Stateless in Sabah: Malaysia’s Bajau Laut eviction sparks rights issues as protest march looms
- Furore follows viral video last month of uniformed personnel tearing down wooden houses of indigenous sea gypsies
![A neighbourhood of a Bajau Laut community is seen in Sulawesi Sea in Malaysia’s state of Sabah on Borneo island. File photo: Reuters](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1020x680/public/d8/images/canvas/2024/07/01/fd38244f-2ae1-48a9-9297-4dd3fd890a0e_0fa767e1.jpg?itok=7I6ukwnY&v=1719811816)
The demolition of a Bajau Laut settlement in Sabah has put the spotlight on statelessness in Malaysian Borneo, as activists threaten to march on parliament to demand recognition for marginalised communities in the state.
Authorities were heavily criticised in early June after videos went viral showing uniformed personnel tearing down wooden houses – and allegedly torching others – in an operation to clear alleged squatter colonies on islands off the coast of Semporna district in Sabah’s east coast.
Rights activists alleged heavy-handed treatment, including destroying crops grown by the Bajau Laut, famed for being expert divers able to hold their breath underwater for more than 10 minutes, a trait shared by related communities living in neighbouring Philippines and Indonesia.
The group, known as “sea gypsies”, now had no shelter, a rights defender said.
“Many of them are just scattered and living out in the open since the operation. Some went to Semporna town, some moved to nearby villages,” Mukmin Nantang, the founder of rights group Borneo Komrad, told This Week in Asia.
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