The campaign of destruction against 'sea gypsies'

Malaysian police have been demolishing the offshore homes of a nomadic maritime tribe, with hundreds evicted as part of a crackdown on undocumented migrants.

Famous for their free-diving skills, the Bajau Laut ("sea gypsies") live on houseboats and huts on stilts, in the shallow Sulu Sea off Borneo. But as many do not register their births, they cannot attend school or access social services. The often "poor and uneducated" stateless group are "discriminated against" by other ethnic groups in Sabah, the Malaysian state that comprises northern Borneo, said The Times. 

Last month more than 500 Bajau people were evicted in what local activists called a "government crackdown on undocumented migrants", said Reuters. Officials have been "burning and demolishing" Bajau homes on seven islands, according to a Sabah-based campaign group. The Bajau "often live in fear" of authorities, who "do not make a distinction between stateless residents and undocumented migrants".

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A traditional, self-sufficient life

The Bajau people have been "crisscrossing the waters of the Sulu Sea for centuries", said The Guardian. 

They were first mentioned in 1521 by the Venetian explorer Antonio Pigafetta, who went on the first voyage to circumnavigate the Earth, and are believed to be the world's only community of "self-sufficient sea nomads". 

The nomadic tribe "never settles on land", said The Sun. They live on houseboats and collect shellfish from the sea floor, but also differ in more physical ways from their land-bound peers. The "fish people" have evolved to have bigger spleens, which act like a "scuba tank" and store oxygen, allowing the Bajau to stay underwater for up to 10 minutes at a time. They can also dive down to 200 feet, like a "real-life Aquaman". 

"The spleen is a reservoir for oxygenated red blood cells, so when it contracts, it gives you an oxygen boost," Melissa Ilardo, from the University of Copenhagen, told the BBC in 2018. "When they're diving in the traditional way, they dive repeatedly for about eight hours a day, spending about 60% of their time underwater." These deep dives are performed with "only a wooden mask or goggles and a weight belt", said the broadcaster. 

Scientists found that both divers and non-divers of the community had similar-sized spleens, about 50% larger than normal, which implies that it is genetic: a product of evolution rather than a consequence of diving. 

Crackdown on stateless people

Life for the Bajau "became more complex in the colonial era", said The Guardian. Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia created maritime borders in the Sulu, as part of the Madrid protocol of 1885, "without bothering to consider the distribution and diversity of the ethnic groups who lived there".

But it was the Malaysian Immigration Act of 1959 that "most significantly changed things" for the Bajau. The law "failed to distinguish between asylum seekers, refugees, irregular migrants and undocumented or stateless individuals". 

The Bajau "were in a precarious legal situation". Many were forced to settle near Borneo, where they have "grappled with Malaysia's bureaucratic processes ever since". 

Today, many in the tribe have no legal documents and are "deprived of government privileges", said The Sun. "Once self-sufficient, the tribe finds itself in poverty when they set foot ashore."

In recent years, Malaysia has "stepped up enforcement against illegal migration", said Reuters, detaining an estimated 45,000 undocumented people since 2020, according to Human Rights Watch in March. 

Last month hundreds of Bajau stilt homes in a Malaysian marine park on Borneo were demolished, said The Associated Press. The state "defended its move to tear down the unauthorised settlements", saying the aim was to bolster security and that eviction notices had been sent. But the Bajau said they have been "left homeless".

An activist documenting the attacks on the group's behalf was arrested last week under a sedition law of 1948, created by the British colonial government. Mukmin Nantang's videos showing men in plain clothes "pulling down" Bajau homes, which were later "set on fire", have "embarrassed the local authorities", said The Times. 

"Their way of life has been encroached upon for a long time. They were forced to move to the land," said Mukmin. "Now, their lives are being destroyed again, and they are not provided with alternative shelters. Where are they supposed to go?"