Territory Traditionally, territory is not a clearly defined, but its boundaries are the edges of the rice fields and orchards, and it includes all the areas of cleared forest. The Ma' Batisek have now been confined to aboriginal reserves. The Ma' Batisek live in villages of 50 to 300 people just behind the mangrove, traditionally along the rivers, but today they are caught between the mangrove and the plantations of hevea and oil palm. A village or group of villages is governed by a council of elders in which the batin holds the highest position. He has an administrative and legal role and is the intermediary with the authorities.
Residence is matrilocal in the first stages of married life and then becomes neolocal.
The plot is prepared at the end of the rainy season, in august. Rice is planted in september, harvested in march, and the land then lies fallow until august. This pattern is followed for 3 years running and the land is then left fallow for 3 or 4 years. But increased population has reduced the size of the field and rice is now grown every other year, and manioc, yam, sweet potato, and sugar-cane increasingly replace it in between. The size of an orchard is 2 acres.