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Population:
Total of 1,093,672+ worldwide with at least 436,672 in Sabah, Malaysia. Scattered along the west coast from Kuala Penyu to Kudat districts mainly in Tuaran and Kota Belud towns.

Largest Religion:
Islam (95.26%)
Christianity (0.52%)
Folk Religions (0.08%)
Others (4.14%)

Languages:
Sinema
Bajau

Commonly, many sub-groups of Bajau are named after the place or island they live-in for many years.

Even though they are called Bajau, each sub-groups has their own unique language, cultures and tradition. However, certain sub-groups are able to understand the languages of other sub-groups. For example, some Bajau understand the Bajau Ubian language, and the Bajau Ubian and Simunul in Sabah are able to understand and speak the Tausug language called the Suluk language in Sabah.

The general terms for the native languages of the Bajau is Вahasa Вajau or Sinama.

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Though some Sama-Bajau headsmen have been given honorific titles like "datu", "maharaja" or "panglima" by governments (like under the Sultanate of Brunei), they usually only had little authority over the Sama-Bajau community.

Sama-Bajau society is traditionally highly individualistic.

They do not practice a caste system.

Close kindred are distinguished from both kin generally, whether the relationship between them is traceable or not ( kampong).

Among a person's kampong, individual descent lines are recognized, each leading back to a particular ancestor;

Mutual assistance among the kin is considered obligatory unless relations are ruptured.

Close kindred characteristically form the core of multifamily households, household clusters, and parish groups.

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The Bajau people trade with the locals for their livelihood, using the fish they catch, the coral and shells they pluck from the bottom of the sea, and other sea-based products.

A Bajau woman peeling shellfish. The sea is a source of income for the community.

Bajau women make handicrafts for extra income as well.

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According to Bajau adat (custom), the land is divided equally among the siblings, regardless of their sex or their ordering within the family.

Men are normally the head of the household and are expected to provide materially for the family. There are gender specific task in the bajau community. Men are expected to build and repair houses and other things. Men are more commonly employed as regular wage earners than women, particularly after marriage

Women assume the greater share of the domestic tasks. Women alone do the cooking and washing, these tasks being performed by the mother as well as daughters

who are old enough to help. Both men and women are involved in

the raising of children, but mothers assume the primary care of infants and small children. Many Bajau women are skilled at such activities
as sewing and the weaving of mats made from screw pine (pandan)
leaves.

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Assets : Lepa-Lepa is their main source of income to sell fish.

Average daily income : RM52.
Maximum earning a day : RM80-RM150.

64% of their income is spent on food and neccessities.
Income is not stable due to weather and seasons.

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Land Bajau - Majorly involved in crop harvesting such as rice harvesting in return for a share of the crop. For agricultural or partially agricultural groups, the main crops grown are rice, cassava, maize, bananas, and, as cash crops and fruits. Other activities will include rearing cattle, water buffalo

Sea Bajau - the catch by the Bajau fishermen is diverse, including over 200 species of fish, large varieties of shellfish, crustaceans, dolphins and other sea mammals, sea turtles (taken for their shell, eggs, and egg sacks), sea urchins, and edible algae. The catch is salted for preservation until it is sold.

Below is a Bajau fisherman with his canoe to fish around the Sabah's east coast.

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A Bajau family cooks a dinner of coral fish over open flames on their lepa-lepa.

A mother and her sons grab an early dinner of fish and cassava diner at the stern of her houseboat, or lepa-lepa.

Right: A coral fish is speared by a Bajau fisherman.The Bajau free dive, mostly catching coral fish. Fish such as tuna live in waters too deep to be hunted.

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Bajao social norms are very strictly followed by themselves.The Spanish and American colonizers failed to influence the Badjaos because they live in the territory of the Muslim Filipinos, although they are also the least influenced by Islam.

The Bajaus are itinerant travelers.

In wedding ceremonies, the wedding beautician must be adept at applying the special makeup on the bride and groom. With a razor blade tied with thread to a split bamboo twig, the beautician shapes the bride’s eyebrows into a triangle and carves tiny bangs on her forehead while another beautician attends to the groom and his face is made up the same way.

The Badjaos have five types of songs: the leleng, binoa, tenes, panulkin, and lugu. Except for the last two, the lyrics are improvised and sung to a traditional tune. The “leleng” is sung in most occasions. Anyone can sing the leleng.
Most leleng songs have a subject of courtship and love. The tenes is also a song addressed to the sharks.

A woman sings the “lugu” at a wedding as the “imam” or “panglima” walks with the groom to the bride’s side. The lugu’s lyrics are verses from the Koran; it has a traditional and melancholy tune. The panulkin is sung only by the imam and has traditional tune and lyrics. It is sung during the vigil of the dead, from 7am to 1am. It is a way of keeping awake and of making the community aware that somebody has died.

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It was said that Bajau once carried this huge stone under his arm. The stone is called Batu Bajau

Bajau’s feet were so wide that when he walked in the river, the fish would die.

Everyone loved Bajau very much. He was not only tall and strong, he was humble and friendly.

One day, Bajau went away and during this time, a tiger attacked the village. The chief became anxious and sent  a messenger to Bajau, he caught the tiger and threw it across the hills. The tiger was never seen again.

A while later, the village was attacked by another tribe, Tasapang, which attacked at night. When they reached the village, they saw Bajau. They were so shocked that they stood rooted to the ground. Some of the warriors took the poisonous darts and placed them in blowpipes. They then attacked Bajau, but it was in vain for Bajau considering the darts that hit him felt like little mosquito bites.

Bajau’s stone or Batu Bajau therefore is well respected by the people. Whenever people pass that way, they stand there for a while as a mark of respect for Bajau.

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Pamali - set of rules to follow to respect sea spirits
Pregnant Women

cannot walk out at night or they could be disturbed by spirits.

cannot husk coconuts and touch santan to avoid complications during pregnancy.

cannot visit scenes of death because

Cracked Crockery

Using cracked crockery is believed to getting a imperfect partner.

Sleeping with Wet Hair

Easy to become blind

Laughing out loud

Virgin Girls will give out a bad impression

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Thousands of children who live in plantations or are part of indigenous communities are without access to basic education because of legal status, distance and poverty. Their number is steadily increasing and is close to 100 000.

UNICEF is trying to provide education via learning centres for vulnerable groups of Bajau children living in the remote areas of Sabah who do not have access to school. 128 learning centres have been provided so far for education for over 12 000 Bajau people!

Apart from the formal education, fathers teach their kids how to mend nets and catch fish and mothers teach household work and basic language

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The bajau people believe that the sea is like their mother and they depend on the sea for their income. They spend most of their time at sea and their proficiency in sea dwelling and boating have earned them the nicknames sea gypsies and guardians of the sea.

Traditional Bajau cosmology – a combination of animism and Islam – reveals a complex relationship with the ocean, which for them is a multifarious and living entity. There are spirits in currents and tides, in coral reefs and mangroves. Such reverence and knowledge could be used to conserve rather than destroy.

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Bajau women weave several types of textiles. Embroidered panels were sewn into their long black wrap-skirt. The most important are kain mogah, long clotha of small, somewhat somber design, used mainly as trade cloth and for house hangings.

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Total:  1,093,672+ worldwide.

At least 470,000 in the Philippines; At least 436,672 in Malaysia; 175,000 in Indonesia; 12,000 in Brunei.

They usually live a seaborne lifestyle, and use small wooden sailing vessels such as the "perahu". Some Bajau groups native to Sabah are also known for their traditional horse culture.

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Bajau traditional songs are handed down through generations. The songs are usually sung during marriage celebrations, accompanied by dance 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 Tausūg in its commercialised and modernised form Dayang Dayang. The Tausūg claim that the song is native to their culture, and whether the song is originally Tausūg or Sama-Bajau remain controversial. Most Sama-Bajau folk songs are becoming extinct, largely due to the waning interest of the younger generations.

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Bow is crafted by hands of Bajau people using a knife.This boat is sailed during the Regatta Lepa festival, a boating festival in sabah.

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This is called destar which is worn by men. It is woven mainly in rectangular design elements. This is also made up of kain mogah

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A parang is a medium-sized tool or weapon, or better known as a long blade or machete has been handmade by the Bajaus in Sabah, Kampung Siasai in Kota Belud, for generations. It is used for clearing land, cutting meat and also as wall decoration. Made out of scrap iron, the parang is sculpted by an experienced blacksmith, the grip and sheath is carved from sturdy wood, deer horn, water buffalo horn or acacia magium wood.

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Sash tied around the waist.

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Headdress of folded kain dastar (used for weddings). Podong, used by horseman.

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Trousers made of similar material in contrasting colour and red trimming. Black for weddings.

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Brightly coloured satiny blouse, usually green, with flared sleeves showing cuffs of underblouse. This is tradtionally used for weddings. There are buttons (betawi) in front, sometimes also on the sleeves.

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badu sipak    Brightly coloured satiny blouse, usually yellow. The flared sleeves show the cuffs of an underblouse in contrasting hue. Betawi buttons in front, sometimes also on the sleeves.

badu sampit    Brightly coloured long-sleeved satiny blouse, used for formal occasions.

kain mogah    Long handwoven wrap-skirt, with horizontal stripes, usually red and black, with supplementary weft motifs. Worn at weddings.

olos berangkit    Full-length black wrap-skirt. The motifs are stylised: bunga kapas (cotton flower) and pucak rebung (bamboo shoot). This exclusive wedding garment has become very rare nowadays.

selendang    Scarf over the shoulders.

Accessories may include a powder they use on their faces for sun protection made from crushed rice and spices.

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Animistic belief and Ancestor Worship.

The world is divided into

physical realms

spiritual realms

The supreme deities in Sama-Bajau mythology are

Umboh Tuhan ("Lord of the Sea")

Dayang Dayang Mangilai ("Lady of the Forest")

Umboh Tuhan is regarded as the creator deity who made humans equal with animals and plants.

Various Taboo beliefs
Example : Going out late at night is bad.

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people are discouraged from going out on foot alone at night owing to the presence of spirits of the dead, or ghoulish creatures that seek to eat babies or the flesh of recently deceased people. 

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Almost all Bajau today claim to be Sunni Muslim. They believe that 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.

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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.

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- aka “Sushi of Borneo”.
- The flesh of the fish is safe and clean as it is mixed with vinegar and lemon.
- Other ingredients like mango, peppers, onions, tomatoes and ginger are mixed in

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- fish meat finely chopped and cooked with turmeric
- means to mix or mixture.
- cooked using beef, pufferfish, Stingray or Sharks
- Residents of the East Coast Sabah Bajau are extremely reliable in fisheries and activities including cooking toxic fishes such as pufferfish.
- There are two variations. Dry Sagol or Sagol with Gravy

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- Rice cooked in a sea urchin
- Its entrails will be removed and the inner part of the shell washed to remove any remaining discards and to ensure that the rice being cooked in the shell will not smell.
- To enhance the taste, other types of seafood such as squid and prawn which are finely sliced are added into the rice.

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Koling-Koling, traditional Bajau food of Sabah

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Koling-Koling, traditional Bajau food of Sabah

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Koling-Koling is a bread usually served during festivals, wedding and banquets. It tastes better while it’s hot, so it is not so commonly sold even in Semporna. It’s sweet with bread-like texture, but finer and less airy. I like its nice aroma and it’s not too sweet and oily.

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Bajau people speak some ten languages of the Bajau subgroup of the Western Malayo-Polynesian language family. Sinama is the most common name for these languages, but they are also called Bajau, especially in Malaysia. Most Bajau can speak multiple languages.

Bajau languages are usually written in the Jawi alphabet.

Religion can vary among the different Sama-Bajau subgroups; from a strict adherence to Sunni Islam, forms of folk Islam (itself influenced by Sufi traditions of early Muslim missionaries), to animistic beliefs in spirits and ancestor worship. There is a small minority of Catholics and Protestants

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Bajau people speak about 10 languages. Since these people come from different regions of the Philippines as well as Malaysia so a combined name for their language is called the Austronesian language