Semaq Beri or Semoq Beri people are the native Orang Asli people belonging to the

Senoi The Senoi (also spelled Sengoi and Sng'oi) are a group of Malaysian peoples classified among the Orang Asli, the indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia. They are the most numerous of the Orang Asli and widely distributed across the peninsu ...

branch, who live in the states of

Pahang Pahang (; Jawi: , Pahang Hulu Malay: ''Paha'', Pahang Hilir Malay: ''Pahaeng'', Ulu Tembeling Malay: ''Pahaq)'' officially Pahang Darul Makmur with the Arabic honorific ''Darul Makmur'' (Jawi: , "The Abode of Tranquility") is a sultanate and ...

and

Terengganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', Jawi: ), formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu, is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l- Īmān'' ("Abode of Faith" ...

in peninsular

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. The

Semaq Beri language Semaq Beri (Semoq Beri) is an Austroasiatic language The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, M ...

is a language spoken by the people, is an

Austroasiatic language The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are t ...

that belongs to the Southern grouping of the branch of Aslian languages.

Population

The dynamics of the Semaq Beri population are as the following:

Religion

The religious system of the Semaq Beri people is similar to other surrounding Orang Asli groups. They believe that human acts such as teasing or laughing at animals such as monkeys, dogs, cats, land leeches, porcupines, two kinds or birds and three kinds of snakes, and including incest that extends to certain relatives are strictly prohibited and are also considered as ''talon''. By committing ''talan'', the Semoq Beri believe that it will cause a cosmic disaster where the earth will be swallowed by massive waters crashing from heaven and welling up from under the ground. Lately, there are numbers of Semaq Beri communities that have been Islamised through various programmes by government efforts.

Lifestyle

There are those among the Semaq Beri people that are nomadic practices hunter-gathering for a living, while there are those that are semi-nomadic practices some farming with

shifting cultivation Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned while post-disturbance fallow vegetation is allowed to freely grow while the cultivator moves on to another plot. The period of cu ...

, and those that are settled primarily relies on farming. Generally women would do much of the gathering while the men would do the hunting, unless women that are not pregnant or nursing a child would also participate in the hunting. While generally mothers spend more time with their children, there is almost no distinguishing in the role of fathers and mothers in society when it comes to holding and caring for the child. Apart from hunting and gathering, the Semaq Beri people also relies on logging roads for access to sell rattan.

References

{{Authority control Indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia Ethnic groups in Malaysia Orang Asli