MALAY FISHERMEN

Evening Star, Issue 22774, 8 October 1937, Page 7

MALAY FISHERMEN

NATIVES' HOME-MADE BOATS New facts about the life of the Malay fishermen of Trengganu, one of the isolated States in the Malay Peninsula, are revealed by Mr N. R. Jarrett, the British Adviser, in his annual report just issued. There are, it is estimated, no fewer than 15,000 Malays in the State who earn their living by fishing in the China Sea, and practically all boys living on the coast are, on reaching the age of 16 or 17, absorbed into the fishing industry which gives employment indirectly to a considerable number of other men, women, and children. Almost the entire community on the coasts of Trengganu are thus dependent for their livelihoods on the success of the fishing fleets which brave tho monsoon winds and other hazards of ihe China Sea in ships that the native* have themselves built.

Mr Jarrett says that Trengganu Malays will undertake to build any; type of boat from a 70-ton motor boat, through a range of schooners and smaller sailing craft, to a minute dugout. Methods of fishing include deepsea fishing with drift net* practised anywhere from half a_ mile to 10 miles off the shore, line fishing, and off-shore fishing with drag nets. e Th© first method is the most popular,, and is practised with at least five different kinds of nets which cost anything up to £72 each, a lot of money for these fisher people, whose monthly income is often as little as £4. All catches are sold to the Malaya for home consumption, or to Chinese dealers for curing and export. The proceeds of the sale are divided, _ the owner of the ship and net receiving half, and the crew (often' numbering 20 or 30) sharing the other half. In Trengganu the unjam,” an arrangement of dried palm leaves, anchored and buoyed in th© sea to provide shelter, is_ often used to attract fish, and, provided the owner of the “ unjam ” is not fishing in that particular locality, any other person may; make nse of it, but the user is required by custom to pay 10 per cent, of the catch to the owner.

Often it is possible to see shoals of fish, especially if they are being hunted by sharks or porpoise, and the presence of these monsters always attracts the fishermen when they are trying to locate shoals. The fishermen mainly rely, however, on a native diver to locate shoals. A good diver is much’ sought after, and by diving he can locate by sound a shoal of fish and recognise'the species up to a distance of about a mile. Although they profess the Islamia faith, the fishermen still practise certain pagan rites, the most interesting of which is called “ Senah Kuaja.” For three days the fishing community gives itself up to feasting and play, during which time no boats are allowed to land or leave. . On the third day a white buffalo ia slaughtered, and after the usual feast th© head is floated out to sea acconw panied by the incantations of a witch doctor as an offering to the spirits of the sea. In one town, Kuala Kemaman, thera is an exceptionally large goat, which is given bananas and other tasty mow sels by th© fishermen, both as a thank* offering after a successful fishing ex* pedition and also to obtain good fishing on future occasions. When weather conditions are to® bad for fishing, the Trengganu Malaya collect birds’ nests (tor soup), turtles’ eggs, beche-de-mer, and sea slugs. An interesting custom concerning th» birds’ nests is that all the white—i.e., superior—nests are sent to the - Sultan of the State as a form of voluntary taxation, while the black nests remain the property of the head man, . who sells them for the benefit of his workers.

Hundreds of these Malay fisixertolk are drowned every year in the rough, weather that comes from the China Sea, and Mr Jarrett recalls a local saying that the monsoon will not end. tuitil the spirits have taken their toll of lives. The fisherfolk have an arduous life, and the average earnings of a family are estimated at Is per day, hut as food costs less than 8d there is usually something to spare .on “ luxuries.”-