Akar Nusa
At dawn off Semporna, a family pushes off in a small boat. The father slips into the water with a mask and a spear. The children know the colour of the sea in every season. Their grandparents lived on the boat for most of the year. Their parents moved to a house on stilts. They are still people of the sea.
The story
The Bajau Laut are a community of the sea, living in the Semporna area on the south-east coast of Sabah. The group names itself Sama Dilaut, which a chapter published by ANU Press translates as "Sea Sama" or "Oceanic Sama". They belong to the larger Sama-Bajau family of peoples, who live on shorelines and islands across the Sulu Archipelago, the Mindanao coast, eastern Borneo and eastern Indonesia.
The same chapter tells us that the earliest mention of Sama maritime peoples is from the sixteenth century, and that language studies reach back to the first millennium. It suggests that Proto-Sama-Bajau speakers lived around the Basilan Straits, northern Sulu and the Mindanao coast, and that the dispersal began around the tenth century. It also suggests that boat nomadism is comparatively recent and probably grew out of coastal foraging. Other scholars may see it differently.
Boat life was a family life. Each boat housed one family, and families anchored together in bands. They worked as divers and fishers, bringing tortoise-shell, sea cucumber and pearls. They depended on land-based neighbours for protection and trade. In the field studies of 1964 to 1974, about 5 percent of Sama speakers in the Semporna district lived this way. In the twentieth century, boat life nearly vanished as families settled in villages on the shore.
Today, according to The Star, most Bajau Laut live in water villages, on islands or on the Semporna mainland. Their traditional houseboat is the lepa, which was also a fishing vessel and a means of transport. Some features of the lepa tradition continue at the Regatta Lepa in Semporna, which has been held since 1994 and includes a parade of decorated lepa.
Please remember that some Bajau Laut live without papers, and face real difficulties. We tell their story with respect for those difficulties and for their skill.
Where you can still see it today
- Semporna. Visit the waterfront and the water villages. Please go with local guides and ask permission before taking photographs of people.
- Regatta Lepa. The festival shows decorated lepa and traditional dance. Check the dates before you plan, because they have changed in recent years.
- The sea itself. The Bajau Laut's knowledge of reefs, tides and fish is living knowledge.
- In science. A 2018 study of Bajau divers in Southeast Asia found genetic selection linked to larger spleens, which carry more oxygen-rich blood. The study did not say that every Bajau person has this trait.
What DNA can tell, and what it cannot
Mother lines, father lines and region estimates may show island Southeast Asian links for Sama-Bajau families. The diving study shows that life at sea may leave a mark on genes over many generations.
DNA cannot decide who is Bajau Laut, or give anyone papers or belonging. It also cannot decide race, religion or bumiputera status. And science about one group should not be used to label individuals.
