The Bajau (/ˈbædʒɔː/, also spelled Badjao, Bajaw, Bajao, Bajo, Badjau, or Badjaw), and also known as Sama or Samal, are a Moro indigenous ethnic group ofMaritime Southeast Asia. The Bajau live a seaborne lifestyle, and use small wooden sailing vessels such as the perahu and vinta.
The Bajau are traditionally from the many islands of the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines, as well as parts of the coastal areas of Mindanao and northern Borneo. In the last 50 years, many of the Filipino Bajau have migrated to neighbouring Malaysia and the northern islands of the Philippines, due to the conflict in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. As of 2010, they were the second-largest ethnic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah.[1] Groups of Bajau have also migrated to Sulawesi and North Kalimantan in Indonesia, although their exact population is unknown.[3]
Bajau have sometimes been called the "Sea Gypsies", a term that has also been used for non-related ethnic groups with similar traditional lifestyles, such as the Moken of the Burmese-Thai Mergui Archipelago and the Orang Laut of southeastern Sumatra and the Riau Islands of Indonesia. The modern outward spread of the Bajau from older inhabited areas seems to have been associated with the development of sea trade in sea cucumber (trepang).
Term
Like the term Kadazan-Dusun, Bajau is a collective term, used to describe several closely related indigenous groups. These Bajau groups also blend culturally with theSama groups into what is most properly called the Sama–Bajau people. Historically the term "Sama" was used to describe the more land-oriented and settled Sama–Bajau groups, while "Bajau" was used to describe the more sea-oriented, boat-dwelling, nomadic groups. Even these distinctions are fading as the majority of Bajaus have long since abandoned boat living, most for Sama–style piling houses in the coastal shallows. Today, the greatest feature distinguishing the "Bajau" from the "Sama" is their poverty.
The Sama–Bajau peoples speak some ten languages of the Sama–Bajau subgroup of the Western Malayo-Polynesian language family.[4] Sinama is the most common name for these languages, but they can also be called Bajau, especially in Malaysia.
History
The exact origin of the word "Bajau" is unclear. It is generally accepted that these groups of people can be termed Bajau, though they never call themselves Bajau. Instead, they call themselves with the names of their tribes, usually the place they live or place of origin. They accept the term Bajau because they realise that they share some vocabulary and general genetic characteristic.
British administrators in Sabah classified the Sama as "Bajau" and labelled them as such in their birth certificates. During their time in Malaysia, some have started labelling themselves as their ancestors called themselves, such as Simunul. For political reasons and to ensure easy access to the special privileges granted to ethnic Malays, many have started calling themselves Malay. This is especially true for recent Moro Filipino migrants.
For most of their history, the Bajau have been a nomadic, seafaring people, living off the sea by trading and subsistence fishing.[5] The boat dwelling Bajau see themselves as non-aggressive people. They kept close to the shore by erecting houses on stilts, and travelled using lepa-lepa, handmade boats which many lived in.[5] Although historically originating from the southern Philippine coasts, Sabahan Sama legend narrates that they are descended from members of the royal guard of the Johor Sultanate, after the fall of the Malacca Empire, who settled along the east coast of Borneo after being driven there by storms. Another version goes that a Johorean princess was washed away by a flood. In his grief her father ordered his subjects to sea to return only when they had found his daughter.
However, there are traces that Sama people came from Riau Archipelago especially Lingga Island more than 300 years ago. It is believed by some that the migration process of Samah to North West Borneo took place more than 100 years earlier, starting from trade with the Empire of Brunei (the Johorean princess who in the origin myth was a royal bride being sent to Sulu but was kidnapped by the Prince of Brunei). With the overthrow of the legitimate Sultan of Johor by Bugis conquerors, the Sama people fled to the western coast of North Borneo, where they felt safe to live under the protection of the Brunei Sultanate. That is why native Kadazan-Dusun call Sama people as "tuhun" or "tulun Sama ("people of Sama") in their dialects, the form of recognition before the arrival of westerners. It was believed that Sama people are not from the royalty of the Sultanate, but loyal workers, craftsmen, boat builders and farmers that fled from cruelty of ethnic cleansing in chaotic Johor during aggression of the Bugis taking over the throne of Johor.
Today the number of Bajau who are born and live primarily at sea is diminishing, partially due to hotly debated government programs which have moved Bajau on to the mainland.[5] Currently, there exists a huge settlement of Filipino Bajau in Pulau Gaya, off the Sabahcoast. Many of them are illegal immigrants on the Malaysian island. With the island as a base, they frequently enter Sabah and find jobs as manual labourers.
Discrimination of Bajau (particularly from the dominant Tausūg people, who have historically viewed them as 'inferior', and less specifically from the majority Christian Filipinos)[6] and the continuing violence in Muslim Mindanao, have driven many Bajau to begging, or to emigrate. They usually resettle in Malaysia and Indonesia, where they are less discriminated against.[7][8]
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