The Baduy tribe, also known as the Sunda Badui, are a group of Sundanese indigenous people in the interior of Lebak Regency, Banten Province. Their population is around 26,000 people, they are a group of people who shut themselves off from the outside world.
they live to maintain the culture passed down from their ancestors…

they live without technology Electric withous shoes or sandals. no phone.

Badui call themselves Urang Kanekes. Urang means people in Sundanese, Kanekes is the name of their sacred territory, located in the Kendeng Mountain in south Banten, Java. The Badui rely on controlled interaction with the outside world to maintain the tradition of their group and to resist Islamisation.

The ability of the Badui to maintain their mysterious image by restricting communication with the outside world is their strength. They are averse to contact with foreigners and are secretive about the nature of their traditions. They are known in Java for having supernatural power, and they reinforce this reputation.

How long the Badui have lived in seclusion is still uncertain. Little is known of their cultural background, except that their religion reflects elements from both Hinduism and Buddhism. Their storey of resistance to Islam is told in various local legends, which place the origin of the Badui in the 16th century, when Padjajaran, the last Sundanese kingdom, fell to Moslem conquerors. According to the legends, the Badui rebelled against Islam, lost, and fled to the mountains where they are today.

In 1931, during the Dutch rule, the Badui were saved from abandoning their present homeland by Dr. Mulhenfeld, the director of the West Indies Department of the Interior, who refused to accept a proposal to move them. Their slash and burn cultivation was seen as a threat to the forests of Banten, endangering the water supply for irrigation in the lowlands. However, Dr. Mulhenfeld, after visiting Kanekes, decided that a transfer would prove fatal to Badui culture. Today, in independent Indonesia, the Badui continue to protect their cultural heritage, despite government efforts to integrate them into the larger society through conversion to Islam.

The Badui refuse to be victims of change. They believe they have the mandate to maintain the harmony and balance of the universe, which depends on the preservation of their culture. To ensure protection, Badui society is divided into two groups. The inner Badui, or holy members of the hierarchy, occupy three sacred villages in the Taneh Larangan or “Forbidden Territory”. They protect their community from exposure to external influences in order to ensure purity. Various buyut (tabu) impose seclusion upon them and prohibit the import of any form of technology (except knife blades). The holy members also discourage outsiders from gaining access to their community.