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Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

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Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

Today, only 100-200 seafarers remain on traditional “Lansa” houseboats near Borneo’s shorelines.

Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

The Bajau people’s wooden/corrugated iron stilt huts, which sometimes host a family of five and sometimes a community with up to 30 roommates, are completed within three weeks. The stilt houses are only equipped with necessities. Even more impressive, the Sea Bajau live within a basic setup on their handmade houseboats (called lepa lepa). Just essentials are needed.

Credit: Claudio Sieber
Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

A family inside a stilt house village in Tara Garos. The Bajau people produce an everyday sunscreen called Borak Buas mainly based on rice powder which women use to protect their skin from the strong sun rays. Unmarried women especially use it a lot, hoping to attract a potential spouse. “A cheap but effective solution to maintain beauty,” explained Nora Sita, while she was preparing the paste.

Credit: Claudio Sieber
Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

Regularly the Bajau roam the island in hope to sell their catch – mostly shellfish, lobster, snails, sea cucumbers or sea urchins – to other locals and visitors. Bajau children start learning at about 8 years of age or even younger how to free dive, swim, hunt, beg some ringgits from passing tourists, and otherwise survive within the environment their parents chose to live in.

Credit: Claudio Sieber
Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

At the shores of Pulau Bodgaya lives the tight-knit Bajau community Bohey Bual (meaning “spring water”). Most if not all of the Bajau families here, whether they’re living in stilt houses or houseboats, at some point moved from the Philippines, hence they are considered stateless.

Credit: Claudio Sieber
Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

The Bajau women produce an every day sunscreen called Borak Buas. The mixture is based on tumeric and rice powder, which the females use to protect their skin from the beating sun rays. Primarily unmarried women use it a lot, with the hope that their skin will stay smooth and help them attract a potential spouse.

Credit: Claudio Sieber
Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

Almost every day Asli and Silaji go fishing together. With no access to Malaysia’s education system, the Bajau kids have the whole day at their disposal to splash around in the water or to learn the various hunting techniques of their forefathers. From an early age, the children of the Bajau contribute to the self-sufficiency of their families. Using dugouts, they comb the shallow waters in search of sea cucumbers or sea urchins.

Credit: Claudio Sieber
Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

Despite being used to a life on boats, many Bajau prefer to build a stilt house because it offers more space, and is cheaper to craft too. But the community of Bohey Bual is no longer allowed to use wood from the protected island. Eventually such restrictions may drive the community nearer to the city of Semporna, and most likely, into poverty. Most Bajau who “abandon ship” settle with others from their band entirely offshore or near an island.

Credit: Claudio Sieber
Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

An aerial image of men drying fish. Due to the lack of refrigerators, this technique is common practice for many coastal communities to preserve their catch, but also to trade it more easily with the mainlanders. Sundried fish can last for weeks. Bajau people trade their surplus seafood to nearby islanders. In return, they will stock up on essentials, collect water, or buy cassava to prepare a typical dish called Kasaba Panggykayu.

Credit: Claudio Sieber
Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

The picturesque Maiga Island and its offshore Bajau community. During the climax of conflict in the Philippines in the early 1990s, former Sulu militants as well as military personnel who were tired of killing their compatriots started to flock to the east coast of Borneo. On Maiga Island, they’ve been granted the right to settle by a Malay-Bajau who rightfully owns the title for this island.

Credit: Claudio Sieber
Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

An aerial image of Bangau Bangau settlement in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia. The stilt house village was initiated around 1970 by the Malay politician and ex-chief minister of Sabah, Tun Sakaran, as a sanctuary for the Bajau community. Ever since, the village has grown exponentially, mostly thanks to ethnic Bajau with Malay citizenship. Bajau who migrated from the Philippine part of the Sulu Sea remain stateless.

Credit: Claudio Sieber
Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

Bajau people who fled civil unrest in the Philippines 30 years ago, as well as their offspring, remain stateless. They don’t have access to Malaysia’s health or education system, and can only hold a few types of menial jobs. The best a stateless Bajau can get is a “Surat lepa-lepa” (a “boat letter”). According to a 2015 study by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Ethnic Studies Institute, the letter is issued by a village chief to verify a person’s identity as a Bajau Laut.

Credit: Claudio Sieber
Bajau: The Vanishing Seafarers of Southeast Asia

The Bajau are considered the world’s best freedivers, relying on this skill to hunt and feed themselves. They can stay underwater for up to 13 minutes at depths of 200 feet. This also makes their food unique. While many sea animals would never make it on fine dining tables, the Bajau eat various sea creatures. Sea cucumbers for instance, are a valuable protein boost for the Bajau.

Credit: Claudio Sieber

The Bajau people have long traversed the Sulu Sea, but their lives grew more complicated with the establishment of borders by Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia during the colonial era. Migration between the Philippines and Malaysia’s Sabah region was common in the 15th century. However, the Malaysian Immigration Act of 1959/1963 disrupted worry-free seafaring by failing to distinguish between asylum seekers, refugees, irregular migrants, and stateless individuals. Besides, the civil war in western Mindanao in 1970 led many Bajau families to struggle with Malaysia’s bureaucracy after migrating to Borneo’s East Coast. To the Bajau, borders represent the farthest reach of their boats.

Today, only 100-200 seafarers remain on traditional “Lansa” houseboats near Borneo’s shorelines. Financial constraints and tree-cutting restrictions imposed by Sabah Parks push many to join offshore communities or become outcasts on the mainland, devoid of rights and citizenship. Consequently, Bajau of Philippine descent gather on offshore communities, including small islands, to preserve their ancestral maritime hunting skills. However, being stateless deprives them and their children of government privileges like education and formal employment.

To this day, the seafaring Bajau defy the relentless rhythms of globalization and continue to slip through the cracks of modernity. Their frugal way of life is as vibrant as ever, yet they are increasingly drawn closer to the urban marketplace, where they must now contend with the harsh laws of civilization.

The future of the Bajau is challenged by factors such as climate change, particularly the increasing water temperature that will affect their hunting grounds and consequently threaten their traditional way of life. This situation forces them to adapt to new environmental realities.

Despite their hardships, the Bajau have safeguarded their artisan talents. A self-taught carpenter can design a fishing boat without sketches in just a week. They construct charming stilt huts through three weeks of collective effort, accommodating families or communities of up to 30 people.

The Bajau are renowned as exceptional freedivers, thanks to their enlarged spleens, enabling them to stay underwater for up to 10 minutes at depths of 200 feet. Their unique abilities influence their diet, including the consumption of sea creatures not typically considered delicacies. Sea cucumbers, for instance, provide valuable protein, and they also possess medicinal properties for diabetes, cancer, and even act as an aphrodisiac. Families spontaneously trade surplus seafood, such as fish, lobster, and sea cucumber with nearby islanders, procuring essential items for their survival.