Orang Laut

The Orang Laut, the ‘sea peoples’, were the boat-dwelling fishers and traders of the Riau Islands, the Strait of Singapore and the coasts of eastern Sumatra and the southern Malay Peninsula. Their traditional belief was the worship of spirits said to live in trees, water, rocks and caves.

Under Srivijaya, Malacca and Johor the Orang Laut patrolled the straits and guided traders to their rulers’ ports. When the last Malacca-Johor sultan was killed in 1699 they refused to accept the Bendahara family that took the throne, and the Bugis later replaced them as guardians of the straits. Many were drawn into the Malay world and Islam, but some groups, such as the Seletar, kept their old beliefs long afterwards.