Due to their nomadic boat lifestyle, based almost exclusively on fishing and collecting shellfish and crustaceans by using mud-boards,[5] Duano' people are often categorized as Orang Laut (lit.

Of all the local subgroups of Duano people, the most studied are found on the west coast of the Malaysian state of Johor, where they receive government services such as healthcare, police, education and infrastructure.

Early sources of history and ethnography in the region referred to certain local groups of Duano' as Orang Laut Bugis (J.G.

In Indonesia, most Duano' people live in the Indragiri Hilir Regency in eastern Riau Province.

They are located in towns like Lenga, Semerah, Minyak Beku, Senggarang, Rengit, Kuala Benut, Pontian Besar and Sungai Layau.

[7] In the last 20 years of the 20th century, roads linking the cities of Johor Bahru and Malacca were laid through the Batu Pahat District.

These roads ended the isolation of the coastal region, and now the Duano' villages can be found further inland on Peninsular Malaysia.

[7] In the early 2000s, Mohd Sharifudin Yusop for the first time in his field research conducted in the territory of the Malaysian state of Johor, composed the list of Duano' words presented in phonetic form.

However, the Duano' language contains a whole group of words denoting action, body parts and various natural objects; for which it is difficult to determine their origin.

Schot (1884) mentions the historical tradition of the Orang Laut Bugis people,[8] one of the Duano' local groups living in the Indragiri Hilir Regency in the east of the Indonesian province of Riau.

Subsequently, a disaster destroyed their villages and caused many deaths; they vowed to no longer live in huts on the land and since then chose to remain in their boats.

The Bugis people during this period also occupied leading positions in a number of Malay sultanates, including in Johor.

It happens that during the execution of Muslim rituals, the Duano' people are always carefree, and in turn, offending the feelings of other believers.

A fisherman who dares to throw a fishing net in the rainy season without having fulfilled a pre-established ritual will inevitably suffer from it.

[7] The Duano' people have developed a highly specialized complex economic, based on rich, but very limited variety of composition, local natural resources.

The Duano' people place their huts on a narrow marshy land strip that appears along the mangrove thickets only during the outflow.

When, for example, in May, the southern winds interfere with navigation in the Strait of Malacca, the Duano' people often go to the eastern coast of the Malaysian Peninsula.

Sumbun is a type of a local razor clam that is a favorite delicacy of the Duano' community in Jambi, Indonesia.

Sumbun is generally known to be found in China, West Kalimantan, and in the waters of Jambi, as well as parts of Riau Islands, Indonesia.

The harvesting and gathering of sumbun can be introduced through this tradition, especially in Jambi due to the uniqueness of the region's water biota.

The special dish of the local Duano' community is the sumbun soup, which is known of its soft and uniquely distinct meat.

For this purpose, the Duano' people are regularly to go to the shops in the city, where they would carry out trading operations and store fresh water.

Employees of the department regularly visit the Duano' community to implement various social, economic and educational programs.

[19] But the leading branch of the economy remains, as before, the fishery, although here the increasing numbers of Duano' people have begun to use modern methods and technical means.

As it turned out, the Duano' people markedly dominated the Orang Kanaq on all indicators of living standards.

Significantly the Duano' people are more effective than the Orang Kanaq in using state aid, which is allocated for education and development of entrepreneurial activity.

Oranq Kuala in Malaysia do not perceive the term "Orang Asli", they consider it only as an official euphemism, which should replace the obscene name of "Sakai", which in the past was applied to the "wild" tribes of the inland areas of the Malay Peninsula.

[clarification needed] So the inhabitants of the land scornfully call the sea nomads, "dirty" people living in boats, do not adhere to Muslim traditions, involved with witchcraft and find themselves with unclean power.

At the domestic level, they constantly reproached the Duano' people for their carefree attitude towards Islamic rituals and traditions.

Separate mixed marriages occur in the Duano' mostly with Bugis (originating from Sulawesi) and Banjar people (coming from the southeast Kalimantan).