On 9 August, we wear pride
While Singapore celebrates its National Day, others welcomed International Indigenous Peoples' Day
Celebrating Singapura!
Being a relatively young island nation, Singapore’s early nation-building projects often focused on creating a shared identity and sense of what makes us ‘uniquely Singapore’.
Much of what is celebrated today as heritage in Singapore seems to be tied to modern-day amalgamations of identity, everyday living, and preserved landmarks - with Peranakan motifs around Sentosa, the Botanical Gardens being celebrated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site of Singapore, and our pride and joy - hawker centres - recognised for their Intangible Cultural Heritage. From waves of Straits-born Chinese blending cultures into the region, to remnants of colonisation in the 1800s – these are important and undeniable parts of what shape Singapore’s cultural landscape in the current day. Nonetheless, our public representations of culture and heritage still seem to trace back to relatively recent products of history, as opposed to the rest of our Southeast Asian neighbours.
Obscured by vague ethnic categories and a blurred recognition of our origin stories, we, as a nation, have yet to fully honour the deep historical shapings of the 14th century and beyond, from the great battles of the Kingdom of Singapura to the communities that came before them. Even less have we anchored ourselves in a native understanding of the land, the waters, and the relationships that tie us to the wider region, the nuances of knowledge our ancestors once held, grounded in this island archipelago.
Our recent expedition to Indonesia revealed what it could mean to truly respect and value sacred domains, while legitimising generations of ancestral knowledge.
We went to Bogor for the International Indigenous Peoples' Day
Orang Laut SG was honoured to be invited to the 2nd Southeast Asia Regional Forum 2025: Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Climate Change in a Digital Era, held from 9 to 11 August in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia. Not knowing quite what to expect, we were warmly welcomed and taken on a three-hour journey by van into the heart of Kasepuhan Guradog, where communities had gathered to celebrate Hari Internasional Masyarakat Adat Sedunia (HIMAS) 2025.
In the midst of the Sumatran mountains, hundreds of Indigenous Peoples from 7 regions of Indonesia’s archipelago came in a roaring celebration of their cultures. The sound of snapping rattan whips, black paper horses and a Ngarengkong rice harvest ritual demonstration were paired with strong messages against the deprivation of Indigenous Peoples' rights. HIMAS also invited indigenous peoples from all over Southeast Asia, who were adorned with amulets crafted by their own artisans and traditional garments, dyed or woven.
The Elders of Guradog and Citorek opened the gathering with solemnity and pride, beginning with a prayer, followed by the national anthem, and then an Indigenous song – celebrating the dignity of their Indonesian, religious, and Indigenous existence. As a symbolic act that affirmed respect for elders, headwear was wrapped around the community protectors and leaders.
During HIMAS, one message was clear: the Indigenous movement is already happening, and solidarity is growing stronger each day.
For generations, Indigenous peoples all over the world have sustained resource management systems that protect food security and biodiversity. These systems have survived because they are rooted in deep knowledge, respect for the land, and collective responsibility. Yet today, in Indonesia, they face the painful irony that state-led “food estate” programs are destroying Indigenous lands. If we are to truly ensure food security, we must support Indigenous communities so they can continue their traditions, preserve sisterhood and brotherhood, and maintain the unity of the nation.
The Kasepuhan leaders recognised that their movement is guided by “our kolot” (the Sundanese word for elders) who remind us that separation from the land is not just damaging, but life-threatening. Many indigenous attendees shared this strong sentiment – describing the destruction of their land as “similar to having their wombs ripped apart.” They have lived with the land since they were very young; if nature is gone, then their survival is destroyed, and the sacred connection to their life source is severed. Thus, the National Strategic Projects are a great and imminent threat to their lives and risk the extinction of their communities.
Today, Indigenous peoples are no longer isolated. We are convening with experts, collaborating with officials, and calling for the respect of our right to self-determination. For us, our food systems were not merely about having enough to eat. It is a living system of knowledge passed down from generation to generation, practised through mutual cooperation, and guided by community deliberation. (Tim Redaksi, 2025)
Much of the work is led from inside the community, where Indigenous journalists and researchers report, clarify and assert the recognition of Indigenous territories across Indonesia as a source of local food and act as a vanguard for biodiversity protection.
In Indonesia, Article 18B(2) is a constitutional mandate that recognises Indigenous peoples’ rights to their land and territories. However, according to data released by Badan Registrasi Wilayah Adat (BRWA) or the Ancestral Domain Registration Agency during HIMAS, only about 18.9% have been legally recognised by the state.
BRWA has been doing the groundwork in guiding Indigenous groups in mapping their own territories, collecting spatial data of forests, rivers and seas. The evidence was visualised and illustrated — and screened unapologetically in front of the Marine and Affairs and Fisheries, Agriculture, and development authorities to see.
Through indigenous-led, district-level mapping, a staggering 33.6 million hectares of customary territories had been mapped and registered with BRWA, encompassing thousands of indigenous communities spread across the Indonesian archipelago. Customary territory maps are a manifestation of the spirit of self-determination that indigenous peoples have in protecting and managing their customary territories.
The basis of good governance is to protect its people, and Indigenous peoples are calling on their governments to honour the knowledge systems that have sustained life for generations. The courageous and unwavering voices on the ground spoke with clarity to the officials on stage – Indigenous peoples are not a threat, we do not seek to establish our own country. What we seek is simply to fight for our rights. Our struggle is not about separation, but about recognition: the right to live with dignity, to protect our lands and waters, and to carry forward the knowledge and traditions that have sustained us for generations.
The Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) states that 200 million of the world's approximately 370 million Indigenous Peoples live in Asia, and we are bound together by trade, kinship ties and the environment we live in.
In our ancestral domains, many indigenous communities face removal and extraction, and the Forum was a platform for them to come down to consult and collaborate on these challenges.
On the Maluku Kei Islands, the scale of exploitation is staggering. Within just ten months, more than 140 square kilometres of the Kei Besar Island have been subcontracted under the National Strategic Project (PSN). Limestone harvesting and other exploitative activities have taken place, described by locals as outright stealing.
We recall our research trip to Bintan, where our friend, Johanes, from the Orang Suku Laut community, brought us to his community space. There, we listened and witnessed first-hand the upturned landscapes that have affected the community’s connection to their land and sea. Under the banner of the National Strategic Program (PSN), PT Bintan Alumina Indonesia (BAI) has been rapidly expanding into Orang Suku Laut spaces, which Johanes sees as a way to extract resources, encroaching on homes, sacred sites, and even ancestral graves. The situation is complex and fraught with many challenges. In time, we hope to share these stories to a greater extent, in solidarity with our cousins and fellow sea peoples just across the straits.
The way forward seems wrought with impending challenges, but by gathering at the Forum, we were motivated by the existence of multi-institutional collaboration networks that support Indigenous Peoples, such as Aliansi Masyarkat Adat Nusantara, BRWA, Burung Indonesia, the Nusantara Fund, Samdhana Institute and more. It was insightful to learn from various frameworks out there, and we look forward to renewing our approaches and improving capabilities as a self-organised group.
Unfortunately, traditional wisdom is not enough to address the new, introduced problems of today, such as the rapidly changing climate affecting food systems, and the plastic that washes up on shore, which disrupts coastal livelihoods. To truly bolster sustainability with Indigenous Peoples, there should be measures taken to implement local wisdom to guide the stewardship of marine and land resources, to work with local authorities, businesses and the tourist sector to adopt a co-responsibility approach.
Learning From Our Neighbours and Friends
We have many, many takeaways from our time in Bogor, and now must look to returning our learnings back home.
For the many Indigenous people and communities we met, there was a radiating pride that they held in being at the forum. They honoured the connection to their ancestral homes and values, a stark contrast from how we do it back home. Our newfound friends drew strength from their indigenous identities, their communities’ customary practices held in high value, and they carried themselves with the responsibility of representing their community's voices.
In Singapore, our Indigenous identities are often relegated to the past, absorbed into narratives of urban development and assimilation. The Indigenous cause feels fragmented, and it is hard to maintain that ingrained sense of agency when we have lost our ancestral spaces. Other developmental priorities take precedence over the intangible values and knowledge offered by communities.
The Nusantara is a collection of places with traditional wisdom. More work has to be done to educate the general population to decouple the colonial view of native indolence in Singapore, and as Syed Hussien Alatas writes, to build a tradition of revisionary history, which has yet to happen in our country.
Moreover, our environments and generations of knowledge have been changing, and our natural landmarks are increasingly forgotten. We recently visited Pulau Sekijang Bendera (St John’s Island) with Mak Noni and Mak Ani, looking for a specific medicinal tree, only to find that only an empty plot remained, as it had been removed recently.
If it is inevitable that everything makes way for development, what will remain for generations after us?
In Singapore, the notion of becoming Indigenous to the land or sea does not easily translate, as land tenure and ownership are centrally regulated by the state. This structural reality differs markedly from many regional contexts, where customary and communal claims to land continue to be recognised. When we attempted to explain this condition to our regional peers, it came as a surprise to them - and to us, a reminder of how deeply these frameworks shape our assumptions about belonging and identity.
In Singapore, the work often takes the form of resisting cultural amnesia and holding on to fragments of memory. For other Indigenous communities in the region, it is a struggle tied directly to their survival and continued existence. What unites both, however, is the effort to ensure that generations of knowledge and lived experience are recognised as valuable, even within systems that tend to privilege what can be quantified or monetised.
We hope that more people will recognise that Indigenous Peoples are uniquely positioned to serve as environmental and cultural stewards, preserving ecosystems, sustaining traditional food systems, and leading projects supported with appropriate documentation and resources, grounded in generations of knowledge and experience.
Tumbung Nio - Our Closing Ceremony
Our last Nio Workshop was a much-needed closure to the busy first half of the year. As we entered August, we welcomed our dear and trusted friends, Zarina Muhammad and Hafiz Rashid, to talk about the lesser-known motifs and non-human beings, acknowledging the legends and allegories that populate our understanding of nature and history. We were reminded that beyond human agency, there were the tides, the earth, and corals that speak to us, and to respect our natural instincts. In masks, they held a performance that left us without words. Under the stars, we connected to what was around us, leaving calm and recalibrated for the new month.
Thank you, Kontinentalist, CNA, & The Guardian
We’ve been working with the lovely team at Kontinentalist, our research partner, for a community mapping project over the past few months. If you attended Hari Orang Pulau, you may have stopped by their booth, Air Pasang Surut, perhaps drawn in by their map of Singapore’s 77 islands (often left out of our spatial imagination), or by the stories being shared of our first homes.
We’re deeply thankful for the team’s care, dedication, and insight at every stage of the collaboration. You can read more in their latest newsletter, and in this beautiful note by Samira, who reflects on how our waters persist in connecting us through time, place, and memory, despite efforts to reclaim them.
We’re also grateful to have been featured in a Channel NewsAsia article about how minority ethnic groups in Singapore sustain food heritage through home-based businesses. For us, each meal is a labour of love, to share not only our food, but our community’s stories and traditions. We’d also love to band together with the other small businesses to learn about each other’s cultures in greater depth!
This month, we were also humbled to be a part of an important feature in The Guardian on how development has affected Orang Laut communities in Singapore and today threatens the way of life of the Orang Seletar, a community for whom displacement is, sadly, all too familiar. They once called the northern straits of Singapore – places such as Pulau Seletar, Yishun, and Sembawang – home, before urbanisation pushed them across the border. Though they have kept their traditions and cultures alive in kampungs along the Johor coast, development projects are once again encroaching on their homes.
Closer to home, some highlights
We were honoured to be invited to share about Singapore’s Orang Laut and Orang Pulau at Expedia Singapore, as part of their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, which include programmes dedicated to empowering Indigenous communities and inspiring allyship globally.
We also had the pleasure of hosting a programme for TIYA 2025, a regional youth conference organised by the Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre, at West Coast Park, where we met many passionate young people actively shaping conversations and projects around sustainable development in the region.
These opportunities to share our stories and exchange ideas have meant a great deal to us, and we look forward to building more connections with corporate and educational partners. If your organisation would like to explore a programme with us, do reach out at hello@oranglaut.sg — we’d love to hear from you :)
A trip with Mak Noni, Mak Ani, and the students of Hua Yi Secondary School
On a breezy Wednesday last week, we took a ferry down to Pulau Sekijang Pelepah (Lazarus Island) with HYSS to learn about the Indigenous flora and fauna of our Southern Islands, guided by Mak Noni and Mak Ani, who were born and raised on the island. We discussed the historical significance of the island to the Orang Laut, and its uses over the years as it changed hands under the colonial government, Singapore authorities, and the Sentosa Development Corporation. The ecotourism gem that it is marketed as today appears rather detached from the stories of the Orang Pulau who once called the island home, but it is also one of the few remaining Southern Islands that are still publicly accessible. We were so thankful to have Nak Ani and Mak Noni with us to bring these stories to life – especially as they shared their traditional knowledge of animals and plants found on the island, such as the pokok pelampung, used by islanders to relieve congestion (buang angin) after childbirth.
Congrats to the SUSS team for running The Sea Trail!
These past few months, we’ve been mentoring a group of students from Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) to organise an Amazing Race-style programme for kids at West Coast Park, in support of Orang Laut SG. The Sea Trail began with an introduction to Singapore’s Indigenous communities and identity as a nation of islands. Activities included knot-tying (a foundational skill for a life at sea), boat-building with coconut husks (a craft taught to us by Uncle Shukor, who used to race these as a child on Pulau Tekong), a treasure hunt around City Sprouts (our venue partner), and finally, a storytelling session by our incredible friend Hafiz Rashid, who captivated the energetic kids with a tale from the Riau Islands. Kudos to the SUSS team for their hard work and enthusiasm in learning and sharing the narratives of the Orang Laut, and a huge thank you to all the families who took their Saturday afternoon to join us! Till next time :)
Coming up next!
We’re kicking off the month with a family-friendly educational booth at the National Archives of Singapore on 5 Sept. Join us in games to learn about the unique dialect of the Orang Pulau or sharpen your senses by identifying Indigenous plants and molluscs – Jom Kenal Pulau!
We’re also excited to be bringing together three familiar faces from Hari Orang Pulau once again for Rentak Pulau, Bunyi Hati (Island Rhythm, The Heart Echoes) — a special panel sharing on Saturday, 6 Sept.
This session will explore the celebratory traditions of Singapore’s Islander communities, from music and dance to storytelling. Joining us are:
Asnida Daud, veteran artist, educator and Pulau Sudong descendant,
Cik Nasir Abdullah, a talented musician from Pulau Samulun, whose music accompanied the Joget Dangkung performance at Hari Orang Pulau, and
Cik Kasmun, who in his youth was part of the Joget Dangkung troupe that travelled across the Southern Islands to enliven festive gatherings with their distinctive attire and spirited presence.
Register here to listen to memories and stories that remind us how vibrant, expressive, and full of life the islands’ traditions continue to be.
For those with little ones, we’ll be at the Children’s Museum on 13 Sept (Saturday) for Bubu and the Big Catch: Stories of the Southern Islands to share more about sea creatures that can be found in Singapore’s waters and traditional fishing techniques used by the Southern Islanders in this hands-on session.
And yes, we are on Culture Pass!
We will be holding our Coastal Walk, Food & Stories programme at West Coast Park this month on 12 Sept (Friday) and 27 Sept (Saturday). As some of you may be familiar with, West Coast Park is a special place for our community, as it is where the sampans of former Southern Island residents who are still active today are berthed together.
Through this experience, you’ll get to visit the community space, hear first-hand stories from former Southern Islanders and descendants, and take part in hands-on activities that offer a deeper understanding of the community. To close the programme, we’ll share snacks prepared by former islanders from Pulau Semakau.
Running programmes greatly supports our work at Orang Laut SG! <3 We invite you to join us if you are interested in knowing more about Indigenous culture, sustainability, and cultural preservation efforts in Singapore.
For Singaporeans above 18 years old, tickets can be purchased using your $100 Culture Pass credits. We look forward to sharing this journey with you!