#7. The Fantastic Attitudes of Southeast Asians toward Trees

Modern Southeast Asians take a very modernist and postmodernist approach to trees. Trees are viewed as commodities for trades and are valued for its ecosystem services. For example, trees can be fashioned into furniture or planted as protection against coastal erosion and to provide better street view in a city.

However, long before western colonialisation in the region, the attitude of Southeast Asians towards trees can be quite different. To many of us today, their attitudes are downright bizarre. Some cities in Southeast Asia are named after the tree discovered by the first settlers. Ipoh, a small town in Malaysia, is named after the Ipoh tree by the Semai Aboriginal people of Malaysia. The tree is so important that it is protected by law and designated as a landmark for the city. Visitors can find this majestic tree standing in front of the Ipoh railway station. To many people in Ipoh, the Ipoh Tree is regarded as the tree of all trees in Kinta Valley, an inseparable Semai Aboriginal identity of Ipoh City.

To Javanese, Balinese and many other Southeast Asians influenced by Hindu-Buddhist thoughts, banyan trees attract, modify and magnify natural forces as well as nourishing those who are close to them. These majestic trees are considered to be home to the protector spirits. The backyard of the king's palace in Yogyakarta is a place full of myths. In Alun-Alun Kidul, or the southern city square, there is a story known as masangin, which stands for "masuk dua beringin" (entering two banyan trees). Masangin originated from a ritual known as topo bisu (silent asceticism) mubeng beteng (around the fort) on 1 Suro eve, which would be completed by walking pass the ringin kurung. It is believed that the two banyan trees hold a mythical rajah (traditional tattoo) which functions to keep the King's Palace off any perils. It is also believed that only those having pure hearts and not bearing evil intentions can walk pass the banyan trees.

In many traditional Southeast Asian villages, especially in maritime Southeast Asia, sacred huge trees are clothed in a tri-colour poleng cloth to signify the presence of sacred spirits or magical forces. According to legends, the first poleng cloth worn by Balinese Hindus was rwabhineda poleng cloth, preceding sudhamala and tridatu poleng cloth. This evolution of poleng clothes represent the journey of human thoughts in search of the grand truth. In fact, rwabhineda poleng cloth indicates human efforts in realising the philosophy of balance (Rwab Bhineda - Two opposites). Rwabhineda represents the dualism of identity within each of us, that is black against white, good against evil, north as opposed to south, etc. Only when humans realise that they have to constantly struggle to maintain this dualism within themselves, then only they will strive to avoid from sinful thoughts and actions. The sudhamala poleng cloth has an extra colour - grey. In Balinese philosophy, grey represents the constant balancing between white and black, or good and evil, as represented by rwabhineda poleng cloth. The tridatu poleng cloth represents a deeper philosophical thought that in every human journey, every human being will one day, somehow, question (i) his/her origin; (ii) who is his/her creator; (iii) what is his/her fate and why is it so. In realising this sacred journey, humans will achieve a supranatural state of adikodrati. In essence, red in tridatu poleng cloth signifies Brahma - the God of Creation, black signifies Vishnu - the God of Preservation of the Universe, white signifies Shiva, or the God of Destruction. These three gods are known as Trimurti, representing the human journey of birth, life and death. Nonetheless, the trees wrapped in poleng clothes is an expression of Southeast Asian society in appreciating the concept of constant balance between good and evil. Waves of Indianisation have deeply influenced the worldview of Southeast Asians, and this is precisely reflected in the poleng cloth wrapped trees.

In Ayutthaya, the Buddha head from a fallen statue is entwined within the roots of a tree and is one of the most recognizable images from Thailand. The Buddha head is located at Wat Mahathat in Ayutthaya. The ancient temple in the location is believed to have been built around 14th century but was destroyed and reduced to ruins in 1767 during the invasion of Ayutthaya by the Burmese army. The invaders also vandalized many of the Buddha images and Buddha heads in Ayutthaya. The site remained abandoned until the early 1950s when the Department of Fine Art of Thailand began the restoration work in Ayutthaya. There is still no exact history of how the Buddha head became entwined in the roots of the tree. Among many theories, one theory suggests that the tree grew around the head of the Buddha when the temple was left abandoned. Similarly, another theory also states that a thief moved the Buddha head away from the main temple in Ayutthaya to hide it. But after moving the stone Buddha head away from the ruined main temple, it is believed that the thief could not move the head beyond the walls surrounding the temple. Instead of that, the stone Buddha head was left by the wall where it got nestled in the tree roots which have grown and entwined around it. To local Thais, this tree marks the fall of Ayutthaya, and is served as a reminder that Thailand must forever remain independent against foreign invasions. Across Southeast Asia, trees which are considered sacred are also being offered offerings such as food, incense and flowers.

Unfortunately, a traumatic event has also been linked to a particular tree in Cambodia. A Chankiri Tree or Killing Tree is a tree in the Cambodian Killing Fields against which children and infants were smashed because their parents were accused of crimes against the Khmer Rouge. It was so the children wouldn't grow up and take revenge for their parents' deaths. Some of the soldiers laughed as they beat the children against the trees. Not to laugh could have indicated sympathy, making oneself a target. To the Cambodians, the Chankiri Tree bears witness to the pain they have to suffer under the Khmer Rouge and the collective struggle of Southeast Asians against the invasion of communism ideology.

In Cambodia, other than the Chankiri Tree, trees are also synonymous between the seamless connection between man and nature, and the inseparable relationship between them. After the fall of the Khmer Empire in the 15th century, the temple of Ta Prohm was abandoned and neglected for centuries. When the effort to conserve and restore the temples of Angkor began in the early 21st century, the École française d'Extrême-Orient decided that Ta Prohm would be left largely as it had been found, as a "concession to the general taste for the picturesque." According to pioneering Angkor scholar Maurice Glaize, Ta Prohm was singled out because it was "one of the most imposing [temples] and the one which had best merged with the jungle, but not yet to the point of becoming a part of it". Nevertheless, much work has been done to stabilize the ruins, to permit access, and to maintain "this condition of apparent neglect." She also observed, "On every side, in fantastic over-scale, the trunks of the silk-cotton trees soar skywards under a shadowy green canopy, their long spreading skirts trailing the ground and their endless roots coiling more like reptiles than plants."

In Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia where there are significant Chinese populations, huge trees near Taoist temples are often regarded as 'wishing trees'. Whenever there is a festival, villagers would throw joss paper into two trees and make wishes. They believe that the higher the branch the joss paper landed on, the more likely it was the wish would come true. Trees, in this sense, are not really viewed as a spirit or a protector of a region. Rather, the wishing trees are considered an inanimate object solely to test the likelihood if wishes will come true depending on the height of the joss paper landed on.

In the Philippines, the Balete tree is often associated as homes not for just insects, but also for supernatural creatures like tikbalang (demon horse), dwende (elves), kapre (smoking giants), and diwata (fairies). Locals claim that they have seen old little people or elves surrounding ancient Balete tree when the moon is full and apparitions during rainy nights.

Next time you are in Southeast Asia, when you are walking in the streets, you might find more amazement in the trees than you would have initially thought. Southeast Asia is a region full of secrets and stories found in the most unexpected place and object. Let us protect our trees as they are inseparable from the identity of each and every Southeast Asian.

#Trees