Bugis in Malaysia: Who are the Bugis?

The Bugis or Buginese people number up to about 136,000 in Malaysia according to information from the website Joshua Project.

Historically this race of people were sea traders and warriors hailing from South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Since their land comprised of hilly and low regions, most of them were farmers, fishermen, sailors and traders (Said, 2004). They were once called the “best merchants” among the eastern islands (Joshua Project, n.d.)

Unlike other ethnic groups in South Sulawesi, the Bugis were people who travelled much, thus reaching Malaysia, Singapore, New Guinea, Philipines, north-western Australia and Madagascar (Said, 2004). They established settlements in the places they visited. They came to Malaysia in the 16^th century, settling parts of Johor, Selangor and Pulau Pinang. Many of them also live scattered along Sabah’s southeast coast. The first Sultan of Johor, Abu Bakar who was the founder of modern day Johor Sultanate was a Malay-Bugis descendant.

Today, in Johor, many of them are landlords of large coconut and coffee plantations while others own small businesses and may be fishermen. They are renowned for their excellent craftsmanship, being able to build houses without the need for nails. Their warrior ancestry can be seen in their values but they are cultured and well-mannered people.

The Bugis were traditionally Hindus, Buddhists and Animists. It was during the 16^th century that the Bugis were exposed to Islam in Indonesia. They were introduced to Islam mainly by three figures: Datuk Sulaiman, Datuk Ri Bandang and Datu Ri Tiro. The Bugis accepted Islam and by the beginning of the 17^th century, Islam was accepted as the formal religion of the Bugis. 98% of Bugis in Malaysia are Muslims. However, despite their conversion to Islam, many Bugis still retain some aspects of their original Hindu and Animist-based culture, thus following a form of “Folk Islam”. This is especially true of the Bugis who live in Indonesia. However, those who live in Malaysia and Singapore are more integrated into the respective Malay and Singaporean culture. The Bugis have many superstitious beliefs that form a part of their lives. These include many do’s and don’ts associated with pregnancy, childbirth, eating, fishing, planting and even opening of windows. An example of this is that the whole skeleton of the fish must be removed and discarded before it can be eaten otherwise it would bring bad luck. Windows are opened while praying to drive away evil and bad luck.

The picture below shows a couple in a Bugis Wedding ceremony.

The Bugis have several marriage traditions which persist until today, especially among traditional families. 

The picture below is of children attending a Bugis wedding in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Mental health treatment for victims of trafficking

What is trafficking?

Sex trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, provision or obtaining of an individual for the purpose of a commercial sex act. These can include prostitution, pornography, mail order brides, live sex shows and sex tourism according to the HHS Report.

Labor trafficking is done for the purpose of domestic servitude, restaurant work, janitorial work, factory work, migrant agricultural work, construction and peddling (illegal selling of drugs or items of theft).

How victims are identified and the challenges to identification

Often, they are identified by the police, through tips from people, investigations into other problems, raids and referrals from NGO’s (Clawson, Dutch, Salomon, & Grace, 2009). Others are identified through religious institutions, immigration services, health or social service provides and domestic violence shelters.

Before being identified as victims of human trafficking, they are often charged with crimes which could range from anything like shoplifting, solicitation (offering money or inducing another to commit a crime), prostitution and others. It is only in counseling sessions that victims disclose that they were trafficked.

What makes it difficult to identify victims is due to the lack of awareness by the victims that this is a crime and that they are eligible for protection and services. In other cases, the victims do not consider themselves as being victims. Women and girls trafficked for sex work often see their pimps as their boyfriends, which is a tactic used by traffickers to control the girls. Another difficulty is because the victims are afraid of getting caught by local law enforcement officials for being an illegal in the country and fear deportation or abuse at the hands of officials. Others hide due to feelings of shame and disgrace and keep silent about their situation.

Who are the victims?

According to the report, victims are usually those who live in poverty, are young, have had limited education, lack work opportunities in their region, don’t have family support due to being an orphan, runaway, homeless and having family members who work with traffickers. They may also have a history of sexual abuse, have physical or mental disabilities and live in places where corruption and crime is rampant. It is also usual for victims to come from places where there is civil wars or economic crises. According to the International Labor Organization (2002), girls and women are likely to be trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude, while men and boys are trafficked for forced labor in farming, petty crimes and drug trade (as cited in Clawson, Dutch, Salomon & Grace (2009).  

Victim needs

The immediate safety of the victim is paramount. This includes giving them emergency shelter, basic medical services, food and clothing, legal services, translation for certificates and other legal documents, life skills training, job training, mental health services, child care and getting them in contact with family.

They may need therapy for trauma (PTSD) especially if they had been tortured and show signs of Stockholm syndrome (feelings of trust or affection felt in certain cases of kidnapping or hostage-taking by a victim toward a captor). Others may need help with drug abuse which may have begun before or after being trafficked due to drugs being forced upon them or to help them deal with their situation. Co-occuring disorders are highly likely among victims of trafficking. Victims have found to have greater risk for developing major depressive disorders, dissociative disorders, panic disorders, OCD, anxiety disorders and so on.

According to the HHS report, trafficked women had recurring thoughts of terrifying events, nightmares, feelings of the traumatic event happening again, are unable to feel emotions, are withdrawn, have anger issues and have trouble sleeping.

Victims of trafficking often develop complex trauma. They would suffer from such feelings of anxiety, self-hatred and despair and have difficulty with interpersonal relationships and intimacy. They are great risk of suicidal ideation and other self-destructive behaviors.

Evidence based treatment

The authors cite evidence based treatment recommended for use with trafficked victims include:

1. Cognitive Therapy
2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - which includes exposure therapy and breathing techniques
3. stress innoculation training - this combines psychoeducation with anxiety management techniques like relaxation training, breathing techniques and thought stopping.

Victims of trafficking will have a completely different and negative view of the world and people in it so they will need much cognitive restruction apart from help with PTSD symptoms and other co-occuring mental health disorders as mentioned before. They will need much help with “resocializing” back into society.

Since most victims may have come from other countries, the counselor must take into consideration their ethnicity, worldview and religion. Their beliefs about treatment and about their experience will differ based on their culture, religion and history. The counselor should arm themselves with knowledge about the client’s beliefs, values and practices so as to give them the best possible care.

Extracted from:

Clawson, H., Dutch, N., Salomon, A., & Grace, L. G. (2009). Study of HHS Programs Serving Human Trafficking Victims. US Department of Health and Human Services.

Nigeria In Focus: Journeying into Nigeria (part 1)

Let's get to know more about Nigeria. If we want to counsel Nigerians, we need to know more about where they come from and we can start by finding more about what life is like in Nigeria, the conditions they live in, the values and customs and so on.

I recently found a book entitled "Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria". It's written by a Nigerian woman by the name Noo Saro-Wiwa. 

Noo Saro-Wiwa is the daughter of a human rights activist and journalist Ken Saro-Wiwa who helped found a movement to help his ethnic group, the Ogoni people of Nigeria by bringing a case against the Shell oil company for destroying the environment and against the government for its corruption back in the 90's.

The Ogoni greatly depended on the river delta making their livelihood on farming and fishing. The discovery of oil in that region in 1956 and it's extraction (mostly by the Shell oil company) let do to deterioration of the fertile agricultural region due to oil spills and pollution from gas flares (used to get rid of waste gas which is released on extraction of oil from the underground reservoirs). Ken's role in bringing Shell and the government to justice led to his execution by the Nigerian military regime in 1995. 

Noo Saro-Wiwa grew up in England with her family, refusing to return to Nigeria, a place she didn't want to call home because it was where she lost her father. But, as an adult, she felt ready to return to"learn more about it and perhaps call it her potential home". And so, she returns to her birth-place and tours the country. 

Her book is a humorous lamentation on the conditions of Nigeria, the crimes, the corruption, the stagnation, the backwardness and so forth but as she learns more about the country she hadn't seen in decades, she begins to see and appreciate the beauty, hope and vitality underneath all the chaos and corruption.

"Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria" is an interesting read, taking us readers on a personal journey into Nigeria enabling to understand a little more about it's people.

Wait for it in part 2!

Nigeria In Focus: History of the Counseling Profession

I agree that it looks too long, but we just had to include everything of importance!
It gives us a picture of the counseling services in place in Nigeria, at least up until 2012. I wasn't able to find any articles later than that.  

The beginning of guidance and counseling services

In 1959, a group of Catholic Reverend Sisters at St. Theresa’s college, Oke-Ado in Ibadan, the intellectual heart of Nigeria, organized a formal careers guidance program for final year students. The aim was to teach the students about the world of work and equip them with soft skills. In order to accomplish this, professionals from various career paths were invited.  This event was later called The Careers Day Conference and clearly produced positive results in the students as all students who had participated in the program were able to get employment soon after graduation. The program was further enhanced in the coming years to include seminars, lectures and guidance workshops and eventually led to the formation of the Ibadan Career Council in 1962 which was later renamed as Nigerian Careers Council in 1967 and gained the participation of other states within the country.

The civil war of 1967 put a hold to the activities of the Council. It was only nine years later, that the Career Council was launched as the Counseling Association of Nigeria (CASSON). CASSON was a recognized organization of guidance counselors who engaged in much professional development in their field. Over the years, several changes and developments took place to advance the counseling profession in Nigeria.

• Guidance and counseling was included in the National Policy of Education
• The minimum standards for counselor training were established in conjunction with the National Universities Commission (UNC), the Federal Ministry of Education (FME). In order to become a counselor, a minimum number of courses had to be completed through a recognized counselor training program in universities.
• CASSON also developed the Blueprint on guidance and counseling for educational institutions in Nigeria. It gives guidance on how to meet the need of students from pre-primary through to secondary and tertiary institutions.
•  Guidance counselors eventually gained recognition in schools as full time professionals through the policy passed by the National Council on Education. Guidance counselors were expected to help people with career prospects and issues as well as personality maladjustment according to the National Policy of Education statement in 1977.

Finding acceptance

Despite the firm establishment of the guidance and counseling profession, effective implementation and practice was something to be concerned about. Counselor roles are not clearly defined in some institutions. It was often presented as an extra service which students could make use of if they wished and the negative attitudes held by the school administration and teachers towards the service kept students at bay. Many questioned the credibility and usefulness of the service and felt that a specialist was not required for guidance and counseling as it was already taken care of by family elders, parents, elder siblings, religious figures and teachers. The administration usually felt that teachers who opt to take on the role of a guidance counselor were neglecting or passing up their duties of teaching for something relatively easier. As a result, counselors had other duties like teaching and clerk duties forced upon them. The budget available for guidance and counseling programs were also inadequate at the time the article was written (2004). A look at a more recent article from 2012 (Oye, Obi, Mohd, & Bernice, 2012) shows that the attitudes towards school counselors has not changed much. In fact, parents prefer to go to the school principal with their children’s academic and social problems. Additionally, the school time table doesn’t make an allowance for counseling services so students would find it difficult to go to the counseling unit even if they wanted to. The services are also not promoted throughout the school, so very few students and parents know what it is all about.

Gaining credibility and recognition was the major challenge. In addition, efficiently translating theory into practice due to lack of resources and support was also a hurdle for counselors.

Counselor roles defined

In order to establish the counselor’s role in school, CASSON made a list of duties that a school counselor must take on:

·       Orientation of new students – welcoming new students, guiding them on rules, regulations, programs, clubs and helping them settle in the school. Counselors are expected to serve as a ‘parent’ to those whose parents or guardians live far away

·       Educational counseling – help students with problems related to studying, monitor and keeps a record of their progress, administers tests on academic matters in order to decide what intervention they need, consult with teachers and parents on behalf of students’ academic performance, counsel disruptive students and groups, teach students’ necessary study skills, identify special needs students, those with learning disabilities and gifted students and put them into appropriate classes.

·       Vocational counseling – provide students with occupational information, administer and interpret career tests, guide parents and students on vocational choices, prepare career programs, talks and workshops that aid in career development as well as social skills training etc.

·       Personal and social counseling – help students facing personal or social problems. Administer and interpret relevant tests and provide programs aimed at developing skills to cope with their issues.

·       Referral services – refer students to appropriate professionals (doctors, psychiatrists etc.), consults with other professionals on referral cases.

·       Follow up services

·       Liaison and follow up services

During the time the article was written, counselors were not seen as different from teachers so had to share offices with teaching staff. In their article, the authors requested that this be changed and counselors given separate offices to conduct their services. They also requested that counselors be given facilities such as filing cabinets, shelves, computers, software, and office telephone and so on in order to enhance the services they provide. 

The authors conclude by reiterating the importance of providing funds for the counseling services in schools so that maximum effort can be undertaken towards students’ academic and personal development. 

Citing the Sources!

Everything above has been summarized (not plagiarized I hope!) from the following journal article:

Esere, M. O. (2004). Globalization and the challenges of Human Resource Development in Nigeria: The Counsellor's Factor. Nigerian Journal of Guidance and Counseling.

Click HERE to access the article. (I must warn you that this link may not work now. It worked the first time but subsequent tries failed. No idea why.) 

We also got some information from the article below:

Oye, N., Obi, M., Mohd, T., & Bernice, A. (2012). Guidance and Counseling in Nigerian Secondary Schools: The Role of ICT. I.J.Modern Education and Computer Science, 26-33.

Click HERE to access the article. 

Nigeria In Focus: Nigerians' Attitudes Towards Counseling

Extracted from here: Iowa State University Student Counseling Services: Nigeria

Nigerians believe that counseling is a field that deals with mental patients. So they believe that the problems addressed in counseling are those that normal people don’t face. This means that few people would be willing to go for counseling because of the stigma attached to it. No one wants to be considered a ‘mental’ patient.

According to a Nigerian faculty member at the Iowa State University, counselors do not really exist in Nigerian society. Nigerians have a collectivist culture and believe that any problem can be solved with guidance from the family members. Experienced and respected relatives or elders in the community take on the role of imparting advice and are depended upon for solving the problem. They could range from in-laws to older or younger siblings and other close relatives as well as traditional spiritual leaders. Nigerians believe that it would be abnormal and highly unnecessary to seek help from professional counselors for a problem that can be solved by the family.

Since Nigerians have this perception about problem solving, they spurn suggestions to visit a counselor and it wouldn’t even come to their mind.

Issues regarding sexuality, sexual assaults, domestic violence and death are only shared and discussed among close family members and close friends. Adults in the family would often refrain from sharing such information with younger children and adolescents. They value confidentiality and trust family and friends with sensitive issues.

To majority of Nigerians, religion plays a great role in their lives, be they Muslims, Christians or people of other faiths and take a lot of pride in their faith.