Traditions fading among Mondulkiri's minorities

Traditions fading among Mondulkiri's minorities

Times are changing in dusty Pou Tang village. Haggard old-timers in traditional garb scowl at young girls in Western clothes skipping arm-in-arm to school as ancient traditions give way to the 21st century all over Mondulkiri. Not the least of this transformation is in this cluster of Khmer-style stilted houses and Phnong thatched huts 7 km from the provincial capital of Sen Monorom.

With none of the stereotypical barebreasted women baring wicker baskets, many visitors do not realize that Pou Tang is an ethnic minority village at all - babies dangling from their mothers' kroma (traditional Khmer scarf) and the occasional pipe-smoking patriarch are the only clues.

Changing fashions

Sitting under his family's new house, smart in shirt and trousers, Pou Tang village chief Yout Chanthorn said many Phnong are eschewing traditions - seen as outdated and arcane - in favor of the dominant Khmer culture.

"Ethnic minorities are changing because of the influx of outside cultures and because almost all our elders have died," he explained, deftly skinning a cassava. "These factors cause the younger generation to adopt different fashions in dressing and daily life."

The village chief complained that the old buzz of the village, with residents bellowing out invites to rowdy drinking sessions, is now regrettably more refined.

"Previously they shouted loudly to invite neighbors and those who lived far away from their house to attend a party but now, with modern technology, they use mobile phones and drive motorbikes to invite guests instead," he grumbled.

The white-faced, rouge-lipped Dok said she wished she could "be beautiful like those at Sen Monorom market" and had bought Western-style clothes and makeup on her trips there. The 17-year-old's first experience with the whitening cream so popular with Khmer women was puzzling.

"It felt so sticky on my face," Dok said with a smile. "When I looked at myself, I looked like someone different. But I kept using it and I noticed that I was whiter than before."

With mobile phones, a Honda Dream motorcycle and a VCD player with microphone, Dok's family is as modern as most ethnic Khmers. "Our [way of] life has improved because we can contact our friends and relatives easily," she said. "When they come to visit our house, they don't have to stay at a guesthouse because we have everything here."

Dok wrinkled her nose at the mention of the traditional clothes most associate with Southeast Asian "hill tribes," saying they are now little more than costumes for tourist performances. "The younger generation cannot even make those clothes, as all the elders who knew how have passed away," she said. "Besides, other people stare at us when we go to the market dressed in them and they are heavy and hot during the day. Nowadays, even when we celebrate a wedding, we wear modern dress."

Fenced in

Pou Tang is popular with tourists eager to sample the "primitive" culture of some of the world's last nomadic tribes, yet few realize that nearly all Mondulkiri's ethnic minorities are now static farmers.

"Today, the tradition of migration or changing farms is finished," said Nhete Mol, former chief of Pou Tang village, blaming land encroachment for the change. "We farm the same land because, if we move, people from the provincial town will come and fence off the areas we leave. In the end, we wouldn't have any land left to farm."

Even the strongly held tradition of moving after a death in the community could no longer be observed, he said, as logging and land speculation had eaten up so much of Mondulkiri's land.

Most Pou Tang residents tap tree resin and engage in slash-and-burn farming although some like Plom have become land brokers, persuading neighbors to sell their land to businessmen from other provinces.

He was a land broker for several years. "At first, someone from the province asked me to sell my land to them but afterwards they asked me to look for more land and persuade the owners to sell," Plom said. "If I set up a deal, they would give me money. Doing business was easy … [but] now I have stopped because there were a lot of problems. Companies were destroying our sacred areas and stealing our land."

Cultural erosion

Nhete Mol, an ethnic Tampuon, complained that the obligatory Khmer and English lessons at the local school are undermining minority languages.

"The language we use to communicate is Tampuon. It has no alphabet [and so cannot be written down] - we just speak it to one another," he said. "In the future, our language may be lost because many now just use Khmer. When we go to the market we speak Khmer."

Though the Tampuon language may vanish, Nhete Mol said Tampuon animist beliefs would never be changed. "We always hold a buffalo sacrifice ceremony and drink liquor to appease the spirits when we harvest a large amount of rice," he said.

Yout Chanthorn was not as upbeat. "[Phnong] still believe in prayer and offerings [to spirits] when illness strikes [but they] don't completely believe in those things," he said, explaining that most Phnong now used "50 percent tradition and 50 percent modern medication."

The Catholic church in Dac Dam, a minority village 20 km from Sen Monorom, is growing in popularity.

"I stopped believing in [animist spirits] because Christians are friendlier and they give support to the poor," said Srey Chamreun, 45, a worshipper at the church. "We used to live in equality, but now we seemingly discriminate between poor and rich. In the past, we always shared anything we had … but now we need money."

Srun Phaly, director of Mondukiri's Culture Department said it was "normal for everyone to want new things and for them to want to change their lives."

Visits to the market for business and visits from tourists wielding the latest gadgets drove minorities to modernize, he said.

"They are gradually losing their traditions and culture but they don't recognize it," Srun Phaly warned. "It may be completely lost in the future if there are no prevention measures. Now, we are doing research on minority customs and traditions to document them before it's too late."

May Titthara is a reporter for the Mekong Times

This article first appeared in The Mekong Times
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