak]], the Mendriq in the south-east of [[Kelantan]], and the [[Batek people|Batek]] in the northwestern of [[Terengganu]], northeastern of [[Pahang]] and southern [[Kelantan]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285657915 |title=The Semang Kensiu Orang Asli of Lubuk Legong, Baling: Their Language and Cultural Endangerment |author=Alias Abd Ghani & Salasiah Che Lah |journal= Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences|volume=208 |pages=21–30 |year=2015 |access-date=2019-01-13 |doi=10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.177|doi-access=free }}</ref>
A significant part of these tribes live in permanent settlements, but traditionally separate groups of different time periods go into the jungle for the harvesting of jungle produce. Most often of such cases take place during the end of the fall on the maturation of wild fruit season. Because of this tradition, they are often designated as nomads, although the Semang in [[Malaysia]] at present are no longer leading a nomadic way of life.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Rosarii Griffin|contribution=Colin Brock|title=Education in Indigenous, Nomadic and Travelling Communities|year=2014|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-14-725-1119-5|page=136}}</ref>
Today, among the Semang; as part of the [[Orang Asli]] group, they also live in urban areas of [[Malaysia]], mixed with members of other ethnic groups.
Several isolated Semang groups reside in the jungles of the [[Southern Thailand|southern provinces of Thailand]]. So far in the north, there are two groups in [[Trang Province]] and one in [[Phatthalung Province]] live for several kilometers apart from each other. For many kilometers, in the southern direction, there is another very small group of Semang in the southern part of the [[Satun Province]], near the Malaysian border.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/1991/JSS_086_0j_AlbrechtMoser_RecentManiSettlementsInSatun.pdf |title=Recent Mani Settlements In Satun Province, Southern Thailand |author=Gerd Albrecht & Johannes Moser |journal=Journal of the Siam Society |volume=86 |issue=1–2 |publisher=Siamese Heritage Trust |pages=161–199 |year=1991 |access-date=2019-01-13}}</ref>
The remaining groups of Thai Semang can be found living in the [[Yala Province]]. In the upper part of the valley, in the [[Than To District]] of this province;<ref>{{cite book|author=Joachim Schliesinger|title=The Chong People: A Pearic-Speaking Group of Southeastern Thailand and Their Kin in the Region|year=2017|publisher=Booksmango|isbn=978-16-332-3988-3|page=3}}</ref> about 2&nbsp;km from the Thai-Malaysian border, there is a village in which is the only settled Semang group that lives in [[Thailand]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ase/114/1/114_1_45/_pdf |title=Subgroup 'names' of the Sakai (Thailand) and the Semang (Malaysia): a literature survey |author=Shuichi Nagata |journal=Anthropological Science |volume=114 |publisher=The Anthropological Society of Nippon |pages= 45–57 |year=2006 |access-date=2019-01-13|doi=10.1537/ase.00082 |doi-access=free }}</ref> There is another group of nomad Semang who live along the border with Malaysia in the [[Yala Province]]. Both nomadic and settled groups maintain close contacts with Malaysia. The border here has only political significance, and nothing prevents the Semang from freely crossing it.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jérémie Gilbert|title=Nomadic Peoples and Human Rights|year=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-11-360-2016-2|page=79}}</ref>
The closest neighbours of the Semang are the Malay people. This applies not only to Malaysian Semang but also to groups living in [[Thailand]]. The extreme south of this country is ethnically predominantly Malay, although the Malay people there are officially called Thai Muslims because of [[Thaification]].
==Population==
[[File:Batek (3730366616).jpg|thumb|A Batek child, Malaysia.]]
Dynamics of the Semang population after the declaration of independence of [[Malaysia]]:-
{| class="wikitable"  style="text-align: center"
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | Year !! 1960<ref name="Nobuta">{{cite book|author=Nobuta Toshihiro|title=Living On The Periphery: Development and Islamization Among the Orang Asli in Malaysia|year=2009|url=http://www.coac.org.my/dashboard/modules/cms/cms~file/93c38c2f6837049ec87607013c0c5404.pdf|publisher=Center for Orang Asli Concerns, Subang Jaya, Malaysia, 2009|isbn=978-983-43248-4-1|access-date=2019-01-12}} {{in lang|en}}</ref>!! 1965<ref name="Nobuta" /> !! 1969<ref name="Nobuta" /> !! 1974<ref name="Nobuta" /> !! 1980<ref name="Nobuta" /> !! 1996<ref name="Nobuta" /> !! 2000<ref name="COAC_Statistics">{{cite web|title=Basic Data / Statistics|url=http://www.coac.org.my/main.php?section=about&article_id=4|publisher=Center for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC)|access-date=2019-01-12|archive-date=29 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029082307/https://www.coac.org.my/main.php?section=about&article_id=4|url-status=dead}} {{in lang|en}}</ref>!! 2003<ref name="COAC_Statistics" /> !! 2010<ref name="Endicott">{{cite book|author=Kirk Endicott|title=Malaysia's Original People: Past, Present and Future of the Orang Asli. Introduction|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286937916|publisher=NUS Press, National University of Singapore Press. 2016, pp. 1-38|isbn=978-9971-69-861-4|access-date=2019-01-12|date=27 November 2015}} {{in lang|en}}</ref>
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | Kensiu || 126 || 76 || 98 || 101 || 130 || 224 || 254 || 232 || 280
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | Kintaq || 256 || 76 || 122 || 103 || 103 || 235 || 150 || 157 || 234
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Lanoh people|Lanoh]] || 142 || 142 || 264 || 302 || 224 || 359 || 173 || 350 || 390
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Jahai people|Jahai]] || 621 || 546 || 702 || 769 || 740 || 1,049 || 1,244 || 1,843 || 2,326
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | Mendriq || 106 || 94 || 118 || 121 || 144 || 145 || 167 || 164 || 253
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Batek people|Batek]] || 530 || 339 || 501 || 585 || 720 || 960 || 1,519 || 1,255 || 1,359
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | '''Total''' || '''1,781''' || '''1,273''' || '''1,805''' || '''1,981''' || '''2,061''' || '''2,972''' || '''3,507''' || '''4,001''' || '''4,842'''
|}
Distribution of [[Orang Asli]] subgroups in [[Malaysia]] by states (1996):-<ref name="Nobuta" />
{| class="wikitable"  style="text-align: center"
|-
! !! [[Kedah]] !! [[Perak]] !! [[Kelantan]] !! [[Terengganu]] !! [[Pahang]] !! Total
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | Kensiu || 180 || 30 || 14 ||  ||  || 224
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | Kintaq || || 227 || 8 ||  ||  || 235
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Lanoh people|Lanoh]] ||  || 359 ||  ||  ||  || 359
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Jahai people|Jahai]] ||  || 740 || 309 ||  ||  || 1,049
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | Mendriq || ||  || 131 ||  || 14 || 145
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Batek people|Batek]] || ||  || 247 || 55 || 658 || 960
|-
| '''Total''' || '''180''' || '''1,356''' || '''709''' || '''55''' || '''672''' || '''2,972'''
|}
The population of Semang in [[Thailand]] was estimated at 240 people (2010).<ref name="TALOMAT">{{cite journal|author=Geoffrey Benjamin|title=The Aslian languages of Malaysia and Thailand: an assessment |url=http://www.elpublishing.org/docs/1/11/ldd11_06.pdf |journal=Language Documentation and Description |volume=11  |year=2012|issn=1740-6234|access-date=2019-01-12}}</ref>
==Language==
[[File:Image from page 834 of "Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula" (1906).jpg|thumb|Semang from [[Gerik]] or Janing, [[Perak]], 1906.]]
[[Semang languages]] belonged to the [[Aslian languages|Aslian]] branch of the [[Austroasiatic languages]]. These languages are also spoken by the neighbouring [[Senoi]]. Austroasiatic languages, spoken by Khmer or Vietnamese, were adopted by various other hunter-gatherer groups during the Neolithic and pre-Neolithic period. Later, Kra-Dai and Austronesian languages partially replaced Austroasiatic and other languages.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Why have the Peninsular "Negritos" remained distinct? |author=Geoffrey Benjamin |journal=Human Biology |volume=85 |issue=1 |pages=445–483 |issn=0018-7143 |year=2013 |doi=10.13110/humanbiology.85.1-3.0445 |access-date=2019-01-14 |hdl=10220/24020 |hdl-access=free |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259114545}}</ref>
[[Aslian languages]] are divided into four main divisions: the [[Northern Aslian languages]], [[Central Aslian languages]], [[Southern Aslian languages]] and the [[Jah Hut language]], which occupies a separate position.
Among Semang in Malaysia, there are further extended languages and dialects such as [[Kensiu language]], [[Kentaq Bong]] dialect, [[Kintaq language|Kintaq]] Nakil dialect, [[Jahai language]], [[Minriq language]], [[Bateg Deq language]], [[Mintil language]], [[Bateg Nong language]], [[Semnam language]], [[Sabüm language]], [[Lanoh language|Lanoh]] Yir dialect, [[Lanoh language|Lanoh]] Jengjeng dialect. Most of them form the [[Northern Aslian languages]] group of the [[Aslian languages]], only the languages of the [[Lanoh language]] (with the dialects of its subfamilies and [[Semnam language]] close to it) belong to the [[Central Aslian languages]] group. Very few [[Semang languages]] have been studied in [[Thailand]], most likely in [[Kensiu language]] or [[Jahai language]].<ref name="ASAPITMP"/>
A characteristic feature of the [[Semang languages]] is that they do not have clear boundaries. This is a typical phenomenon for languages whose carriers are mostly small nomadic groups, of whom the usual situation is when representatives of different ethnic groups live together in the same temporary camp settlement. Thus, all the [[Northern Aslian languages]] together form a large continuous network of languages, interconnected by constant contacts. A similar but smaller network form the languages of the [[Lanoh language]].<ref name="TALOMAT"/>
Not all [[Semang languages]] have survived to this day, some of the dialects are already completely extinct. This danger also threatens some of the existing dialects, including [[Sabüm language]], [[Semnam language]] and [[Mintil language]]. At the same time, the situation with most [[Semang languages]] remains stable; regardless of the small number of their speakers, their language are not threaten with disappearance.
Most Semang, in addition to their own language, also speak [[Malay language|Malay]]. There are also many Malay loanwords in all Semang languages. In addition, some Aslian languages contain many loanwords from each other. Another source of loanwords is the [[Thai language]], which is noticeably predominantly in the [[Kensiu language]], in the north of the peninsula. In [[Thailand]], most of the settled Semang also speak Thai. However, in some rare cases, some or a few Semang can also speak [[English language|English]] since that [[British Malaya|Malaysia was ruled by the British from 1867–1957]].
==History==
The Semang are suggested to be descended from the people of the pre-[[Neolithic]] [[Hoabinhian|Hoabinhian culture]],<ref>{{cite journal|author=David Bulbeck|title=Holocene Biological Evolution Of The Malay Peninsula Aborigines (Orang Asli)|editor=Emily Rousham |editor2=Leonard Freedman |editor3=Rayma Pervan|journal=Humans in the Australasian Region |volume=2|year=1996|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=98-102-3007-9|page=37}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=McColl | first1=Hugh | last2=Racimo | first2=Fernando | last3=Vinner | first3=Lasse | last4=Demeter | first4=Fabrice | last5=Gakuhari | first5=Takashi | last6=Moreno-Mayar | first6=J. Víctor | last7=van Driem | first7=George | last8=Gram Wilken | first8=Uffe | last9=Seguin-Orlando | first9=Andaine | last10=de la Fuente Castro | first10=Constanza | last11=Wasef | first11=Sally | last12=Shoocongdej | first12=Rasmi | last13=Souksavatdy | first13=Viengkeo | last14=Sayavongkhamdy | first14=Thongsa | last15=Saidin | first15=Mohd Mokhtar | last16=Allentoft | first16=Morten E. | last17=Sato | first17=Takehiro | last18=Malaspinas | first18=Anna-Sapfo | last19=Aghakhanian | first19=Farhang A. | last20=Korneliussen | first20=Thorfinn | display-authors=5| title=The prehistoric peopling of Southeast Asia | journal=Science | publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | volume=361 | issue=6397 | year=2018 | issn=0036-8075 | doi=10.1126/science.aat3628 | pages=88–92| pmid=29976827 | bibcode=2018Sci...361...88M | s2cid=206667111 | hdl=10072/383365 | hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Göllner |first1=Tobias |last2=Larena |first2=Maximilian |last3=Kutanan |first3=Wibhu |last4=Lukas |first4=Helmut |last5=Fieder |first5=Martin |last6=Schaschl |first6=Helmut |year=2022 |title=Unveiling the Genetic History of the Maniq, a Primary Hunter-Gatherer Society |journal=Genome Biology and Evolution |volume=14 |issue=4 |doi=10.1093/gbe/evac021|pmid=35143674 |pmc=9005329 }}</ref> which was distributed in Southeast Asia from contemporary [[Vietnam]], to the north eastern part of [[Sumatra]] in the [[9th millennium BC|9th]]-3rd millennium BC. These Hoabinhians were hunter-gatherers and may also have practiced some forms of plant cultivation.<ref>{{Cite book|title=First Islanders: Prehistory and Human Migration in Island Southeast Asia|last=Bellwood|first=Peter|date=2017|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-119-25154-5}}</ref> While the Upper Paleolithic origins of the Hoabinhians are unknown, the analysis of sampled genomes from Holocene Hoabinhian individuals has shown that they shared a common ancestor with East Asians and (probably more remotely) with Australopapuan populations as part of the [[Ancient East Eurasian]] ancestral lineage.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yew |first1=Chee-Wei |last2=Lu |first2=Dongsheng |last3=Deng |first3=Lian |last4=Wong |first4=Lai-Ping |last5=Ong |first5=Rick Twee-Hee |last6=Lu |first6=Yan |last7=Wang |first7=Xiaoji |last8=Yunus |first8=Yushimah |last9=Aghakhanian |first9=Farhang |last10=Mokhtar |first10=Siti Shuhada |last11=Hoque |first11=Mohammad Zahirul |last12=Voo |first12=Christopher Lok-Yung |last13=Abdul Rahman |first13=Thuhairah |last14=Bhak |first14=Jong |last15=Phipps |first15=Maude E. |last16=Xu |first16=Shuhua |last17=Teo |first17=Yik-Ying |last18=Kumar |first18=Subbiah Vijay |last19=Hoh |first19=Boon-Peng |title=Genomic structure of the native inhabitants of Peninsular Malaysia and North Borneo suggests complex human population history in Southeast Asia |journal=Human Genetics |date=February 2018 |volume=137 |issue=2 |pages=161–173 |doi=10.1007/s00439-018-1869-0 |pmid=29383489 |s2cid=253969988 |quote=The analysis of time of divergence suggested that ancestors of Negrito were the earliest settlers in the Malay Peninsula, whom first separated from the [[Indigenous people of New Guinea|Papuans]] ~ 50-33 thousand years ago (kya), followed by [[Genetic history of East Asians|East Asian]] (~ 40-15 kya)...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yang |first=Melinda A. |date=2022-01-06 |title=A genetic history of migration, diversification, and admixture in Asia |url=http://www.pivotscipub.com/hpgg/2/1/0001/html |journal=Human Population Genetics and Genomics |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |doi=10.47248/hpgg2202010001 |issn=2770-5005 |quote=…the ESEA lineage differentiated into at least three distinct ancestries: Tianyuan ancestry which can be found 40,000-33,000 years ago in northern East Asia, ancestry found today across present-day populations of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Siberia, but whose origins are unknown, and Hòabìnhian ancestry found 8,000-4,000 years ago in Southeast Asia, but whose origins in the Upper Paleolithic are unknown.|doi-access=free }}</ref>
[[File:Image from page 831 of "Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula" (1906).jpg|thumb|A group of Semangs on the border of [[Kingdom of Reman|Reman]] and [[Kedah Sultanate|Kedah]], 1906]]
Approximately 4,000 years ago, the practice of [[Slash-and-burn]] farming came to the Malay Peninsula, but nomadic hunting and harvesting continued to exist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Malaysia/sub5_4c/entry-3647.html |title=Semang (Negritos), Senoi, Temiar And Orang Asli Of Malaysia |author=Jeffrey Hays |publisher=Facts And Details |year=2008 |access-date=2019-01-25}}</ref> New migrants also brought to the peninsula [[Aslian languages]], which now speak modern [[Senoic languages]] and [[Semang languages]]. It is believed that the ancestors of the [[Senoi]] became farmers, and the ancestors of the Semang continued to engage in harvesting, sometimes supplementing it with trade and agriculture. A stable social tradition, which made it impossible for marriages between these groups, contributed to the delineation of these two racial types.
After 500 BC, maritime trade was already developed and the Malay Peninsula became a crossroads that bound [[India]] with [[China]].<ref>{{cite book|author=DK Travel|title=DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Malaysia and Singapore|year=2016|publisher=Dorling Kindersley Ltd|isbn=978-02-412-5431-8|page=39}}</ref> On the coast there are settlements, some of them subsequently turned into large ports with permanent populations, consisting of foreign traders who maintained constant ties with [[China]], [[India]], the [[Middle East]], and the [[Mediterranean]]. The Semang become suppliers of jungle produce, which was in high demand in other countries such as [[aromatic wood]]s, [[camphor]], [[rubber]], [[rattan]], [[rhino horn]]s, [[elephant tusk]]s, [[gold]], [[tin]] and so on. They also played the role of jungle guardians.
The Malay [[Srivijaya]] empire came in contact with the Negrito. In the year 724 AD, two Negrito pygmies were among the tribute gifts to Malay rulers. Negrito pygmies from the southern forests were enslaved and exploited until modern times.<ref name="books.google.co.uk"/>
At the end of the 14th century, on the coast of the [[Strait of Malacca]], the first trading settlements were founded by Malay settlers from [[Sumatra]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Garth Cant|title=An Historical Geography of Pahang, Issues 4-7|year=1972|publisher=MBRAS|oclc=1068038809|page=19}}</ref> The main center was [[Malacca]]. At the beginning of the 15th century, the ruler of [[Malacca Sultanate|Malacca]] embraced [[Islam]]. Malay settlers began to slowly move upstream deeper into the peninsula, while some were subjugated to the Malays, most of the [[Orang Asli]] retreated into the interior regions.<ref name="Journal of the Straits Branch of th">{{cite book|title=Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |issue=1–6|year=1878|publisher=Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society|oclc=16746647|page=46}}</ref>
During the early years of contact, the Semang peacefully interacted and traded with the Malays, but with the strengthening of the Malay states, the relationship between them began to deteriorate. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Semang and other indigenous groups became [[History of slavery|slave trade]] victims of Batak and Rawa raiders.<ref name="Journal of the Straits Branch of th"/> In response to attempts to capture slaves, the Semang developed a tactic of avoiding contact with outsiders. As a way of preserving their autonomy, they would immediately destroy their shelters if an outsider intruded and they would remained hidden or "closed" in the jungle.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joachim Schliesinger|title=Ethnic Groups of Thailand|year=2015|page=129}}</ref>
[[File:MPP-Se.jpg|thumb|upright|A Semang man, 1899.]]
The more the Semang were isolated from the surrounding peoples, the more surprising they were perceived by others. Many peoples of Southeast Asia considered the jungle as home to magical creatures, among those that assented are the Negritos. These people were endowed with magical qualities, and with various legends associated with fairy tales. Among the Malaysian sultans and rulers of the southern provinces of Thailand, it was once regarded as prestigious to keep Negritos in their yards as part of collections of amusing jungle beings.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.sac.or.th/databases/siamrarebooksold/main/index.php/history/jss/307-the-negrito-of-peninsular-thailand |title=The Negrito of Peninsular Thailand |author=John H. Brandt |journal=Journal of the Siam Society |volume=49 |issue=Pt. 2 |publisher=Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre |year=1961 |access-date=2019-01-30 |archive-date=25 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125113603/https://www.sac.or.th/databases/siamrarebooksold/main/index.php/history/jss/307-the-negrito-of-peninsular-thailand |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="AHOM">{{cite book|author=Barbara Watson Andaya & Leonard Y Andaya|title=A History of Malaysia|year=2016|publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education|isbn=978-11-376-0515-3|pages=168–169}}</ref>
In the first decade of the twentieth century, the king of Thailand, [[King Chulalongkorn]] (Rama V) visited the southern regions of his country and met with the Semang. In 1906, an orphan Semang boy named Khanung was sent to the royal court, where he was perceived as the adoptive son of the ruler.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Woodhouse |first= Leslie |s2cid= 150259232 |date=Spring 2019 |title= Picturing Siwilai: Colonial Anxiety and Ethnic Difference in Elite Photography during Siam's Fifth Reign (1868–1910) |journal=Amerasia Journal |volume= 43|issue= 2 |doi= 10.17953/aj.43.2.141-157}}</ref> From this event, it has led to the patronage of the Semang by the royal court.
The British colonial government banned slavery at the end of the nineteenth century and introduced a protection policy for the [[Orang Asli]]. The British perceived the indigenous people as noble savages, who lead an idealized and romantic existence and need protection from the devastating actions of modern life.<ref name="AHOM"/>
Attention to the aborigines drew only during the [[Malayan Emergency]] in [[Malaysia]] in the 1950s.<ref name="POCIFOP">{{cite web|url=https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/16572/pathsx.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Paths of Change in Fields of Power: A study of the Chewong – an indigenous minority group in peninsular Malaysia |author=Anja Lingjerde Lillegraven |publisher=Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo |date=May 2006 |access-date=2017-11-20}}</ref> In order to bring them to the government's side in the confrontation against the communist rebels, a special department was established, the [[Department of Orang Asli Development|Department of Orang Asli Affairs]] (''Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli'', JHEOA); which was to provide education, health and economic development of the [[Orang Asli]]. A comprehensive control of indigenous communities was then introduced.<ref name="POCIFOP"/> Similar actions on the neutralization of the Negritos, albeit on a smaller scale, were also carried out by the Thai government in response to the transfer of communist soldiers into [[Thailand]]'s territory.
The proclamation of [[Malaysia]]'s independence in 1957 and the cessation of the [[Malayan Emergency]] in 1961 did not bring about significant changes in the state's policy towards the [[Orang Asli]]. In the 1970s, the [[Department of Orang Asli Development|Department of Orang Asli Affairs]] began to organize for the Semang settlements, which were meant to relocate several nomadic groups.<ref name="TEOLOTBOM">{{cite web|url=https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/effects-logging-batek-malaysia |title=The Effects Of Logging On The Batek Of Malaysia |author=Kirk Endicott |publisher=Cultural Survival |date=June 1982 |access-date=2019-02-01}}</ref> Approximately by the end of 1980, the widespread development of jungle harvesting and the replacement of jungles for plantations, it has severely damaged the lives of most tribes of the Semang.<ref name="TEOLOTBOM"/>
Much of the Kintaq, [[Jahai people|Jahai]], [[Batek people|Batek]] and [[Lanoh people]] now live in villages built by the state, surrounded by secondary jungles and plantations, as well as villages whose populations do not belong to the [[Orang Asli]]. They were forced to give up their livelihood and to some extent became accustomed to small farming.<ref name="FETI">{{cite book|author=Csilla Dallos|title=From Equality to Inequality: Social Change Among Newly Sedentary Lanoh Hunter-gatherer Traders of Peninsular Malaysia|year=2011|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-14-426-1122-1|pages=34–37}}</ref>
In 1966 (according to some sources, 1973),<ref>{{cite book|author=Geoffrey Benjamin & Cynthia Chou|title=Tribal Communities in the Malay World|year=2002|pages=77–96}}</ref> in order to improve their lives, a Sakai Village was established in [[Thailand]]. The state laid a rubber plantation for them. In the early 1990s, it was decided to turn this village into a tourist centre, where the Semang in a theatrical form began to demonstrate to tourists features of their traditional way of life.
==Beliefs==
[[File:Image from page 831 of "Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula" (1906) - 14594900309.jpg|thumb|A group of Semang at Siong, [[Baling District]], [[Kedah]], 1906.]]
In terms of religion, the Semang are animists.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alton L. Becker & Aram A. Yengoyan|title=The Imagination of reality: essays in Southeast Asian coherence systems|year=1979|publisher=ABLEX Pub. Corp.|isbn=08-939-1021-X|page=15}}</ref> They believe that not only people, but all natural objects have souls.<ref>{{cite book|author=Karen Lee Adams|title=Systems of Numeral Classification in the Mon-Khmer, Nicobaresse and Aslian Subfamilies of Austroasiatic|year=1989|publisher=Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University|isbn=08-588-3373-5|page=124}}</ref>
The land of the Semang are imagined in the form of a disk that lies on a huge snake or turtle floating underground. The earth is connected with the sky with one or several stone pillars. The world is filled with numerous immortal supernatural beings, spirits living on the sky, in stone pillars and underground. Skyline is a paradise filled with flowers and fruit trees. Supernatural beings have created rain forests to meet the needs of people on earth. Some of them in the past lived on the ground as ordinary people and now from time to time come back here, appearing in people in dreams.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lindsay Jones|title=Encyclopedia of religion, Volume 10|year=2005|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA|isbn=00-286-5743-8|page=6456}}</ref>
Most supernatural beings have no names, they are often associated with certain natural phenomena or objects, such as wind or fruit trees. Others have their names and individual attributes. Most of the Semang are afraid of three natural phenomena; thunder, floods and storms.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alberto G. Gomes|title=Modernity and Malaysia|year=2007|page=38}}</ref> The main deity in them is the god of thunder Karey. He is not loved and evokes great fear, he is considered cruel and evil. Karey, according to local beliefs, carries out an important moral function, imposing punishment on violators of taboo. It can cause death, injury or illness through lightning strikes or wildlife attacks.<ref>{{cite book|author=Charles F. Keyes|title=The Golden Peninsula: Culture and Adaptation in Mainland Southeast Asia|year=1995|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=08-248-1696-X|page=37}}</ref>
In each group there is a shaman called a ''hala''. He acts as an intermediary between the visible world of people and the invisible world of spirits. Shamans perform rituals and magic rites, practice magic, anticipate the future, cure illnesses, and define a safe place for camp placement. Treatment of diseases is carried out using different herbs and magic spells. Semang believe that their shamans in a state of trance communicate with supernatural beings, can express them gratitude, as well as learn from them the way to treat a serious illness.<ref>{{cite book|title=Sociologus, Volumes 14-15|year=1964|publisher=Duncker & Humblot|page=137}}</ref>
Shamans can be both men and women. There are big and small ''hala''s. Small ''hala''s are ordinary mortals who know some ways of treating. For the treatment of diseases, they use certain songs, massage, herbal medicine and spells. Sometimes during the healing ceremony, they are part of the trance. Great ''hala''s, according to the Semang, are people with supernatural abilities. Not only do they communicate with spirits through dreams or trance, they themselves are supernatural beings, for example, they can turn into tigers and drive away from wildlife people. Big and small ''hala''s get their knowledge from the spirits through dreams or from another hook. The best way is to wait on the grave of the deceased shaman until he appears in the likeness of the tiger, and then he will turn to the person and begin to teach the beginner.
Special rites accompany important events in life, such as birth, disease, death, there are also various rituals of economic orientation.<ref>{{cite book|author=Eugene Albert Nida & William Allen Smalley|title=Introducing animism|year=1959|publisher=Friendship Press|oclc=42355258|page=54}}</ref> When rituals are carried out, animist symbols are used.
The Malaysian government is pursuing a policy of conversion of the [[Orang Asli]] to [[Islam]]. A certain demographic of the Semang was considered Muslim by the end of the 20th century. The statistics are as follows:-<ref name="Nobuta"/>
{| class="wikitable"  style="text-align: center"
|-
!  !! Кensiu !! Кintaq !! [[Jahai people|Jahai]] !! [[Lanoh people|Lanoh]] !! Меndriq !! [[Batek people|Batek]]
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | Muslims Negritos (1997) || 108 || 67 || 292 || 94 || 61 || 710
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | Total population (1996) || 224 || 235 || 1&nbsp;049 || 359 || 145 || 960
|}
==Culture==
[[File:Batek (3730924243).jpg|thumb|upright|right|A Batek man is seen with scarification on his arms.]]
[[Scarification]] is practised.<ref>{{cite book|author=Wilfrid Dyson Hambly|title=The History of Tattooing|year=1925|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=0-486-46812-7}}</ref> Young boys and girls are scarified in a simple ritual to mark the end of their adolescence.<ref>{{cite book|author=Julian Haynes Steward|title=Theory of Culture Change: The Methodology of Multilinear Evolution|year=1972|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=0-252-00295-4|url=https://archive.org/details/theoryofculturec00stew}}</ref> The finely serrated edge of a [[sugarcane]] leaf is drawn across the skin, then charcoal powder rubbed into the cut.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alan Caillou|title=Rampage|year=2000|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=0-595-09143-1}}</ref>
They have bamboo musical instruments, a kind of [[jaw harp]], and a [[nose flute]].<ref>{{cite book|editor=Terry Miller & Sean Williams|title=The Garland Handbook of Southeast Asian Music|year=2011|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-90154-7}}</ref> On festive occasions, there is song and dance, both sexes decorating themselves with leaves.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hugo Adolf Bernatzik & Jacques Ivanoff|title=Moken and Semang: 1936-2004, Persistence and Change|year=2005|publisher=White Lotus|isbn=97-448-0082-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Harry S. Ashmore|title=Encyclopaedia Britannica: a new survey of universal knowledge, Volume 20|year=1961|publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica|page=313}}</ref>
The Semang bury their dead on the same day itself with the corpse wrapped in mat and the personal belonging of the deceased kept in a small bamboo rack placed over the grave.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joachim Schliesinger|title=Ethnic Groups of Thailand|year=2015|page=133}}</ref> Only people of great importance, such as chiefs or great magicians are given a tree burial.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert W. Williamson|title=The Mafulu Mountain People of British New Guinea|year=2010|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-4092-2652-9}}</ref>
They have used [[Capnomancy]] (divination by smoke) to determine whether a camp is safe for the night.<ref>{{cite book|author=Scott Cunningham|title=Divination for Beginners: Reading the Past, Present & Future|year=2003|publisher=Llewellyn Publications|isbn=0-7387-0384-2}}</ref>
===Traditional way of life===
Traditionally, the Semang have been living a vagrant lifestyle of jungle [[hunter-gatherer]]s.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Emily Rousham |author2=Leonard Freedman |author3=Rayma Pervan |title=Humans in the Australasian Region|year=1996|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=98-102-3007-9|page=37}}</ref> Each group occupies a certain customary territory, which was a territorial subsistence for them. Within this territory they are constantly moving from place to place in search for new food resources. The Semang are not [[hunter-gatherer]]s in the literal sense, as they constantly change their livelihood depending on what is currently beneficial for them. As soon as one source of edible resources is exhausted, they turn to another.<ref>{{cite book|author=Betty Meehan & Neville White|title=Hunter-gatherer demography: past and present|year=1990|publisher=University of Sydney|isbn=08-675-8491-2|page=136}}</ref>
This way of life has been steadily maintained for a millennia due to the specific social structure of their society. Separate families in Semang community are completely autonomous;<ref>{{cite book|author=Alberto G. Gomes|title=Modernity and Malaysia|year=2007|page=29}}</ref> where they can gather together in temporary camps, then diverge, each in their direction, and then gather together with other families in new camps. [[Exogamy]] in such a society has an extreme level, which leads to large-scale family ties.<ref name="FETI"/> Such model for the society ideally corresponds to the nomadic way of life and is unacceptable for the settled population. It served as a barrier that divided the populations that have been living together for a millennia.
Semang consider their customary territories free for use by all members of the local group. Western Semang recognize their human right to possess poisonous trees and perennial fruit trees that they have planted or found in the jungles. Other groups consider such trees to be free for everyone.<ref name="EOWC234">{{cite book|editor=David Levinson|title=Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 5|year=1993|publisher=G.K. Hall|isbn=08-168-8840-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo0000unse_q6n9/page/234 234]|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo0000unse_q6n9/page/234}}</ref>
Claims of exclusive rights to a particular area in a dispute with other groups of Semang or with other peoples are usually not put forward and in any case are not valid. The Malaysian government does not at all recognize any rights of Semang to customary lands or resources.<ref name="EOWC234"/>
Although they are commonly referred to as the inhabitants of the deep jungle areas, Semang actually occupy a transition zone between tropical jungles and agricultural districts. The resources here are very diverse and abundant. They can also collect valuable wood and maintain trade with neighbors. In the deep jungle they can only hunt small animals living among the trees, as valuable vegetation resources are practically absent from there.<ref name="EAAPC6">{{cite book|author=Alberto G. Gomes|title=Ecological Adaptation And Population Change|year=1982|page=6}}</ref>
In state villages, the [[Department of Orang Asli Development]] is trying to attract Semang to agriculture. On cleared jungle areas, the state organizes the planting of [[rubber tree]]s, [[durian]], [[rambutan]], [[oil palm]]s and bananas. The Semang are forced to adapt to new conditions, but agricultural activity requires long term waiting results, which contradicts their world view. At different times of the day, a group of Semang may send a whole group or individuals to harvest forest products, trade them, get hired in casual paid jobs from Malay farmers, go fishing or simply beg or live off of gifts left by visitors.<ref name="EAAPC8">{{cite book|author=Alberto G. Gomes|title=Ecological Adaptation And Population Change|year=1982|page=8}}</ref>
With this in mind, JAKOA provides the people with grocery kits so they do not leave their work. But, when there is a delay with the release of these rations, the Semang immediately stop agricultural activity, and some even return to live in the woods. The harvesting of jungle produce for sale still remains a priority for them, followed by work for money, settled agriculture and horticulture.<ref name="EAAPC9">{{cite book|author=Alberto G. Gomes|title=Ecological Adaptation And Population Change|year=1982|page=9}}</ref>
==Livelihood==
[[File:Semang schiesst einen Pfeil aus seinem doppelwandigen Blasrohr ab. Der Bambusköcher an seiner Seite enthält die stark vergifteten Pfeile. (Süden der halbinsel Siam) (9411043196).jpg|thumb|upright|right|A Semang man shoots an arrow from his [[blowgun]]. The bamboo quiver at his side contains the strongly poisoned arrows. 1937.]]
The main livelihood of the Semang has traditionally been gathering, hunting and fishing in a wandering lifestyle. Only in the 20th century some groups, the [[Lanoh people|Lanoh]] and [[Batek people|Batek]] in particular, began to practice [[Slash-and-burn]] farming.
For daily consumption, the roots and fruits of wild plants are collected in the jungle. The major food gathered is wild yams ([[Dioscorea]]), of which at least twelve species can be found in relative abundance throughout the year. Other wild foods include bamboo shoots, nuts, seasonal fruits, mushrooms, and honey. Apart from this list, there is also a range of medicinal herbs.<ref name="EAAPC8"/>
Different jungle plants are used by the Semang for various purposes. Bamboo is used for housing construction, the production of [[blowgun]]s, darts, fish traps, kitchen utensils, water containers, combs, mats, rafts and ritual items. From the wood, they produce handles and sheaths for knives, and cutting boards for slicing meat. [[Pandanus|Pandan]] is used to make mats and baskets, tree barks for baskets and also clothing,<ref name="HEAS"/> and [[rattan]] for rope, baskets, ladders and belts.
The Semang spend a lot of time and effort on harvesting jungle products intended for sale or for exchange with neighboring Malay villages. These include wild fruits, as well as rattan, rubber, wax, honey, and herbs. The most popular products are petai ([[Parkia speciosa]]), kerdas ([[Archidendron]] bubalinum), keranji ([[Dialium indum]]), jering ([[Archidendron pauciflorum]]) and durian ([[Durio pinangianus]]). Petai and durian are collected from August to November, kerdas during February to May, and keranji from October to January. The produce obtained are shared with everyone in the camp.<ref name="EOTWM1075">{{cite book|author=Carl Skutsch|title=Encyclopedia of the world's minorities, Volume 3|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=15-795-8470-5|page=1075}}</ref> Money that the Semang receive from the sale of these goods is then used to buy rice, oil, tobacco, salt, sugar and other food products, as well as clothing, fabrics, knives and other provisions.<ref name="EAAPC7-8">{{cite book|author=Alberto G. Gomes|title=Ecological Adaptation And Population Change|year=1982|pages=7–8}}</ref>
Hunting is done with spears, rifles, and slings, but the main weapon is the [[blowgun]], which is used to hunt small game (squirrels, monkeys, bats and birds). Guns and spears are used to hunt large animals such as wild pigs, goats, deer and [[Malayan tapir|tapirs]]. Occasionally hunting traps are set. Slingshots of wood and rubber are used, mainly by young men, to capture birds, bats, and other tree dwelling animals.<ref name="EAAPC8"/> Some of the Semang in the past used bows and arrows in a collective hunting group, but this practice disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book|author=A. Terry Rambo & Percy E. Sajise|title=An Introduction to human ecology research on agricultural systems in Southeast Asia|year=1984|publisher=University of the Philippines at Los Baños|isbn=08-663-8062-0|page=244}}</ref> River fish are caught using special traps made of bamboo, spears, hooks and fishing rods.<ref name="EAAPC8"/>
Most of the Semang groups grow a certain number of cultivated plants ([[Upland rice]], cassava, corn, sweet potatoes, other vegetables). Primitive manual farming is practiced on small scorched areas of the jungle. The result of the harvest is the property of the family that did the planting, but after harvesting, the foods are distributed to all as a rule. Women mainly engage in harvesting and farming, and men mainly focus on hunting.<ref name="EOTWM1075"/>
Pottery and weaving among the Semang are absent.<ref>{{cite book|author=Siam Society|title=The Journal of the Siam Society, Volumes 23-24|year=1969|publisher=Kraus Reprint|oclc=18620493|page=228}}</ref> Steel knives and axes are obtained either through trade or by the processing of steel waste from spearheads, arrows, and blades from knives. Individual specialization is practically absent, except for the religious sphere.
==Lifestyle==
[[File:Scottish geographical magazine (1885) (14597445898).jpg|thumb|upright|Freshly head shaven Semang women from [[Gerik]], [[Hulu Perak District]], [[Perak]], 1885.]]
Until recently, most of the Semang led a nomadic way of life. They lived in temporary camps consisting of a group of primitive shelter structures. Typically, these are simple palm straw shields that are tilted, such that one edge stands on the ground, and the other is based on two or three supporting sticks. This design is a temporary accommodation that provides people with protection from wind and rain. Western groups of Semang sometimes put their [[lean-to]] in two rows facing to each other. Thus, a long common communal hut was formed in the form of a tunnel with exits at each of its ends.<ref name="EOWC234"/>
Sometimes Semang erect circular dwellings with the center space being used as a meeting place for dancing and ceremonial rituals. For short stays they would take shelter in caves, rocky overhangs or groups of trees overnight.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joachim Schliesinger|title=Ethnic Groups of Thailand|year=2015|page=130}}</ref>
Settled Semang live in small bamboo or straw huts on stilts. Residential groups built by the state under the RPS (''Rancangan Pengumpulan Semula'', meaning "Regrouping Schemes" in English) have typical Malay-style of wooden huts.<ref name="EOWC234"/> RPS villages are provided with basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity, water supply, medical institutions, and elementary schools.
Traditionally, the Semang tribes place their homes very close to each other. A remnant of their nomadic way of life is that they typically leave garbage around their huts.<ref>{{cite book|author=	Surin Phūkhačhō̜n|title=Preliminary Report of Excavations at Moh-Khiew Cave, Krabi Province, Sakai Cave, Trang Province, and Ethnoarchaeological Research of Hunter-gatherer Group, Socall[ed] Sakai Or Semang at Trang Province: The Hoabinnian Research Project in Thailand, Volume 1|year=1991|publisher=Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University|oclc=934525293|page=299}}</ref> Previously, Semang simply left their waste behind and moved on, so they had no need to remove it from around their homes. Now, their more settled lifestyle leads to some groups living in close contact with their own waste, increasing the spread of disease and polluting nearby water supplies.
Traditionally, Semang had a minimum of household items and tools, because all their treasure would need to be carried with them. Their homes, utensils and tools were made mainly for single use.
The traditional clothing of the Semang is a loincloth for men and skirts for women. These garments are made of bark from the [[terap]], a species of wild bread-fruit tree, hammered out with a wooden mallet. Often the resultant cloth is decorated with segments of bamboo in patterns intended to magically protect its wearer from disease. These two garments are typically the only clothing worn;<ref name="HEAS">{{cite book|author=C. Daryll Forde|title=Habitat, Economy and Society: A Geographical Introduction to Ethnology|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-53465-2}}</ref> some go naked, although this is not customary.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ivor H Evan|title=Negritos of Malaya|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-11-362-6215-9|pages=71–72}}</ref> Women also tattoo and paint their faces.
==Society==
[[File:Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula (1906) (14781589525).jpg|thumb|Semang from [[Gerik]] or Janing, [[Perak]], 1906.]]
Semang lived in small family groups of 15-50 people without a strict tribal organization, as the jungle cannot support a large mass of people. Semang do not have associations with fixed membership, there are no related groups and no affiliation by ideology. Many camps consist of one or more [[extended families]], but these are only temporary formations.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alberto G. Gomes|title=Modernity and Malaysia|year=2007|pages=25–26}}</ref>
The only stable association in the Semang community is the [[nuclear family]], consisting of a husband, a wife and their children.<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Carlisle|title=The illustrated encyclopedia of mankind: The life cycle. Social organisation. Law. Conflict, Volume 18|year=1978|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|isbn=08-568-5472-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000unse_y5c0/page/2307 2307]|url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000unse_y5c0/page/2307}}</ref> The family usually occupies an individual home, and adult children can put up their own housing located next to the hut or shelter of their parents. The family engages in farming together, and at the same time adults teach children the basic skills of management and cultural values of the group.
The kinship account is carried out on both the paternal and the maternal line. For the Semang, there is no difference between relatives, cousins, and siblings, but they do differentiate based on age categories by dividing their siblings into elder and younger groups.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alberto G. Gomes|title=Modernity and Malaysia|year=2007|page=26}}</ref>
Young people usually choose their own spouses, and parents have little influence on these processes. Theoretically, a future husband must ask for permission of marriage from a woman's parents, but this does not always happen. The marriage ceremony is as simple as possible and limited to the participation of the actual married couple, who often arranges a small holiday for themselves. Some groups do expect the groom to bring some gifts to his intended's parents. Marriage is considered concluded when the spouses begin to live together.<ref name="EOWC235">{{cite book|editor=David Levinson|title=Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 5|year=1993|publisher=G.K. Hall|isbn=08-168-8840-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo0000unse_q6n9/page/235 235]|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo0000unse_q6n9/page/235}}</ref>
The general groups are [[exogamous]].<ref name="FETI"/> For the Semang, marriages between blood relatives and close family (persons related through marriage) are not allowed. These rules require the search for marriages among distant groups, thus creating a large-scale network of social ties.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kirk Endicott|title=Malaysia's Original People: Past, Present and Future of the Orang Asli. Introduction|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286937916|publisher=NUS Press, National University of Singapore Press|year=2016|pages=7–8|isbn=978-9971-69-861-4}}</ref>
[[File:Image from page 410 of "Scottish geographical magazine" (1885).jpg|thumb|A Semang family in [[Perak]], 1885.]]
The rules for avoiding physical contact with the opposite sex, backed up by appropriate taboos, make it impossible for sexual relations outside the family. [[Polygyny]] and [[polyandry]] are allowed, but they are rare. Instead, divorce is commonplace in most Semang groups, especially if the couple have no children. The procedure is very simple, the couple just ceases to live together. Sometimes there are conflicts on this ground, but in the majority of cases everything is peaceful, and the former spouses remain friendly, staying in the same camp.<ref name="EOWC235"/>
Little children of divorced couples usually stay with their mother; older children make their own choices and often move alternately from one parent to another. The step-parent usually refer to the children from the previous marriage as their own.<ref name="EOWC235"/> Just as in the case of a divorce or death of a wife, a Semang man may marry again and again but remain monogamous.<ref>{{cite book|author=Makhan Jha|title=An introduction to social anthropology: A Textbook for the Students of Anthropology, Sociology & I.A.S. Examinees|year=1994|publisher=Vikas Pub. House|isbn=07-069-8416-1|page=47}}</ref>
The nuclear family is also the main economic unit of the Semang society. Women play an important role in the traditional economy, spending a lot of time harvesting fruits from the jungle and fish from the rivers to provide the family with food. Pregnant women or women with young babies are not expected to fully perform their work. Children in the Semang community do not have "economic value". Most of the time during the day they simply play, simulating the activity of adults of the respective gender.
Characteristically, with the transition to a sedentary lifestyle, the birth rate among the Semang is rapidly increasing.<ref name="EAAPC32">{{cite book|author=Alberto G. Gomes|title=Ecological Adaptation And Population Change|year=1982|page=32}}</ref> In addition, the food stamps that children receive at school and bring them home have become a significant factor in family life and have changed the perception of children in society.
Semang society is [[egalitarian]].<ref name="RIEOW607">{{cite book|author=Cheris Kramarae & Dale Spender|title=Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=11-359-6315-0|page=670}}</ref> People are interconnected by ties of kinship and friendship. Social classes do not exist. No adult has any authority over any other adults. There are no means of coercion. Individual autonomy is highly respected, and antisocial behavior is discouraged.<ref name="EOWC235"/> People believe that violations of the norms and violence will be punished by supernatural forces.  Disputes are resolved through public discussion with the goal of achieving a consensus decision. Individuals who do not get along with one another cannot be in the camp at the same time. In the event of a conflict that involves third parties, the Semang, as a rule, would simply move on to avoid violence.
Individuals of charismatic personality, men and women, may have some influence on others, hence become informal leaders in certain situations, but they have no real power.<ref name="EOWC235"/> Such a leader is called ''penghulu'', a Malay term.<ref>{{cite book|contribution=University of San Carlos|title=San Carlos Publications: Humanities, Issues 1-7|year=1964|publisher=Catholic Trade School|isbn=08-675-8491-2|page=83}}</ref> Some ''penghulu'', exclusively for men, are senior members appointed by the [[Department of Orang Asli Development]], but they only act as mediators between the group and outsiders and they do not have any power within the group.<ref name="EOWC235"/>
A ''penghulu'' receive wages from the department. Formally, they are elected by a group of men, specifically for this purpose as organized by the authorities.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alberto G. Gomes|title=Modernity and Malaysia|year=2007|page=31}}</ref> No direct consultations with women are held, although they do express their views freely. Usually the position of the ''penghulu'' is inherited by the eldest son, although there are exceptions. If the current ''penghulu'' does not suit the JAKOA, the department pressures the group to make a replacement.
==See also==
* [[Andamanese]]
* [[Maniq people]]
* [[Aboriginal Australians]]
* [[Papuan peoples]]
* [[Melanesians]]
* [[Orang Asli]]
* [[Orang Asli Museum]]
==Notes==
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Semang|short=x}}
===Bibliography===
* A. Hale:  “On the Sakais” – Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute vol. 15. London: Trübner & Co 1886, 285–301. (There is also a special print assigned to “Harrison and Sons” who was the printer for Trübner & Co.)
* {{Citation | author=Geoffrey Benjamin & Cynthia Chou | title=Tribal Communities in the Malay World: Historical, Cultural and Social Perspectives | date=2002 | publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies | isbn=98-123-0167-4 }}
* {{Citation | url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/21714/1/EAPIResRep012EcologicalAdaptationAndPopulationChange1982%5Bpdfa%5D.PDF |title=Ecological Adaptation And Population Change: Semang Foragers And Temuan Horticulturalists In West Malaysia |author=Alberto G. Gomes |publisher=East-West Environment And Policy Institute |date=September 1982}}
* {{Citation |title=Ethnic Groups of Thailand: Non-Tai-Speaking Peoples |author=Joachim Schliesinger |publisher=Booksmango |date=2015 |isbn=978-16-332-3229-7}}
* {{Citation |title=Modernity and Malaysia: Settling the Menraq Forest Nomads |author=Alberto G. Gomes |publisher=Routledge |date=2007 |isbn=978-11-341-0077-4}}
===References===
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
* {{Citation | author=[[Human Relations Area Files]], inc. | title=Semang | date=1976 | publisher=Ann Arbor, Mich: University Microfilms }}
* {{Citation | author=Mirante, Edith | title=The Wind in the Bamboo: Journeys in Search of Asia's 'Negrito' Indigenous Peoples | date=2014 | publisher=Bangkok, Orchid Press }}
==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Semang people}}
{{Negritos}}
{{Orang Asli}}
{{Ethnic groups in Malaysia}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Malaysia]]
[[Category:Hunter-gatherers of Asia]]
[[Category:Orang Asli]]
[[Category:Negritos]]