Plants for the Ancestors Traditional Knowledge and Beliefs of the Mentawaians on Siberut Island

The indigenous people on Siberut Island have an old tradition and knowledge base inherited from their ancestors. This cultural heirloom has been nurtured and cared for by the Mentawai clans to honour previous generations and provide benefit to current and future generations on Siberut Island. The knowledge of the environment and spiritual values wrapped in their culture is unique. It is exclusive and has attracted subsequently attention from non-indigenous people. The indigenous of Mentawai are not the only ethnic group in Indonesia. Study programs have been undertaken to explore the many Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) roots of communities living in remote places. It is to raise attention to the significance of ethnic awareness of their spiritual and physical environment to preserve and explore for the many types of ethno botanical products that remain uncharted. When viewing western medicine supplied at the pharmacy, it has to be realised that many started their medicinal use in a village somewhere close to a forest of field. This paper uses a qualitative research method with ethnographic data collection. By relaying on observation and in-depth interviews. As well as consulting the knowledge of traditional healers, possible new cures might be encountered from our natural environment. In Indonesia the importance of TEK has been particularly stimulated by the introduction of regional autonomy in the year 2000. It has reinforced indigenous political as well as regional economic power, to develop local natural resources for a national and international trade. It has introduced an economic development that has strengthened awareness of local botanical potential and involvement of gender opportunities in a resurge of interest in medicinal plants and domestication in Mentawaian herbal gardens.