RIAU KUBU TRADITIONAL HOUSE

Riau Kubu Traditional Houses

The term Kubu is a Malay exonym ascribed to mobile, animist peoples (Orang Batin Simbilan and Orang Rimba) who live throughout the lowland forests of Southeast Sumatra. In the Malay language, the word Kubu can mean defensive fortification, entrenchment, or a place of refuge. It is metaphor for how the majority and dominant Islamic Melayu villagers believe them to use the interior forests as a means for resisting inclusion in the larger Malay social and Islamic religious world. As is the case with other forest peoples in the region, the term Kubu is associated with very negative connotations. Following Malay classifications, early Europeans divided the Kubu into two categories: ‘tame' or ‘civilized’ Kubu, who were predominantly swidden farmers, and ‘wild’ Kubu, who lived deep in the forests, and made much stronger efforts to avoid close relations with the outside world. While closely related Malay speaking peoples, these peoples represent two separate cultural groups, which have different economic and socio-religious systems.