Badui Ethnic

The Baduy (or Badui)are a traditional Bantenese community living in the southeastern part of the Indonesian province of Banten, near Rangkasbitung. They are considered an uncontacted people, a group who are almost completely isolated from the outside world.

Ethnically the Baduys belong to the Sundanese ethnic group. Their racial, physical and linguistic traits bear much resemblance to the rest of the Sundanese people; however, the difference is in their way of life. Baduy people resist foreign influences and vigorously preserve their ancient way of life, while modern Sundanese are more open to foreign influences and a majority are Muslims.

The Baduy are divided into two sub-groups; the Baduy Dalam (Inner Baduy), and the Baduy Luar (Outer Baduy). No foreigners were allowed to meet the Inner Baduy, though the Outer Baduy do foster some limited contacts with the outside world.

The Baduy speak a dialect derived from archaic Sundanese.[7] However, modern Sundanese and Javanese influences in their archaic dialect can be heard in their speech. In order to communicate with outsiders, they speak Indonesian language fluently, even though they did not have formal learning of the language in schools. The Inner Kanekes people are illiterate, hence their customary, religious belief system and ancestral folktales are preserved in a form of oral tradition.

As it has always been the case for hundreds of years, the main livelihood of the Kanekes people are rice farming.[24] Apart from that they also earn extra income from selling the fruits they gather from the jungle such as durian and tamarind-plum, as well as wild honey.