SUKU BATIN SAKAI RESEARCH PROJECT

HSE Social Science Research Project

Research started date: 8 JANUARY 2024

Activity status: PENDING (CONSOLIDATED)

DESCRIPTION

The existence of a community unit that has an identity as Sakai in Riau Province has been widely known by the local community.

However, this identity is often misunderstood with negative connotations due to the lack of information about the social conditions of the community and culture of the community unit called Sakai. Discussions about Sakai, especially from a historiographical and anthropological perspective, often belittle and ostracize the existence of Sakai in the development of Malay culture, one of the cultures that is the root of the identity of the Indonesian archipelago.

This research was built to straighten out the negative connotations embedded in the Sakai identity in Riau Province, as well as a basis for proving that Sakai is one of the pillars of Malay cultural identity. With this research, it is hoped that all related parties, both from the government and academics and the general public can play an active role in protecting and preserving various cultural elements of the community unit called Sakai in Riau Province. One of the expected results of this study is the recognition and protection as a Customary Law Community by the Republic of Indonesia for the community unit with the Sakai identity.

April 2026 Operational Update:

All continued activities of the Suku Batin Sakai research project, including efforts to trace customary law footprints and the historical heuristics of customary artifacts, are currently status Suspended (Pending). HSE Management has decided to centralize all resources into the Veritas Research Project to finalize the Veritology Metascience framework. This step is strategic to ensure that every identity narrative and historical evidence produced in the future has passed through an absolute forensic audit process, thereby strengthening the scientific bargaining position in the efforts for the recognition of Masyarakat Hukum Adat (Customary Law Communities).