“Seletar”, throughout the centuries, has been written in different spellings. One may need to search for such variations when looking for information regarding the Orang Seletar in different literature. “Seletar” was seen written as the following. “Sletar” was a popular form in the 19th century. However, towards the 20th century and beyond, “Seletar” was the more common (and now standard) form. There are one or two exceptions, for example “Slitar” Hidayah Amin, 2017
Saleta
e.g. Jackson Plan, Town of Singapore 1828
Sletar
- Photographer Louis Lapicque’s Collection
A note on Lapicque’s journey can be found in a new article here dated 1893
- e.g. Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula, Skeat and Blagden 1906
Selitar
- e.g. Skeat and Ridley “The Orang Laut of Singapore” 1900
- Orang Asli: The Aboriginal Tribes of Peninsular Malaysia, by Iskandar Carey 1976
Selita
e.g. John Cameron.Our Tropical Possessions in Malayan India: 1865
Sěletar/ Seletar
- e.g. in 15th century Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals), translated by William Girdlestone Shellabear.
- Before the spelling reform of Malay in 1972, ĕ was used to represent the schwa sound /ə/. After the spelling reform, the diacritics were removed, so that both /e/ and /ə/ are represented by e.
e.g. Maps of Singapore in 1864, 1904
- Map of the Island of Singapore and its Dependencies (1873), the areas we now know as Yishun, Springleaf and Seletar were marked as North Seletar, Seletar and East Seletar
Origin of the Seletar name
According to an interview with Kilo, an Orang Seletar (Chan et al. interview), they were originally referred to as just Orang Laut and then called as Orang Seletar by the Johor state.
Etymology of Seletar
Selat ‘strait’
- The ethnonym Seletar comes from the Dutch form Saletter, which comes from Portuguese Celates (Sopher, 1977, p. 335). The Dutch form adds suffix -er to mean “the people of”, like in Nederlander ‘Dutch people’. Saletter and Celates both derive from the Malay word selat ‘strait’. On first glance, the gloss for Seletar seems straight forward enough, meaning “people of the strait”. However, upon further inspection of the Portuguese, Dutch and English usage of the word in colonial times, the meaning of Seletar becomes a little bit more complicated.
- Sopher (1977) includes a section of analyzing what terms the Europeans used to describe the sea nomads of Southeast Asia. From his compilation, he listed those from the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English. Portuguese Celates first appears in 1553, used by Joao de Barros, an official in Malacca, in his book Décadas da Ásia (Sopher, 1977, p. 315). The following is an excerpt describing said Celates:
- “… a people called Cellates, persons who live on the sea, whose occupation is robbing and fishing, with the [ruler’s] favour…”(Sopher, 1977, p. 316, 334)
- Most early references to Celates points them as vicious, piratical people, unpopular among the common people. Consider the following passage:
- “The Celates, although their habitation is more on the sea than on land, for there their children are born and there they are brought up without making any establishment on shore. However, because they were hated by the people of Singapore and all the islands in its territory, did not dare to return to those parts” (Sopher, 1977, p. 316, 334).
- Other examples describe the Celates as “low, vile, wild, cannibal, evil-hearted, treacherous”, “a wicked people, especially so to the Portuguese”, the last one specifically referencing the Strait of Singapore. Sopher (1977, p. 318) points out that the Portuguese always stressed the piratical nature of the Celates, as they were sometimes victims to them, and as a result would refer to the sea nomads, even those who are not actually pirates, as Celates. Thus, Portuguese Celates (sometimes spelled Saletes) has been expanded to mean the sea nomads in general, which subsequently disappears from use in the middle of the 1600s (Sopher, 1977, p. 326).
- The Dutch transliteration of the word comes in the form of Saletter. Its first instance is seen in 1678 by Governor Balthasar Bort, a Governor of Malacca which says “the Saletters, or pirates, a Malay tribe of very uncivilized people” (Sopher, 1977, p. 335). Apparently, the negative meaning of Celates has been copied over to the Dutch version seemingly without fault.
- English sightings of Saletter come in similar fashion. For example, Bowrey (1905, p. 237 in Sopher, 1977, p. 336) described “the Saleeters are absolute Piratts” and Hamilton (1930, p. 37) also writes something similar “ … great numbers of freebooters, called Salleiters, who inhabit islands along the sea-coast, and they both rob, and take people for slaves and transport them for Atcheen (Acheh)…”. It has to be emphasized that not all sea nomads are pirates. The recognized groups that are infamous pirates are the Orang Galang, Orang Sekanak and Orang Posik (Sopher, 1977 , p. 96), at least during the nineteenth century. Sopher (1977, p. 336) proposes that the Saletter of the Dutch and the English would later become the Galang and Malay pirates of the Riau archipelago.
- Then, who exactly are the Saletter and how did the form become Seletar to mean the group we know today? It is generally agreed upon from the use of the terms Celates and Saletters by colonial powers in Southeast Asia that they refer to the aforementioned Orang Galang and other piratical groups. But in those times, it was not clear that the sea nomads were differentiated into distinct groups, and so the term Saletter would also be used to refer to other different groups, who may not be piratical at all.
- Sopher (1997, p. 337) demonstrates this by analyzing Maurice Collins’ writings. Collins, who was once Deputy Commissioner at Mergui, Myanmar, wrote about the Saletters losing their “warlike manner of life” and thus “are now a timid, slinking race, very poor …”, wrongly identifying the Saletters as Mawken (sea nomad groups who inhabit the Mergui archipelago). Although this contains misidentification on Collins’ part, Sopher (1977, p. 337) thinks the Saletters described here were actually the victims of the pirating groups (the Saletters of the Dutch and English), driven northward to avoid being plundered.
- A similar case can be said for the Orang Seletar. From Thomson’s account of the Orang Seletar, the people seem to be very afraid of the piratical Orang Galang:
- “On our better acquaintance, when asked why they ran away before the Gunboat, they said they were afraid we would carry them off to Gallang, a place noted for the fierceness of its pirates, and for whom they bear a great dread” (Thomson, 1847, p. 342) and “Of the Pari, Dewa, Mambangs and other aerial spirits that are assigned to every mountain, rock and tree in Malayn conception, they did not know the name – nor had they anything to be afraid of, as they themselves said, than the “Gallang Pirates”, who were men like themselves” (Thomson, 1847, p. 344).
- It seems unlikely the modern Seletar were pirates to begin with. In Bowrey’s English description of the Saletter above, Temple adds a note saying that the modern Seletar do not live up to its namesake and that the latter
- “differs widely from his namesake of three centuries ago and is very far from rising to the dignity of pirate” (Bowrey, 1905, p. 238 footnote in Sopher, 1977, p. 337).
- And so, Temple equates the Saletters with the pirates, and not the modern Seletar, though he assumed that the Orang Seletar are descendants of them (Sopher, 1977, p. 337). Sopher (1977, p. 337) concludes this part that
- “It was suggested in another place that the sea nomad antecedents of the Seletar must have existed at some distant time, and little can be shown to prove or disprove Temple’s contention, except their name, which does appear to be a Malay rendering of the Dutch name.”
- It might be impossible to know exactly if the modern-day Orang Seletar truly had piratical ancestors or not.
- Probably, the ethnonym of the Orang Seletar is an exoethnonym, used by local Malays, like Sopher said. The local Malays possibly followed the European usage of Saletters/Saleeters to mean that all sea nomad groups are pirates, regardless whether if that is true or not. Did the Orang Seletar, before they were named such, know the meaning of Saletter? Possibly not, as it is a European coinage (but at its roots, comes from Malay, which the Seletar language presumably is). They knew their offenders as Gallang, and not Saletter. The Orang Seletar most likely were not aware of the names used by the colonizers to refer to sea nomads, and the colonizers not knowing how to distinguish the distinct groups called every population living on boats Saletter. And thus, the name stuck, without the Orang Seletar themselves knowing any better that they were named from the very people they feared.
- (Also, side note: The language also may hint that Seletar is probably not a name coined by the people themselves. The Seletar language usually drops the final /r/ of words entirely. And the speakers like to refer to themselves as Orang Asli Laut ‘original people of the sea’ and not frequently Orang Seletar, their language as Bahasa Kon and not Bahasa Seletar, though they do not oppose to the use of Seletar as their ethnonym and their language).
- On a related note, the cardinal noun selatan ‘south’ in Malay not only refers to the southern direction but more specifically ‘the direction in which the straits lie’ (Wilkinson, 1932, p. 409; Blust, 1986, p. 79). The straits being referred to are the Straits of Malacca (Blust, 1986, p. 79). Usages of selat meaning ‘south’ are documented. For example, the Malays on the Inderagiri coast of Sumatra refer to Singapore as Selat (Hollander, 1895 in Sopher, 1977, p. 326) and Riau-Lingga Archipelago is referred to using the Malay term tanah selat ‘the Land of the Straits’ (Crawfurd, 1865, p. 367 in Sopher, 1977, p. 326). This amalgamation of ‘south’ and ‘strait’ actually gave rise to selat the specific meaning of “Strait of Singapore and the many narrow water passages of the Batam Archipelago” (Sopher, 1977, p. 326).
- If one were to translate the English gloss for Seletar “the people of the strait” back into Malay, the result would be orang selat. However, there exist a specific group of people called the Orang Selat, who used to inhabit the southern islands of Singapore (Benjamin, 2002, p. 31; Mariam, 2002) (also see Orang Seletar and Orang Selat) . Other scholars have observed the Orang Selat roaming the western islands of the Batam Archipelago (Newbold, 1839, Logan, 1847, Schot, 1883 in Sopher, 1977, p. 326). Given the above explanation of the multiple meaning of selat, the translation for Orang Selat should be “people of the Strait of Singapore and the waters of Batam Archipelago”. The Orang Seletar live on the Johor Strait, which is technically not the ‘strait’ selat is referring to. However, we must remember that prior to foreign population’s notice of them, the sea nomads roam free within Southeast Asia, so intermixing between the group must have occurred. Some Orang Seletar even say that their grandparents or parents were Orang Selat (Juma’at, 2017). Because of this close relation between the two groups of people, whether name wise or kinship wise, popular literature continues to equate them as one. Nowadays, the Orang Selat do not live distinctly as a group of people anymore, as they have been assimilated to Singapore Malay society, and their Orang Selat identity only lives on in the memories of their descendants (Benjamin, 2002, p. 57) (maybe even the descendants have forgotten). The Orang Seletar, at least those in Johor Bahru, continue to strive for a distinct identity, living in villages comprising mostly of Orang Seletar.
Sather (1999, p. 14)
- Considerable confusion surrounds the names by which many local groups of the orang Laut have come to be known. Sopher (1965, p. 326) maintains that the name of Orang Seletar derives originally from the Malay term “Orang Selat”, meaning “people of the straits. In this connection, he argues the term selat formerly meant, not only “straits’, but more particularly, either this form or in the adjectival form selatan it referred specifically to the straits of Singapore and to the many narrow passages of the Riau Lingga Archipelago. However it must be noted the label orang selat is also applied more specifically to a single orang laut group that once inhabited the islands immediately south of Singapore. As Sopher notes, however, the term selat was adopted by sixteenth century Portuguese writers, who rendered it in its Portuguese plural form as “Celates” and applied it more generally to all of the nomadic and semi nomadic boat peoples of the straits of Melaka. And indeed far beyond. This label was later taken over by seventeenth century Dutch writers, who rendered it “selatter”. Sopher (1965, p. 337) suggests that the modern form Seletar is a more recent Malay version of the Dutch Selatter. An alternative derivation traces the name Orang Seletar to the past association of the group with the Seletar river, a derivation favored for example by Logan and Thomson, authors of two of the earliest reports of the Orang Seletar. Today the name is used by the Orang Seletar themselves. However, according to Carey (1970, p. 182) the Orang Seletar, by preference, call themselves Kun, a term of uncertain meaning, but one which Carey suggests may be related to Jakun, a name long applied to the aboriginal Malays of Johor and Pahang, both by themselves and by others. Benjamin (1997) makes a persuasive case that the term kun is Mon Khmer or Southern Aslian origin.
litar ‘surrounding/circuit’
- Another less persuasive theory regarding the meaning of the term Seletar comes from the Malay-English dictionary of Richard Winstedt. This interpretation says that seletar came from Malay litar ‘surroundings’ suffixed with sa- or se-, to become selitar, salitar or seletar (‘Folklore tells of life’, 12 Dec 1981). I did not think much about this interpretation and regarded it as folk etymology when I first came upon it.
- However, a recent publication also presented a similar interpretation to Seletar. Imran (2020, p. 119) presented litar as the root of Seletar with the meaning ‘circuit’, and the ‘circuit’ here was referencing the Orang Seletar and Orang Biduanda Kallang’s roles as messengers of the court, as the areas where they reside cover the south and the north of ancient Temasek, and hence the Orang Seletar were “part of a circuit of messengers”. The prefix sa-/sa-/se- is actually an important element in the names of islands inhabited traditionally by Orang Laut throughout the Riau islands and Singapore’s Southern Islands (e.g. Pulau Seking, Pulau Semakau, Pulau Sekijang), and in itself is an individuating, humanising prefix, and can be paraphrased to mean ‘the one who/with’ (Wee & Benjamin, 2001, p. 208). Hence, the river/area/island of Seletar could mean ‘the one that surrounds’ or ‘the one that forms a circuit’. 1981 Newspaper Article – Folklore tells o£ Hie o£ Orang Seletar, The Straits Times, 12 December 1981, Page 17.pdf
Orang Laut
The Orang Seletar are often referred to by the macro group name of Orang Laut which can mean many groups of peoples, see multiple meanings to the “Orang Laut” term
Orang Sampan
- As the orang seletar prior to the 20th century lived nomadically in their boat houses, they were referred to as Orang Sampan by outsiders.
- e.g. Mariam Ali (1985) used both Orang Sampan and Orang Seletar to refer to the people in many parts of the thesis
- E.g. Chew (1982) Fishermen in flats
- P. 35 groups of orang seletar or orang sampan were known to congregate in the shallows around pulau sudong.
Orang Guduk
Besides “Seletar”, “Orang Laut”, “Selat”, “Kon”, there seems to be this unusual name “Orang Guduk” being applied to the Orang Seletar by local Malays. From archival newspapers and audio recordings, it is seen twice. The meaning of “Guduk/gudu” is unknown.
Update: I read Mariam Ali’s 1985 BA thesis (p.81) and it seems Orang Gudu was a name applied to the orang seletar by the Malays because of the “guttural accent and clipping of the words produced” of the Seletars. “Gudu” is likely a onomatopoeia, imitating the sound of Seletar speech. The author mentions that the Orang Seletar detest this appellation.
- 1985 Audio recording interviewing Awang Bin Osman
- from transcript (page 1)
- Orang Seletar = Orang Laut = Orang Laut Guduk
- from transcript (page 1)
- 1981 Newspaper Article (very last paragraph)
- “Orang Gudu”, according to Encik Alit Bujang 1981 Newspaper Article – ‘Mayat diikat di pokok besar’, Berita Minggu, 27 December 1981, Page 3.pdf
Orang Asli Seletar / Orang Asal Seletar
- In current times, the Orang Seletar are referred to as Orang Asli Seletar or Orang Asal Seletar in mostly Malaysian publications. Some interviews see them refer to themselves as such as well, see Videos
- The Orang Seletar are one of 18 recognized indigenous peoples of Malaysia, so adding Asli/Asal in their ethnonym brings to focus their indigenous status
Kon (or written as Koon, Kun)
- This is the term the Orang Seletar refer to themselves and it means “people”
- The etymology of Kon is probably linked to the -Kun in Jakun, another orang asli tribe in Johor and Selangor.
- The word is likely of old Mon origin, meaning “child or member of an ethnic or other social group” (Shorto 1971, p. 53)
Orang Seletar Digital Resource 
