Background: Indonesian society is a pluralistic society. The plurality of Indonesian society consists of various ethnic groups, religions, races, and languages.1 Indonesia has hundreds of ethnic names, even thousands if it is broken down into sub-tribes. Two of them are Batak and Malay.19 There are different biological characteristics between Batak and Malay ethnic groups, such as hair shape and color, nose shape, iris color and eye slit location. So it is possible that these two ethnic groups (Batak Toba and Malay) also have different fingerprint patterns. One of the biological characteristics possessed by humans is fingerprints. Fingerprints in humans are not influenced by the external environment except the environment in the womb. Genetics plays a very important role in the formation of fingerprints, because fingerprints are influenced by polygen elements Method: This research is descriptive with a quantitative approach to the Batak Toba and Malay communities in the coastal area of Barus District, Central Tapanuli Regency, carried out in the period from 1 August 2021 to 30 September 2021. The sample in this study were all people living in Barus District. Toba Batak and Malay tribes using purposive sampling method as many as 30 Toba Batak ethnic people and 30 Malay ethnic people who meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Discussion: Based on research conducted by recording the fingerprints of 10 (ten) fingers from each respondent in the Barus community, the Batak tribe, 26 men and 4, then the Malay ethnic group. 26 men and 4 women, the fingerprint pattern of the Barus community was obtained with details on the Batak Toba tribe, the male gender with an arch pattern of 48 fingers (18%), a loop pattern of 151 fingers (58%) and a Whorl pattern of 61 fingers ( 23.5%). While the fingerprint pattern of the Barus community with details on the female Batak Toba tribe with an arch pattern of 10 fingers ( 25%), a loop pattern of 26 fingers (65%) and a Whorl pattern of 4 fingers (10%). The fingerprint pattern of the Barus community with details on the male ethnic Malays with an arch pattern of 50 fingers (19.2%), a loop pattern of 154 fingers (59.3%) and a Whorl pattern as many as 56 fingers (21.5%). Then the fingerprint pattern of the Barus community with details on the female Malay tribe with an arch pattern of 7 fingers (17.5%), a loop pattern of 27 fingers (967.5% and a Whorl pattern of 6 ( 15%). Conclussion: From the Batak Toba and Malay tribes, both male and female, the most frequent fingerprint pattern is the loop pattern, followed by the whorl pattern and the least is the arch pattern.

loop pattern

Fingerprint pattern

Batak tribe

Malay tribe

Barus sub-district