The Bajau people

Geographically, the Bajau occupies several regions in Southeast Asia and becomes the indigenous people in three countries; the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. In Malaysia, the Bajau mostly reside in Sabah. Ethnically, Bajau are Malays and exhibit many Malay cultural traits. The Bajau is an indigenous ethnic group of Maritime Southeast Asia, making up 13.4% of the total population of Sabah, the 2nd largest ethnic group in the state.

In this state, there are two major settlements of the Bajau community, namely the district of Kota Belud located on the West Coast as well as the district of Semporna, located on the East Coast.

The term Bajau is originally given by outsiders to this people though the Bajau themselves prefer to be called Sama- Jomo Sama, as in west coast Bajau and A’a Sama, as in the east coast, both of which considered as part of Sama People.

Many Bajaus of the east coast retain their seaborne lifestyle and as such, are sometimes referred to as the "Sea Gypsies".

The legend of the Bajau from Pulau Omadal stated that Bajau people were originally from Johor, then moved to Sulu and finally anchored in Sabah. Other studied also stated that the Bajau were boat dwellers of the Malay Peninsula.

Meanwhile, the other opinion which claim that the Bajau people are from the Southern Philippines may be referred to the linguistic evidence, based on the comparative study of languages by James Collins which argues that there are similarities between the dialects of Bajau people in Sabah with the Bajau people in Indonesia and in the Southern Philippines.

Religion of the Bajau can vary from a strict adherence to sunni-islam to animistic beliefs in spirits and ancestor worship. Traditional Bajau communities may have a dukun (i.e. a shaman) and may adhere to taboos concerning the treatment of the sea and other cultural aspects. An example of this is the offering of thanks to the "embo dilaut”, the God of the Sea, whenever a particularly large catch is brought in.
The Bajau people