The Mergui (Myeik) archipelago, is the last true home of
the Moken, a fascinating people whose oceanic semi nomadic lifestyle has led to
remarkable adaptations and the development of amazing skills.
The Moken are one of several distinct ethnic groups collectively known
as the Sea Gypsies, along with other tribes such as the Orang Laut, inhabiting
the waters off Singapore and eastern Sumatra, and the Sama Bajau peoples of the
seas of the southern Philippines, Western Borneo, Sulawesi, and the eastern
Indonesian archipelago, who have for thousands of years practiced similar
lifestyles.
Like their distant relatives the Moken are thought to
have originated in China, some four thousand years ago and spread out over the
South China and Andaman Seas, and over the millennia have developed an innate
and astounding grasp of marine knowledge and navigation.
The Moken are highly skilled free divers, able to descend
to over 20 metres and walk upon the seafloor for several minutes, without the
need for counter-buoyancy aids on a single breath, with enough spare to stream air
bubbles as bait to lure fish to their spears.
Another remarkable fishing technique used by the Moken is
lowering large leaves such as palm fronds at various depths over the reefs, to
create floating shelters, which over time attract oceanic denizens to take
cover underneath, which are then caught.
Because Moken children spend so much time in the water
from an early age, they learn to swim even before they can walk and their
eyesight quickly adapts to compensate for the effects of liquid light
refraction, enabling them to fully focus underwater without
the need of a mask.
Remarkably, through their orally transmitted traditions,
when the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami struck, the Moken recognised the signs and
many were able to escape the tragedy by heading out to sea, though the magnitude of the event was such that many boats
and stilt houses were nevertheless lost. In addition to saving themselves, the
Moken also saved many other lives by counselling evacuation to higher ground,
and picking up survivors at sea.
During the southwestern monsoon, from May to October, the
Moken people traditionally live in stilted villages on many of the islands of
the archipelago. Unfortunately for these peaceable peoples, having no specific national
identity means they are regarded as stateless by both the Thai and Myanmar
Governments, between whose borders they regularly travel, and are often subject
to harassment and arrest.
In recent years, both governments have made numerous
attempts to settle these wonderfully free people into permanent communities, which
will sadly destroy their way of life forever. As tourist development
increasingly takes over the beautiful beaches for hotel and resort development,
these masters of the sea are gradually being obliged to settle inland, away
from the ‘mother ocean’ who has imparted her deep knowledge and guided the meaning of their lives over countless centuries.
In Thailand, there are Moken settlements on Phuket, Phi Phi, and
the Surin Islands where the sea gypsies still have some measure of freedom, but only in the remoter parts of Myanmar’s Mergui archipelago
are a few Moken families able to truly continue with their ancient traditions,
spending as much as seven or eight months of the year out at sea.
As the young are increasingly schooled away from
traditional life and seduced by modern technology, the adults are subject
to the ever present need for money just to sustain the new world of dire
impoverishment that is replacing their once self-sufficient utopia.
Bizarrely and ironically, many of the ancestral island groups of the
Moken have been designated protected marine areas and, as a consequence, laws have
been enforced preventing the Moken from living their brilliantly sustainable
life, surely the very essence of conservation itself.
To meet the need for cash, some of the Moken menfolk are
exploited for their amazing dive skills by ruthless commercial fishing and underwater
industrial enterprises, which often require the use of compressed air in confined and dangerous industrial underwater spaces. Unused
to the technical aspects of Scuba diving, many have suffered or died from
decompression sickness, previously unknown to the Moken.
With the assistance of a few enlightened individuals,
some empathic schemes are being set up to help the Moken people adapt to the
inevitable tragic loss of their way of life by recognising and preserving their
unique skills and knowledge for the eco-tourism trade, helping visitors to
discover, learn and respect the underwater world and its environmental importance under their
marvellous guidance.
Although it will never replace their beautiful blue freedom, it does at least afford the possibility of a life of dignity and value,
staying in touch with their oceanic roots and imparting their invaluable
knowledge for the future of the earth, and is infinitely preferable to losing
their culture entirely in the futureless slums.