kindness, they believe that all food items belong to the forest, so that the person who happens to be in possession of food has a moral obligation to share it. Since the dwellings are open, it is impossible to hoard food without others knowing about it. Since selfishness is prohibited, it would not be considered stealing for another member of the camp to take food away from someone who was hoarding, if the taker was hungry. They feel an obligation to give when they are asked for something. This feeling is reinforced by their belief that to refuse a request can cause super-natural harm to the person who was refused and by their knowledge that this will evoke the anger of the community at the offender. Although personal possessions like radios and tobacco belong exclusively to the person who acquired them, it is common for those items to be lent or sometimes even borrowed without the owner's knowledge. The Batek believe that if a requested favor is refused, the person who was turned down, will likely suffer misfortune, and when the misfortune happens everyone in the camp will be angry at the person who was unkind. There are two more practical reasons that sharing and kindness are widespread in the Batek community, first each man has a blowgun, used mainly for hunting, so if all in the group did not get along, someone could be subject to violence. Also the rain forest is very hot and damp so keeping things long-term is impractical, food will rot and hardware will rust if it is not used frequently. Modern challenges External disagreements become a little more tricky. Since they do not have leaders or a military, the Batek are generally at the mercy of the Malaysian Government. Malaysia does not recognise Batek sovereignty, so during the 20th century the Government gradually encroached on the Batek land to use it for logging and farming. Since the 1960s the Government has encouraged the Batek to live in Pos Lebir and become non-nomadic farmers. Most Batek are unwilling to settle in Pos Lebir because it has not been dedicated to the Batek; they would have to leave there if the Government asked and they would lose their nomadic lifestyle and their religion. One of the Batek summed up the situation by saying: “We Batek are rich if we have a cooking pot, digging stick, bush-knife,