Adat Perpatih (also known as Lareh Bodi Caniago in Indonesia) are customary laws which originated in the

Minangkabau Highlands The Minangkabau Highlands (, Minangkabau language, Minang: ''Minang Darek'') is a mountainous area in the province of West Sumatra, located around three mountains—Mount Marapi, Mount Singgalang, and Mount Sago—in west-central Sumatra, Indon ...

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. It was founded by a Minangkabau leader named Sutan Balun, more famously known as Dato Perpatih Nan Sebatang. In

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, Adat Perpatih is a combination of practices and rules of life for the

Minangkabau people Minangkabau people (; ; ) are an Austronesian people, Austronesian ethnic group native to the Minangkabau Highlands of West Sumatra, Western Sumatra region on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Minangkabau's West Sumatera homelands was th ...

and other aborigines such as

Semang The Semang are an ethnic-minority group of the Malay Peninsula. They live in mountainous and isolated forest regions of Perak, Pahang, Kelantan and Kedah of Malaysia and the southern provinces of Thailand. The Semang are among the different eth ...

, the

Temuan people The Temuan people ( Temuan: ''Uwang/Eang Temuan'', Malaysian: ''Orang Temuan'') are a Proto-Malay ethnic group indigenous to western parts of Peninsular Malaysia. They can be found in the states of Selangor, Pahang, Johor, Negeri Sembilan and Ma ...

, the Bersisi people and the Jakun people, who were mainly farmers at that time. Over time, this custom has been practiced by many other ethnic groups, especially in

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan''), historically spelled as Negri Sembilan, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia which lies on the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, wes ...

, including part of

Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...

, in particular of

Masjid Tanah Masjid Tanah (Jawi: مسجد تانه) is a town and parliamentary constituency in northwestern Malacca, Malaysia, bordering Negeri Sembilan across the Linggi River. History According to local oral folklore, Masjid Tanah was first settled ...

, and part of

Johor Johor, also spelled Johore,'' is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. It borders with Pahang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the north. Johor has maritime borders with Singapore ...

Negeri Sembilan customs

The system practices

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

in electing chiefs and a

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

. Only men are eligible to be elected as leaders for their clan or tribe. There is also a female leader known as Ibu Soko. Their culture is

matrilineal Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...

and

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

, with property and land passing down from mother to daughter, while religious and political affairs are the responsibility of men. This is to protect the honour and dignity of Adat Perpatih women. That means, however poor an Adat Perpatih woman may be, she will never have to sell her dignity to earn a living. If she is divorced and returns to her village, she has lands to work on to earn a living. While the son is considered more robust, can live under any conditions and have lesser need for a house. The ancestral land is guarded by male clan leaders, chiefdom's and chieftain. An Adat Perpatih woman may not sell the land or pass the land to her sons. If she does not have any daughters, she may pass the land to her son's daughters by adopting them and thus passing her clan and tribe name to them through a ceremony called berkedim. Property or land that a man earns is not included under this custom. He can however add to this ancestral inheritance out of his own free will. This custom follows the

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

obligation that

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

men have to provide shelter and basic welfare of their divorced female relatives and their children. This custom is protected by their king. The monarchy is an

elective monarchy An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by a monarch who is elected, in contrast to a hereditary monarchy in which the office is automatically passed down as a family inheritance. The manner of election, the nature of candidate qualifications, ...

unlike most other monarchies worldwide. Unlike the society, the royal families are

patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...

. However, like the society, the monarchy is also patriarchal. There is no exact date recorded when this custom created. But the custom was brought to the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

(Peninsular Malaysia) by Minangkabau nomads in 14th century. This custom might have existed since 3000–4000 years ago based on its similarity with the

Oceanian Oceania ( , ) is a geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its continenta ...

people especially the

Polynesian people Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sout ...

who like the Minangkabau also speak

Malayo-Polynesian languages The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeas ...

. This custom is also practised by the Comorian when the

Malayo-Polynesian The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast ...

migrated to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

2000 years ago. Adat perpatih is similar to

matrilineal inheritance in the sense that both systems practise

inalienable possessions Inalienable possessions (or immovable property) are things such as land or objects that are symbolically identified with the groups that own them and so cannot be permanently severed from them. Landed estates in the Middle Ages, for example, had ...

. However the monarchy system is different. The Palauan king and queen are brother and sister and each has their own spouses.

Lareh Bodi Caniago (West Sumatra)

References

{{Minangkabau Minangkabau Malay culture Women in Indonesia

Negeri Sembilan customs

Lareh Bodi Caniago (West Sumatra)

See also

References