Local activists say greater than 500 people from a seafaring community on the coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah have been evicted from their homes this week in a crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Bajau Laut is a community of mostly stateless sea nomads who live at sea in wood houseboats or huts built on stilts within the Semporna district of Sabah, Borneo.
Most people born without identity documents should not have access to basic amenities akin to education, financial or health services. They often live in fear of deportation or detention by immigration authorities who don’t distinguish between stateless people and undocumented migrants.
There are an estimated 1 million illegal migrants and stateless people living in Sabah, representing one-third of the state’s population.
Malaysia has stepped up enforcement of illegal migration laws in recent times, detaining about 45,000 undocumented people since May 2020, Human Rights Watch said in March this yr.
Law enforcement officers have been burning and demolishing homes belonging to Bajau Laut on seven islands in Semporna since Tuesday, said Mukmin Nantang, founding father of Sabah-based community group Borneo Komrad.
Mukmin said the officials were unidentified but were believed to be a part of the law enforcement task force, Mukmin said, adding that some communities received advance notice of the operation from Sabah Parks, a conservation authority run by the state government.
“Some houses were demolished by large boats, others were burned,” he told Reuters by phone.
A video posted by Borneo Komrad on social media shows various structures burning within the sea, while one other shows several men, some in uniforms, smashing a wood hut on the beach with large sticks after which burning it. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the authenticity of the videos.
Sabah Parks and Malaysia’s Ministry of Home Affairs, which oversees the police and immigration departments, didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Malaysia doesn’t keep official statistics on the Bajau Laut population, which has roamed the seas of northeastern Borneo and southern Philippines for hundreds of years.
“The Bajau Laut have lived on this area since before there have been official boundaries. The actions taken against them are simply cruel,” Mukmin said.
Ahmad Kamil of the help group Surau Al Falah Taman Sempaul Semporna confirmed that some communities were notified ahead of the evictions but were either unable to know the notices or were unable to comply.
“The Bajau Laut don’t understand local laws. Besides, where else could they go? he said.
