Akar Nusa
A Sunday morning on the road to Kota Belud. Pickup trucks full of vegetables, buffalo, fish and woven mats arrive before the sun is high. This is the tamu, the open-air market where the Bajau, the Dusun and others have traded for generations.
The story
The West Coast Bajau live on Sabah's western coast, and Kota Belud is the heart of their country. Many of them prefer the name Sama, and their Dusun neighbours also call them Sama. The name "Bajau" was the one used by British officials in the records, so it is the one on Malaysian forms.
The Bajau of this coast are best known for horses. Unlike their cousins in Semporna, who live by the sea, the Kota Belud Bajau are farmers and horse breeders on land. Their horse culture is known across Sabah. Wikipedia's Kota Belud article adds that the district is shared with the Dusun and a Chinese minority, mainly Hakka.
Scholars place the Sama-Bajaw languages as one of the five language-based groups of Sabah's native peoples. A 2022 review says Sabah natives are close relatives of the native peoples of Taiwan and the Philippines. That fits the idea of Austronesian-speaking sailors and farmers who spread through the islands. The review also says the history is probably layered, with more than one wave.
The article on the Sama-Bajau also records a hard chapter. Land held under colonial arrangements was often not recognised later. Some families lost it, and some land was sold on, leaving some Sama-Bajau without land.
Where you can still see it today
- The Sunday tamu in Kota Belud town, held every week.
- Tamu Besar, the "Grand Market", held once a year on a much bigger scale.
- Horse culture: the Bajau of this coast are known for their horses, so ask locally where riding events are held.
- Paddy fields around Kota Belud, the green setting of the town.
What DNA can tell, and what it cannot
Sabah's native peoples share deep Austronesian roots. In one study of 48 Kedayan people from Sabah and Sarawak, the mother line B4a1a was the most common at 25 percent, and the line is widespread among Austronesian peoples. That study was not of the Bajau. It shows the kind of mother lines common across the region. Malaysians we have tested with a B4 mother line may share that wide history.
We did not find a mother-line or father-line study of the West Coast Bajau alone, so a region estimate here is a broad picture.
DNA does not decide which people you belong to, your religion or any legal status. Family, community and law do.
