‘Lifestyle at risk’: Batam’s maritime people face uncertain future amid climate change threat

Mr Hassan confirmed this. A few years ago, it was common to catch dozens of kilograms of squid in a single night of fishing in Orang Laut.

“But now it’s hard to catch that much. We can only catch three or four kilograms (of squid) every night,” he said. “It’s the same with fishing. Before, we could catch five or six red groupers. But now, we can only catch one, and sometimes none at all.”

Forced to settle

Mr Leo Putra, head of the Batam Social Affairs and Community Empowerment Agency, said that to mitigate the effects of climate change, his office is providing Orang Laut with outboard motors so that they can sail faster and fish further.

The government also provides training to nomadic herders to start their own fish farms and distributes sewing machines so that women can become tailors to supplement family income.

In return, the office asked the Raute to give up their nomadic lifestyle. “It will be difficult for us to help them if they move around,” Mr. Leo told CNA.

Since the 1990s, the government has been trying to settle this group of people on specific islands or coastal areas, as it considers their nomadic lifestyle to be backward and primitive.

“Their children don’t go to school. They don’t have ID cards. They have no religion. So we give them houses, build schools for their children and send pastors and missionaries to convert them to religion,” said the head of the agency.

The program has succeeded in getting almost all of the Orang Laut people in and around Batam to live in stilt houses in about 40 locations in the city. Unlike their parents, the children can read and write, while the adults have access to health care and social assistance programs.

But it also led to a huge shift in their culture and traditions.

In Batam, where several communities of Orang Laut have settled down completely, the only thing that distinguishes them from ordinary fishermen is their traditional rowboats, which exist only in the memories of elderly men and women.

For those who still lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle, they only build small “daughter” rowboats, rather than the large, bulky “mother” boats that their parents once owned.

“Small boats are more flexible and we no longer need boats that can carry a whole family like before,” said Ms. Sarina, 55. She added that now in communities on Batam’s west coast, only men make the months-long sea journey, while women and children stay behind.