KOTA KINABALU, Dec 10 — The sea-faring Bajau Laut community possesses unique culture and abilities that deserves special recognition and privileges, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan.
However, the state agriculture, fisheries and food industries minister also said the community must accept certain conditions like settling down if they want a resolution from the Malaysian government.
“They have special sea skills that should be developed further. They would make great ‘guardians of the seas’. I’m not sure if they would learn to settle down, but as long as they remain sea nomads and gypsies moving from place to place, it will be challenging to assist them.
“They have to settle and connect with a specific place of abode. Only then can they be recognised as part of Malaysia’s community,” said Kitingan when speaking to reporters during a conference for Semporna district’s plastic pollution and fish bombing issues.
Kitingan said the Bajau were neither foreign citizens nor undocumented migrants, and should instead be recognised as “world citizens”.
Their transient lifestyle, often spanning international waters, made it difficult to offer consistent support or integrate them into society, he said.
“We can only issue documents to them when they establish permanent settlements. Until then, recognition can be given, but they must make the decision to settle down before we can make any meaningful resolution,” he said.
Until then, Kitingan said Malaysians needed to differentiate between them and undocumented migrants; he also said the issue should not be used as a political tool.
Previous proposals to register the Bajau Laut community have often been met with resistance and were controversial, particularly with native communities.
“The Bajau Laut and P’alau are not foreign citizens. They should be separated and people need to understand the difference. They are a specific issue, not to be categorised as ‘PTI’ but a special population that needs to be resolved. We need to help them; this should not be politicised.
“I am for them, we need to find a solution, but they also need to accept the solution. We don’t want to see this problem go on and on and on,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the state’s effort to register its foreign workers, Kitingan said that the effort was still limited to oil palm plantations for now.
“I would like to do it tomorrow. But the situations don’t allow us to do it. One issue is the lack of people to handle it, and we can’t rush.
“I also disagree with some people’s assessment that this exercise needs to move quickly. We have to allow them to come without excuses,” he said, explaining that the costs may be a hindrance to some.
“We need to collect the data first. After that, we can think of something.. they can gather funds to re- register and so on. But not until we can collect the data,” he said.
The foreign workers digitisation project has been ongoing for about two years in an effort to manage the state’s migrant workforce.
In April, it was reported that 39,276 workers had been registered.
