Diving Sama-Bajau child at Davao Gulf, Philippines
| |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Total: 1,093,672+ worldwide. At least 470,000 in the Philippines; At least 436,672 in Sabah, Malaysia;[1] 175,000 in Indonesia;[2] 12,000 in Brunei.[3] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Philippines(Sulu Archipelago, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao del Sur, Mindanao also significant populations in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu) Elsewhere | |
| Languages | |
| Sinama,[4] Bajau, Tausūg, Zamboangueño Chavacano, Cebuano, Filipino, Malay, Bugis, Indonesian and English | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam (majority), Folk Islam, Animism, Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Yakan, Iranun, Tausūg, other Moros, Filipinos Malays, Bugis, and other wider Austronesian peoples |
The Sama-Bajau refers to several Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia with their origins from the southern Philippines. The name collectively refers to related people who usually call themselves the Sama or Samah; or are known by the exonyms Bajau (/ˈbɑːdʒaʊ, ˈbæ-/, also spelled Badjao, Bajaw, Badjau, Badjaw, Bajo or Bayao) and Samal or Siyamal (the latter being considered offensive). 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).[5] Some Sama-Bajau groups native to Sabah are also known for their traditional horse culture.
The Sama-Bajau are traditionally from the many islands of the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines, coastal areas of Mindanao, northern and eastern Borneo, the Celebes, and throughout eastern Indonesian islands.[6] In the Philippines, they are grouped together with the religiously-similar Moro people. Within 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.[7][8] As of 2010, they were the second-largest ethnic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah.[1][9]
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).
Ethnonym
Like the term Kadazan-Dusun, Sama-Bajau is a collective term, used to describe several closely related indigenous people who consider themselves a single distinct bangsa ("ethnic group" or "nation").[5][10] It is generally accepted that these groups of people can be termed Sama or Bajau, though they never call themselves "Bajau" in the Philippines. Instead, they call themselves with the names of their tribes, usually the place they live or place of origin. For example, the sea-going Sama-Bajau prefer to call themselves the Sama Dilaut or Sama Mandilaut (literally "sea Sama" or "ocean Sama") in the Philippines; while in Malaysia, they identify as Bajau Laut.[11][12]
Historically in the Philippines, the term "Sama" was used to describe the more land-oriented and settled Sama–Bajau groups, while "Bajau" was used to describe the more sea-oriented, boat-dwelling, nomadic groups.[13] Even these distinctions are fading as the majority of Sama-Bajau have long since abandoned boat living, most for Sama–style piling houses in the coastal shallows.[12]
"Sama" is believed to have originated from the Austronesian root word sama meaning "together", "same", or "kin".[14][15][16][17] The exact origin of the exonym "Bajau" is unclear. Some authors have proposed that it is derived from a corruption of the Malay word berjauh ("getting further apart" or "the state of being away").[17][18] Other possible origins include the Brunei Malay word bajaul, which means "to fish".[18] The term "Bajau" has pejorative connotations in the Philippines, indicating poverty in comparison to the term "Sama". Especially since it is used most commonly to refer to poverty-stricken Sama-Bajau who make a living through begging.[12]
British administrators in Sabah classified the Sama-Bajau as "Bajau" and labelled them as such in their birth certificates. Thus the Sama-Bajau in Malaysia may sometimes self-identify as "Bajau" or even "Malay" (though the preferred term is "Sama"), for political reasons. This is due to the government recognition of the Sama-Bajau as legally Bumiputera (indigenous native) under the name "Bajau".[12] This ensures easy access to the special privileges granted to ethnic Malays. This is especially true for recent Moro Filipino migrants. The indigenous Sama-Bajau in Malaysia have also started labelling themselves as their ancestors called themselves, such as Simunul.
History and origin
For most of their history, the Sama-Bajau have been a nomadic, seafaring people, living off the sea by trading and subsistence fishing.[20] The boat-dwelling Sama-Bajau see themselves as non-aggressive people. They kept close to the shore by erecting houses on stilts, and travelled using lepa, handmade boats which many lived in.[20]
Oral traditions
Most of the various oral traditions and tarsila (royal genealogies) among the Sama-Bajau have a common theme which claims that they were originally a land-dwelling people who were the subjects of a king who had a daughter. After she is lost by either being swept away to the sea (by a storm or a flood) or being taken captive by a neighbouring kingdom, they were then supposedly ordered to find her. After failing to do so they decided to remain nomadic for fear of facing the wrath of the king.[5][19][21][22]
One such version widely told among the Sama-Bajau of Borneo claims that they descended from Johorean royal guards who were escorting a princess named Dayang Ayesha for marriage to a ruler in Sulu. However, the Sultan of Brunei (allegedly Muhammad Shah of Brunei) also fell in love with the princess. On the way to Sulu, they were attacked by Bruneians in the high seas. The princess was taken captive and married to the Sultan of Brunei instead. The escorts, having lost the princess, elected to settle in Borneo and Sulu rather than return to Johor.[23][24]
Among the Indonesian Sama-Bajau, on the other hand, their oral histories place more importance on the relationship of the Sama-Bajau with the Sultanate of Gowa rather than Johor. The various versions of their origin myth tell about a royal princess who was washed away by a flood. She was found and eventually married a king or a prince of Gowa. Their offspring then allegedly became the ancestors of the Indonesian Sama-Bajau.[21][25]
However, there are other versions which are also more mythological and do not mention a princess. Among the Philippine Sama-Bajau, for example, there is a myth that claims that the Sama-Bajau were accidentally towed into what is now Zamboanga by a giant stingray.[5] Incidentally, the native pre-Hispanic name of Zamboanga City is "Samboangan" (literally "mooring place"), which was derived from the Sinama word for a mooring pole, sambuang or samboang.[24]
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