Common - Sea Gypsies

The term used to describe seafarers or sea gypsies are different across different countries or regions.

Orang Laut is the common Malay term used for seafearers or sea gypsies where it literally means the sea peoples. The Orang laut live and travel in their boats on the sea, while most of them live along the coastal regions around South China Sea area.

The term encompasses the numerous tribes and groups inhabiting the islands and estuaries in the Riau-Lingga Archipelagos, the Pulau Tujuh Islands, the Batam Archipelago, and the coasts and offshore islands of eastern Sumatra, southern Malaysia Peninsula and Singapore. [1]

Historically, the orang laut played major roles in Srivijaya, the Sultanate of Malacca, and the Sultanate of Johor. They patrolled the adjacent sea areas, repelling real pirates, directing traders to their employers' ports and maintaining those ports' dominance in the area. [2]

Straits of Melacca, Singapore, Indonesia Orang Laut

They were one of the earlier immigrants who settled along the coastline of Singapore island during pre-colonial days. The community typically lived off a long dwelling boat, known colloquially as sampan panjang, or "long boat".

The Orang Laut who were inhabiting Singapore around 1819 were made up of different groups. They included the Orang Laut of the Riau-Lingga archipelago such as the Orang Galang, Orang Gelam, Orang Selatar, Orang Biduanda Kallang and the Orang Selat. The only commonality they shared was some degree of Malay ethnicity and a preference for living on boats rather than on land. [4]

In early Singapore, the headman of the Orang Laut, referred to as batin (chief) acted as messenger for the Temenggong and Viceroy of Riau. These officials offered protection to the Orang Laut who in turn served as boatmen, rowers or warriors on pirate escapades. Otherwise they lived off the sea as simple fishing folks. Many of the Orang Gelam who lived along the Singapore River served as boatmen for merchant ships, while their womenfolk were fruit sellers on boats.

Although culturally and linguistically very different, the situation of the Orang Laut, as we know it from the 16th through the end of the nineteenth century, was in many ways similar to that of the Sama-Bajau. Even more than Sulu, the Straits of Malacca, along the southern approaches to which the Orang Laut were very largely concentrated, were and continue to be a major cross-roads of maritime commerce. They were also the primary arena of Malay political history. Thus historians like Wolters (1967, 1979) on Srivijaya and Andaya (1974, 1975) on the Johor Kingdom have stressed the centrally important role they see the Malay-speaking Orang Laut as playing in providing the naval power and communicative links on which the hegemony of successive Malay states was based in a zone of otherwise relatively sparse population. Here, like Sulu, the sea nomads similarly emerged, together with a variety of related coastal and strand peoples, from a common cultural matrix. [5]

Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) - Chao Lay/Moken/Urak Lawoi

The islands and coastal regions along the Andaman Sea are home to a unique group of people, who due to their maritime nomadic way of life are known in Thai as the Chao Lay, (people of the sea) or Chao nam (people of the water) and as sea nomads or sea gypsies in English. The Chao Lay are divided into three distinct groups: the Moken, the Moklen and the Urak Lawoi. The total population of sea nomads in the year 2000 was estimated at around 9,500, e.g. 7,000 in Thailand and 2,500 in Myanmar. (Figures from UNESCO) They lives along the west coast of Thailand and Burma. The Sea Gypsies are a minority group that number only a few tens of thousands in Andaman Sea and Thailand. They maintain a nomadic sea-based culture and live almost entirely on boats and practice shamanic rites. [3]

The name Moken is used for all of the Austronesian speaking tribes who inhabit the coast and islands in the Andaman Sea on the west coast of Thailand, the provinces of Satun, Trang, Krabi, Phuket, Phang Nga, and Ranong, up through the Mergui Archipelago of Burma (Myanmar).

Urak Lawoi are an Aboriginal Malay people (Austranesian) residing on the islands of Phuket, Phi Phi, Jum, Lanta, Bulon and on Lipe and Adang, in the Adang Archipelago,[1] off the western coast of Thailand. The population of approximately 6,000 speak a language related closely to Malay but influenced by Thai. The Urak Lawoi are sometimes classified with the Moken, but they are linguistically and ethnologically distinct, being much more closely related to the Malay people.

Borneo, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines Bajau/Sama-Bajau

Other ethnic groups, who are often being grouped with the seafarers, are Bajau in the southern archipelago of Philippines, eastern Malaysia and Indonesia. They are the second largest indigenous group of Sabah, and some of the last true marine nomads on earth.

They usually live a seaborne lifestyle, and use small wooden sailing vessels such as the perahu, (Layag in Meranau) djenging, balutu, lepa, pilang, and vinta (or lepa-lepa). Some Sama-Bajau groups native to Sabah are also known for their traditional horse culture.

(History source #1 [7]) The Sama-Bajau are traditionally from the many islands of the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines (where they are grouped together with the Moro people), as well as parts of the coastal areas of Mindanao and northern Borneo. In the last 50 years, many of the Filipino Sama-Bajau have migrated to neighbouring Malaysia and the northern islands of the Philippines, due to the conflict in Mindanao. As of 2010, they were the second-largest ethnic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah. Groups of Sama-Bajau have also migrated to Sulawesi and North Kalimantan in Indonesia, although their exact population is unknown.

(History source #2 [6]) Nobody knows for sure where the Bajau came from, or why they first took to their aquatic lifestyle. Two differing theories suggest that they may originate from the Philippines or Johor in Malaysia, while a third theory claims that they came from the Riau Archipelago islands of Indonesia. Some Bajau believe they descended from royal guards of the Johor Sultanate who took to the seas. Yet wherever they derive from, the Bajau have been living a nomadic, ocean-dwelling life for centuries.

(History source #3 [8]) Other Bajau began living entirely on land about 200 years ago. Many of these are to be found in Malaysia's eastern state, Sabah, on the island of Borneo. Of course the seafaring Bajau make their living from fishing. Those who have abandoned that lifestyle have become farmers and cattle rearers, earning them the local nickname, "cowboys of the east." Indeed their equine skills are well known in this part of the world, and are always to be found displayed in Bajau ceremonial events. Still other Bajau live a lifestyle between nomadic and sedentary, housed in villages on the water, but not far from land.

Note: history source #1, #2, #3 could be conflicting. Sources: #1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sama-Bajau_peoples, #2: http://scribol.com/anthropology-and-history/the-bajau-sea-gypsies-of-borneo, #3: http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Bajau.

Sama-Bajau have sometimes been called the "Sea Gypsies" or "Sea Nomads", terms that have 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 Sama-Bajau from older inhabited areas seems to have been associated with the development of sea trade in sea cucumber (trepang).

Background (Bajau)

A variety of local legends traces the original dispersal of the Bajau to the loss or abduction of a princess, a mythic event variously associated with the different early sultanates of the region: Johore, Malacca, Brunei, Sulu, Luwu, or Bone. In more prosaic terms, linguistic evidence suggests that the Proto-Sama-Bajau-speaking ancestors of the present Bajau began to spread from an original homeland located in the northeastern islands of Sulu, southwest of Mindanao, sometime early in the first millennium A.D. The principal movement was southwestward, through the Sulu Archipelago of the Philippines, to the eastern Borneo coast. From Sulu and eastern Borneo, subsequent migrations carried Bajau speakers eastward through the Straits of Makassar to coastal Sulawesi and from there southeastward into the Moluccas.

For almost 200 years the Bajau acted as the principal gatherers of trepang throughout the eastern islands of Indonesia. In northern Borneo, the Bajau were already well established when Captain Thomas Forrest first visited the western and northern coasts of what is now Sabah in 1773. In western Sabah, the Bajau were under the loose suzerainty of the Brunei sultanate and in some areas, notably Tempasuk, maintained close ties with small Illanun enclaves; some of them, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, staged settlements for slave-raiding voyages into other parts of Southeast Asia. On the southeastern coast of Sabah, the Bajau were historically part of the Sulu zone, a maritime sphere of political and commercial interests dominated by the Sulu sultanate and its Tausug rulers. Here the principal seat of power was at Jolo, in the central islands of the Sulu Archipelago. [11]

Living (Bajau)

The Bajau live on houses on stilts, which are situated just off an island in one of the richest reefs in the world. The reefs are part of the Coral Triangle, which is an ecologically valuable area between Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Timor-Leste. Its also an area teeming with fish and coral and is recognized as the global center of marine biodiversity earning it the nickname The Amazon of the Seas. Over 120 million people are sustained by this incredible part of the ocean, including the Bajau, who rely on fishing for sustenance and income. [6]

Way of Life (Bajau)

Their knowledge of the sea enables them to live off its fauna and flora by using simple tools such as nets and spears to forage for food. What is not consumed is dried atop their boats, then used to barter for other necessities at local markets. During the monsoon season, they build additional boats while occupying temporary huts.

They live in houseboats which generally accommodates a single nuclear family (usually five people). The houseboats travel together in flotillas with houseboats of immediate relatives (a family alliance) and co-operate during fishing expeditions and in ceremonies. A married couple may choose to sail with the relatives of the husband or the wife. They anchor at common mooring points (called sambuangan) with other flotillas (usually also belonging to extended relatives) at certain times of the year.

These mooring points are usually presided over by an elder or headsman. The mooring points are close to sources of water or culturally significant locations like island cemeteries. There are periodic gatherings of Sama-Bajau clans usually for various ceremonies like weddings or festivals. They generally do not sail more than 40 km (24.85 mi) from their "home" moorage. They periodically trade goods with the land-based communities of other Sama-Bajau and other ethnic groups. Sama-Bajau groups may routinely cross the borders of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia for fishing, trading, or visiting relatives.

They spend most of their time on boats or stilted huts, diving and spearfishing. Most can't read or write, and have little concept of time, but welcomed him generously into their homes. And being around water from a young age results in the best divers being able to stay submerged at depths of 20 metres for several minutes, while they hunt for fish. [6]

Although some of the seafaring tribe are born on the ocean and never live on the land, more frequently the sea gypsies are heading to the shore for trade and to gather materials to build boats. They collect clams and hunt for small fish in the beautiful surrounding waters and then travel the one-hour journey to the market in Semporna where they sell their wares.

Among the Bajau there are a number of different sub-groups, which vary according to where the people come from or where they live. The subgroup Ubian and are thought to be from the island of South Ubian, which is in Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines, makes up the largest sub-group of Bajau in the state of Sabah. [6]

From old to young, the Bajau are a colorful, festive and musical people. They believe they are descended from royalty. This is perhaps partly why they wear such richly colorful clothes, often made by hand from traditional dastar fabric. Brides and grooms wear even more colorful clothing at their wedding. The more highly regarded a woman is the more brightly and colorfully she will be dressed. She will also receive many water buffalo which, to the Bajau, is a special animal that usually forms part of any woman's dowry. Arranged marriages are common. Marriage by kidnap and elopement are also still quite frequent.

Culture (Bajau)

Music, dance, and arts - Sama-Bajau traditional songs are handed down orally through generations. The songs are usually sung during marriage celebrations (kanduli pagkawin), accompanied by dance (pang-igal) and musical instruments like pulau (flute), gabbang (xylophone), tagunggo' (kulintang gongs), and in modern times, electronic keyboards. There are several types of Sama-Bajau traditional songs, they include: isun-isun, runsai, najat, syair, nasid, bua-bua anak, and tinggayun.

Among the more specific examples of Sama-Bajau songs are three love songs collectively referred to as Sangbayan. These are Dalling Dalling, Duldang Duldang, and Pakiring Pakiring. The most well-known of these three is Pakiring Pakiring (literally "moving the hips"), which is more familiar to the Tausg in its commercialised and modernised form Dayang Dayang. The Tausg claim that the song is native to their culture, and whether the song is originally Tausg or Sama-Bajau remain controversial. Most Sama-Bajau folk songs are becoming extinct, largely due to the waning interest of the younger generations.

Sama-Bajau people are also well known for weaving and needlework skills. *

Note: could be more towards land-based West Coast Bajau

Horse Culture. The more settled land-based West Coast Bajau are expert equestrians which makes them remarkable in Malaysia, where horse riding has never been widespread anywhere else. The traditional costume of Sama-Bajau horsemen consists of a black or white long-sleeved shirt (badu sampit) with gold buttons (betawi) on the front and decorated with silver floral designs (intiras), black or white trousers (seluar sampit) with gold lace trimmings, and a headpiece (podong). They carry a spear (bujak), a riding crop (pasut), and a silver-hilted keris dagger. The horse is also caparisoned with a colourful outfit called kain kuda that also have brass bells (seriau) attached. The saddle (sila sila) is made from water buffalo hide, and padded with cloth (lapik) underneath. *

Note: *applicable for land-based West Coast Bajau

Religion (Bajay/Sama-Bajau)

Religion can vary among the different Sama-Bajau subgroups; from a strict adherence to Sunni Islam, forms of folk Islam, to animistic beliefs in spirits and ancestor worship. There is a small minority of Catholics and Protestants, particularly from Davao del Sur in the Philippines. [7]

Among the modern coastal Sama-Bajau of Malaysia, claims to religious piety and learning are an important source of individual prestige. Some of the Sama-Bajau lack mosques and must rely on the shore-based communities such as those of the more Islamised or Malay peoples. Some of the more nomadic Sama-Bajau, like the Ubian Bajau, are much less adherent to orthodox Islam. They practice a syncretic form of folk Islam, also revering local sea spirits, known in Islamic terminology as Jinn.

The ancient Sama-Bajau were animistic, and this is retained wholly or partially in some Sama-Bajau groups. The supreme deities in Sama-Bajau mythology are Umboh Tuhan (also known as Umboh Dilaut, the "Lord of the Sea") and his consort, Dayang Dayang Mangilai ("Lady of the Forest"). Umboh Tuhan is regarded as the creator deity who made humans equal with animals and plants. Like other animistic religions, they also fundamentally divide the world into the physical and spiritual realms which coexist together. In modern Muslim Sama-Bajau, Umboh Tuhan (or simply Tuhan or Tuan) is usually equated with Allah.

Almost all Bajau today claim to be Sunni Muslim. They believe that among their people are direct descendants of the prophet Mohammed. Yet many predominantly the seafaring, nomadic Bajau retain spiritually based religious practices that pre-date any major religion. In their religion designated spirit mediums communicate with the spirit world in ritual ceremonies of celebration, worship and exorcism in which, for example, spirit boats are sailed into the open seas to cast the offending spirit away from their community. They also worship the God of the sea, Omboh Dilaut.

Ability (Bajau)

Bajau are noted for their exceptional abilities in free-diving, with physical adaptations that enable them to see better and dive longer underwater. Divers work long days with the "greatest daily apnea diving time reported in humans" of greater than 5 hours per day submerged.

When it comes to fishing, the Bajau can hold their breath for up to five minutes, swimming down to depths of around 66 feet (20 m)! This amazing ability is something they train for from childhood. [6]

Since diving is the main occupation for the Bajau people, some Bajau intentionally rupture their eardrums at an early age to facilitate diving and hunting at sea. Many older Sama-Bajau are therefore hard of hearing. They hunt with spear guns fashioned from boat timber, tyre rubber and scrap metal. Sama-Bajau women also use a traditional sun-protecting powder called burak or borak, made from water weeds, rice and spices.

Modern Issues

In recent decades, the majority of the community has been forced into settlements built on stilts near their fishing grounds. The local government has been trying to settle nomads to make everyone accountable as part of campaign to cut piracy.

As a stateless people, they do not have the right to education or health services. The wildlife of the area and these communities are at risk, as large fishing companies and exporters look to make more profits at the expense of the areas delicate ecosystem thus directly affecting the Bajau.

References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orang_laut[2] Mary Somers Heidhues. Southeast Asia: A Concise History. London: Hudson and Thames, 2000. Page 27[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seafarers_(ethnic_groups)[4] http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_551_2005-01-09.html[5] http://press.anu.edu.au/austronesians/austronesians/mobile_devices/ch13s05.html[6] http://scribol.com/anthropology-and-history/the-bajau-sea-gypsies-of-borneo[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sama-Bajau_peoples[8] http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Bajau[9] http://www.jamesmorgan.co.uk/features/bajau-laut-sea-nomads/ (photographer James Morgan)[10] http://busanhaps.com/bajau/[11] http://www.everyculture.com/East-Southeast-Asia/Bajau-History-and-Cultural-Relations.html[12] http://matadornetwork.com/notebook/last-sea-nomads/[13] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2010/sep/20/bajau-sea-nomads[14] http://www.adamdocker.com/photos/bajau-sea-gypsies/ (photographer Adam Docker)