The Moken

Who are they?

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The Moken, as the people living along the coastline of Burma and Thailand are referred to, are people with Austronesian roots, having a one of a kind language, culture, history, and lifestyle. Traditionally living as sea nomads, the Moken resided in Kabangs, which are houseboats situated near the beaches. In addition, the Moken strive to be autonomous and their respect and care for the environment and natural resources are reflected through their extensive use of different plant species for eating, medicine, shelter, craftwork and so on.

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If one would have to attribute them one element it would most certainly be the water, which they refer to as “Mother Ocean”. The Moken have a great ability to dive, stay underwater for quite some time and hunt with great precision.

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Traditions and the elderly in the tribe accomplish a very important task with transfering stories and language from generation to generation, because, interestingly, the Moken’s language remains to be a pure spoken language.

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The Moken became first known to the public in 2004, being the only people who survived the tragic tsunami that hit the coasts of Thailand, Indonesia and other countries, killing more than 220,000 people. They survived because every generation taught the next how to read the sea. Every Moken heard once in his or her life the famous story of the laboon, the seventh wave. They were already prepared when it came. The tsunami, which had a huge impact on the tourists and on the Thai people working in the tourism sector, was a relatively small event for the Moken. However, their villages were swept away and so their traditional lifestyle. Once a proud and independent population who had always been self-sufficient is now seriously threatened by tourism and by the encroaching modern world.

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Them becoming known to a wider public became both a blessing and a curse. In 1981, their area of temporary settlement evolved to be the Mu Koh Surin National Park. The latter restricted their ways of life profoundly, they are no longer allowed to use their surroundings and nature they way the were used to, the way it was anchored in their collective ancestral memory.

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More information can be obtained from this website: https://www.mokenislands.com/