 Local Malay culture prior to the arrival of a more conservative brand of Islam practised the paying of respects to guardian spirits or "penunggu" which is believed to reside in seemingly 'unusual' natural formations; a unique shaped rock, an anthill, a snake's nest, an extraordinarily large tree etc.With the arrival of Chinese immigrants who carried along with them the Confucianist belief of ancestor worship, both practices converged and formed a new micro-culture as observed today.Datuks, referred to in Chinese as Na Tuk Kong (earth spirits), is considered a localised form in the worship of the spirit of the land, along with Tu Di Gong.