Echoes of Bajautopia

Dr Ng Keng-Khoon, an expert in architecture and topics related to cultural conservation, discusses the inspiration behind his latest book, Bajautopia: Tales of Borneo’s Sea Nomads

- Kiran Pillay

Released in 2022, Bajautopia: Tales of Borneo’s Sea Nomads, co-edited by Dr Ng Keng-Khoon and Farah Aliza Badaruddin, highlights the hopes and plights of the Bajau Laut community. This engaging compilation of essays and architectural research endeavours to spark stimulating discussions and debates aimed at enhancing the lives of these nomads. Also known as Sama Dilaut and less commonly referred to as “Sea Gypsies,” Bajau Laut are one of the sub-groups of the greater Sama-Bajau collective, comprising several closely related indigenous groups who regard themselves as a distinct ethnicity, with populations distributed around the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

The Bajau Laut have lived scattered throughout the Celebes Seas or the Sulu-Semporna-South Sulawesi Triangle, ancestral territories for over 1,000 years. In Sabah, these highly proficient divers often live in elaborately crafted houseboats called Lepa, or wooden huts on stilts out at sea. They are generally regarded as stateless by the Malaysian government, without legal citizenship, leaving them without legal documentation and fundamental rights. This renders the community exceedingly susceptible to exploitation.

"Undocumented Bajau Laut have always suffered from delusive and derogatory representations. In many stigmatised situations, terms associated with them include 'backward, 'uncivilised,' sometimes even 'unlawful' and 'violent. The discrimination they face is most evidenced by their living environments, including infrastructural inequality, no access to clean water and electricity, not to mention the severe lack of education and healthcare services," Ng clarifies.