Positioning of Murut and Bajau identities in state forest reserves and marine parks in Sabah, East Malaysia

Abstract

This article, which looks at Indigenous communities in the multiethnic, multicultural region of Sabah, East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo, argues that indigeneity is not primordial, but exists in relation to dominant identities as well as other non-dominant, Indigenous groups. Moreover, Indigenous Peoples are not passive recipients of colonial or even postcolonial Othering: their identity is contextualised and contested within majority–minority relations. The article begins with a brief history of the dominant Kadazandusun nationalism in Sabah, in the context of the overarching Bumiputra policy of Malaysia, which privileges constructed Malayness, as background to the discourses and practices of smaller groups of land-based Murut and the sea-oriented ‘Bajau’, where identity switching is taking place in tandem with environmental justice claims. The land-based communities (Murut) have found leverage in making identity and livelihood claims attached to place (here, state-declared forest reserves that seek to exclude them) in line with the recent global environmental justice focus on participatory conservation rather than the older ‘fortress conservation’ model still dominant in state conservation thinking. However, the sea-oriented peoples (Bajau) require other social symbols than land for making their identity claims, in this instance, via claims to ‘modern’ livelihoods and as managers of marine resources with reference to the newly established Tun Mustapha Park. In Sabah, participatory conservation is being reappropriated by Indigenous Peoples to assert claims about place and /or livelihoods; if bureaucratised, however, this form of conservation might turn out to be less than participatory.

Building Resilience in Qualitative Research: Challenges and Opportunities in Times of Crisis

“…Thus, self-reflection and objectivity are critical throughout my research process. I commenced this study with the perspective that the experiences and perceptions of the Indigenous people in Sabah related to food access differ depending on their relationship with the place they live in and play ( Majid Cooke & Johari, 2019 ). Different political, social, and economic environments and the fast-changing nature that the indigenous people have encountered lead to their different experiences and views on the subject being studied.…”

The Bajau as a left-behind group in the context of coastal and marine co-management system in Indonesia

“…Previous research on the Bajau communities has revealed several unique characteristics that distinguish the Bajau from other customary groups in Indonesia. They are: very skillful in breath-hold diving for spear shing and gathering about six to ten meters underwater (Abrahamsson & Schagatay, 2014), having a conservation understanding of both marine and coastal areas (Clifton & Majors, 2012;Pauwelussen & Verschoor, 2017;Tomoya & Dedi, 1996;Warsito et al, 2020), and land area (Majid Cooke & Johari, 2019) having knowledge on weather forecasting and shing calendar (Nakano, 2020), having environmental cosmology (Santamaria, 2019), having customary laws (Muslim et al, 2020;Nolde, 2009), and performing adaptive management to the current world (Ismail & Ahmad, 2015;Lynch & Turner, 2021). Despite having been recognized in previous studies for possessing expertise in the above-mentioned elds, the Bajau are still excluded from playing a role in Indonesia's customary-based coastal management programs.…”

Tracing Bugis ethnicity through the existence of yellow-crested cockatoo in Masakambing Island, Indonesia

“…The people who inhabit this island are mostly dominated by Buginese, besides Mandarese and Madurese as well (Ihsannudin et al, 2020). A small island with a multiethnic community is also found in Sabah, East Malaysia (Majid Cooke & Johari, 2019). Indeed, there are various causes of the emergence of multiethnic on an island.…”