171-512: The Sama-Bajau include several Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia . The name collectively refers to related people who usually call themselves the Sama or Samah (formally A'a Sama , "Sama people"); or are known by the exonym Bajau ( / ˈ b ɑː dʒ aʊ , ˈ b æ -/ , also spelled Badjao , Bajaw , Badjau , Badjaw , Bajo or Bayao ). They usually live a seaborne lifestyle and use small wooden sailing vessels such as
342-585: A prehistoric seaborne migration , known as the Austronesian expansion, from Taiwan , circa 3000 to 1500 BCE. Austronesians reached the northernmost Philippines, specifically the Batanes Islands , by around 2200 BCE. They used sails some time before 2000 BCE. In conjunction with their use of other maritime technologies (notably catamarans , outrigger boats , lashed-lug boats , and the crab claw sail ), this enabled phases of rapid dispersal into
513-476: A "subrace" of the "Malay" race) were also now being treated as a separate "Ethiopian" race by authors like Georges Cuvier , Conrad Malte-Brun (who first coined the term " Oceania " as Océanique ), Julien-Joseph Virey , and René Lesson . The British naturalist James Cowles Prichard originally followed Blumenbach by treating Papuans and Indigenous Australians as being descendants of the same stock as Austronesians. But by his third edition of Researches into
684-623: A 1974 Memorandum of Understanding, "Indonesian traditional fishermen" are allowed to fish within the Exclusive Economic Zone of Australia, which includes traditional fishing grounds of Sama-Bajau fishermen. However, illegal fishing encroachment of Corporate Sea Trawlers in these areas has led to concern about overfishing , and the destruction of Sama-Bajau vessels. In 2014, Indonesian authorities destroyed six Filipino Sama-Bajau boats caught fishing in Indonesian waters. This
855-643: A Voyage round the World (1778), he posited that the ultimate origins of the Polynesians might have been the lowland regions of the Philippines and proposed that they arrived to the islands via long-distance voyaging. The Spanish philologist Lorenzo Hervás later devoted a large part of his Idea dell'universo (1778–1787) to the establishment of a language family linking the Malay Peninsula ,
1026-620: A better deal. Malays should be assisted to attain parity with non-Malays to forge a united Malayan Nation of equals." Article 153 of the Constitution states that, It shall be the responsibility of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to safeguard the special position of the Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate interests of other communities in accordance with
1197-663: A bumiputera ethnic group in Malaysia was coined by Abdul Razak Hussein . It recognised the "special position" of the Malays provided in the Constitution of Malaysia , in particular Article 153 . However, the constitution does not use the term bumiputera; it defines only "Malay" and " aboriginal peoples " (Article 160(2)), "natives" of Sarawak (161A(6)(a)), and "natives" of Sabah (Article 161A(6) (b)). Definitions of bumiputera in public use vary among different institutions, organisations, and government departments and agencies. In
1368-773: A large group of peoples in Taiwan , Maritime Southeast Asia , parts of Mainland Southeast Asia , Micronesia , coastal New Guinea , Island Melanesia , Polynesia , and Madagascar that speak Austronesian languages . They also include indigenous ethnic minorities in Vietnam , Cambodia , Myanmar , Thailand , Hainan , the Comoros , and the Torres Strait Islands . The nations and territories predominantly populated by Austronesian-speaking peoples are sometimes known collectively as Austronesia. They originated from
1539-725: A minority of authors. Notable proponents include William Meacham , Stephen Oppenheimer , and Wilhelm Solheim . For various reasons, they have proposed that the homelands of Austronesians were within Island Southeast Asia (ISEA), particularly in the Sundaland landmass drowned during the end of the Last Glacial Period by rising sea levels. Proponents of these hypotheses point to the ancient origins of mtDNA in Southeast Asian populations, pre-dating
1710-481: A more generic sense to mean "indigenous peoples". In the 1970s, the Malaysian government implemented policies designed to favour bumiputera (including affirmative action in public education and in the public sector) in order to elevate the socioeconomic status of the economically disadvantaged bumiputera community. It was an effort to defuse interethnic tensions following the 13 May Incident in 1969 and to placate
1881-567: A significant number are also illiterate, uneducated, and impoverished, due to their nomadic lifestyle. The number of modern Sama-Bajau who are born and live primarily at sea is diminishing. Cultural assimilation and modernisation are regarded as the main causes. Particularly blamed is the dissolution of the Sultanate of Sulu , the traditional patron of the Sama-Bajau for bartering fish for farm goods. The money-based fish markets which replaced
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#17327650408212052-520: A single distinct bangsa ("ethnic group" or "nation"). 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
2223-607: A three-part self-description, such as "Bajau Suluk Dusun ". The following are the major subgroups usually recognised as distinct: The following are subgroups that do not self-identify as Sama, although they are culturally related to the Sama people and speak a Sama-Bajaw language : The Sama–Bajau peoples speak some ten languages of the Sama–Bajau subgroup of the Western Malayo-Polynesian language family . Sinama
2394-403: A unique genetic signal among the Sama-Bajau of the Philippines and Indonesia. This genetic signal (called the "Sama ancestry" by the authors) identifies them as descendants of an ancient migration of Austroasiatic -affiliated hunter-gatherer groups from mainland Southeast Asia via the now sunken land bridges of Sundaland around 15,000 to 12,000 years ago. These populations admixed with both
2565-716: A very low status in the caste-based Tausūg Sultanate of Sulu. This survived into the modern Philippines where the Sama-Bajau are still subjected to strong cultural prejudice from the Tausūg. The Sama-Bajau have also been frequent victims of theft, extortion, kidnapping, and violence from the predominantly Tausūg Abu Sayyaf insurgents as well as pirates. This discrimination and the continuing violence in Muslim Mindanao have driven many Sama-Bajau to emigrate. They usually resettle in Malaysia and Indonesia, where they have more employment opportunities. But even in Malaysia, their presence
2736-541: Is a commonly-held belief that the public university entry requirements are easier for matriculation students and disproportionately difficult for STPM students. Quotas also exist for Public Services Department (JPA) scholarships, full scholarships offered to students to study in leading universities worldwide. These scholarships are given on the basis of SPM ( Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia , the equivalent of O-Levels ) results, ethnic group, and certain quotas. The JPA scholars are sent to selected pre-university programmes offered by
2907-523: Is a failure of economic, social and educational policies, you come back and say, oh, these wicked Chinese, Indian and others opposing Malay rights. They don't oppose Malay rights. They, the Malay, have the right as Malaysian citizens to go up to the level of training and education that the more competitive societies, the non-Malay society, has produced. That is what must be done, isn't it? Not to feed them with this obscurantist doctrine that all they have got to do
3078-464: Is a small minority of Catholics and Protestants in the Bajau diaspora, particularly from Davao del Sur in the Philippines. Among the modern coastal Sama-Bajau of Malaysia, claims to religious piety and learning are an important source of individual prestige. Some of the Sama-Bajau lack mosques and must rely on the shore-based communities such as those of the more Islamised or Malay peoples . Some of
3249-650: Is also another explanation for the correspondences that do not require a genetic relationship. In relation to Sino-Austronesian models and the Longshan interaction sphere, Roger Blench (2014) suggests that the single migration model for the spread of the Neolithic into Taiwan is problematic, pointing out the genetic and linguistic inconsistencies between different Taiwanese Austronesian groups. The surviving Austronesian populations in Taiwan should rather be considered as
3420-512: Is also popularly used for the Indonesian islands. Austronesian regions are almost exclusively islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans, with predominantly tropical or subtropical climates with considerable seasonal rainfall. Inhabitants of these regions include Taiwanese indigenous peoples , most ethnic groups in Brunei , East Timor , Indonesia , Madagascar , Malaysia , Micronesia ,
3591-403: Is also problematic, particularly erroneous reconstructions among some Chinese archaeologists of non-Sinitic sites as Han . Some authors, favoring the "Out of Sundaland" model, like William Meacham , reject the southern Chinese mainland origin of pre-Austronesians entirely. Nevertheless, based on linguistic, archaeological, and genetic evidence, Austronesians are most strongly associated with
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#17327650408213762-494: Is based on sound correspondences in basic vocabulary and morphological parallels. Sagart places special significance in shared vocabulary on cereal crops, citing them as evidence of shared linguistic origin. However, this has largely been rejected by other linguists. The sound correspondences between Old Chinese and Proto-Austronesian can also be explained as a result of the Longshan interaction sphere , when pre-Austronesians from
3933-667: Is derived from a composite protoform *Cau ma-qata, combining "Tau" and "Qata" and indicative of the mixing of the two ancestral population types in these regions. The broad consensus on the Urheimat (homeland) of Austronesian languages as well as the Neolithic early Austronesian peoples is accepted to be Taiwan , as well as the Penghu Islands . They are believed to have descended from ancestral populations in coastal mainland southern China, which are generally referred to as
4104-469: Is first celebrated under a sacred dangkan tree ( strangler figs , known elsewhere in the Philippines as balete ) symbolising the male spirit Umboh Tuhan and afterwards in the centre of a grove of kama'toolang trees ( pandan trees ) symbolising the female spirit Dayang Dayang Mangilai . The trance dancing is called mag-igal and involves female and male and igal jinn , called the jinn denda and jinn lella respectively. The jinn denda perform
4275-635: Is genetic evidence that at least in western Island Southeast Asia , there had been earlier Neolithic overland migrations (pre-4,000 BP) by Austroasiatic-speaking peoples into what is now the Greater Sunda Islands when the sea levels were lower, in the early Holocene . These peoples were assimilated linguistically and culturally by incoming Austronesian peoples in what is now modern-day Indonesia and Malaysia. Several authors have also proposed that Kra-Dai speakers may actually be an ancient daughter subgroup of Austronesians that migrated back to
4446-455: Is in fact no "apical" ancestor of Austronesian in the sense that there was no true single Proto-Austronesian language that gave rise to present-day Austronesian languages. Instead, multiple migrations of various pre-Austronesian peoples and languages from the Chinese mainland that were related but distinct came together to form what we now know as Austronesian in Taiwan. Hence, Blench considers
4617-404: Is not, however, regarded as a spirit possession , since the igal jinn never lose control of their bodies. Instead, the igal jinn are believed to have acquired their familiar spirit ( jinn ) after surviving a serious or near-fatal illness. For the rest of their lives, the igal jinn is believed to share their bodies with the particular jinn who saved them. One important religious event among
4788-847: Is particularly serious for the Sama-Bajau, whose boats are also oftentimes their homes. Sama-Bajau fishermen are often associated with illegal and destructive practices, like blast fishing , cyanide fishing , coral mining , and cutting down mangrove trees . It is believed that the Sama-Bajau resort to these activities mainly due to sedentarisation brought about by the restrictions imposed on their nomadic culture by modern nation-states . With their now limited territories, they have little alternative means of competing with better-equipped land-based and commercial fishermen and earn enough to feed their families. The Indonesian government and certain non-governmental organisations have launched several programs for providing alternative sustainable livelihood projects for Sama-Bajau to discourage these practices (such as
4959-518: Is quite distinct from other nearby Central Philippine languages like Tausūg and Tagalog . Instead of the primary stress being usually on the final syllable; the primary stress occurs on the second-to-the-last syllable of the word in Sinama. This placement of the primary stress is similar to Manobo and other languages of the predominantly animistic ethnic groups of Mindanao, the Lumad peoples . In 2006,
5130-594: Is racial-based and not deprivation-based. For instance, all bumiputera, regardless of their financial standing, are entitled 7 percent discount on houses or property, including luxurious units; whilst a low-income non-bumiputra receives no such financial assistance. Other preferential policies include quotas for the following: admission to government educational institutions, qualification for public scholarships, marking of universities exam papers, special bumiputera-only classes prior to university's end of term exams, for positions in government, and ownership of businesses. Most of
5301-543: Is set aside for making sweet rice cakes ( durul ). Additional prayers ( zikir ), which includes calling the names of ancestors out loud, are offered to the Umboh after the rice meals have been prepared. Pag-umboh is a solemn and formal affair. Another annual religious ceremony among the boat-dwelling Sama Dilaut is the pagkanduli (literally "festive gathering"). It involves ritual dancing to Umboh Tuhan , Dayang Dayang Mangilai , and ancestral ghosts called bansa . The ritual
Sama-Bajau - Misplaced Pages Continue
5472-449: Is sometimes referred to as "Austronesia". Other geographic names for various subregions include Malay Peninsula , Greater Sunda Islands , Lesser Sunda Islands , Island Melanesia , Island Southeast Asia , Malay Archipelago , Maritime Southeast Asia , Melanesia , Micronesia , Near Oceania , Oceania , Pacific Islands , Remote Oceania , Polynesia , and Wallacea . In Indonesia, the nationalistic term Nusantara , from Old Javanese ,
5643-592: Is still controversial as most of them are illegal immigrants . Most illegal Sama-Bajau immigrants enter Malaysia through offshore islands. From there, they enter mainland Sabah to find work as manual labourers. Others migrate to the northern islands of the Philippines, particularly to the Visayas , Palawan , the northern coast of Mindanao, and even as far as southern Luzon . Though these are relatively safer regions, they are also more economically disadvantaged and socially excluded, leading to Filipinos sometimes stereotyping
5814-495: Is subject to bumiputera hiring preferences. The NEM [New Economic Model] proposes reforming ethnic preferences in business ownership and social safety net programs. Some conservative bumiputera groups have voiced strong opposition to any significant changes to the extensive preferences." Examples of such policies include: As a result of these policies, many bumiputera with good connections quickly became millionaires. According to Rafidah Aziz , former Minister of Trade and Industry,
5985-491: Is that the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia are not considered bumiputera under the federal constitution. As their settlement predates that of the Malays, it is considered by many, that bumiputera is about the promotion one religion over another, especially since Orang Asli are much worse off than Muslim Malays. Others argue that the Orang Asli are in fact considered bumiputera. On 1 March 2009, Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat ,
6156-435: Is the "Out of Taiwan" model first proposed by Peter Bellwood . But there are multiple rival models that create a sort of "pseudo-competition" among their supporters due to narrow focus on data from limited geographic areas or disciplines. The most notable of which is the "Out of Sundaland" (or "Out of Island Southeast Asia") model. Austronesians were the first humans with seafaring vessels that could cross large distances on
6327-418: Is the highly offensive Luwaan , meaning "spat out" or "outcast" based on a folk tale justifying their subservience supposedly out of their trickery and ingratefulness towards God. They were also marginalised by other Moro peoples because they still practised animist folk religions either exclusively or alongside Islam , and thus were viewed as "uncivilised pagans". Boat-dwelling and shoreline Sama-Bajau had
6498-693: Is the most common name for these languages, but they are also called Bajau , especially in Malaysia. Most Sama-Bajau can speak multiple languages. The Sama-Bajau languages were once classified under the Central Philippine languages of the Malayo-Polynesian geographic group of the Austronesian language family. But due to marked differences with neighbouring languages, they were moved to a separate branch altogether from all other Philippine languages. For example, Sinama pronunciation
6669-679: Is the oldest account of the Sama-Bajau. It further corroborates the fact that they predate the arrival of the Tausūg settlers and are indigenous to the Sulu archipelago and parts of Mindanao. Sama-Bajau were first recorded by European explorers in 1521 by Antonio Pigafetta of the Magellan-Elcano expedition in what is now the Zamboanga Peninsula . Pigafetta writes that the "people of that island make their dwellings in boats and do not live otherwise". They have also been present in
6840-565: Is to get Malay rights for the few special Malays and their problem has been resolved." At the 2004 annual general assembly of the United Malays National Organisation , which is the largest member of the governing coalition, deputy chair Badruddin Amiruldin cautioned against questioning the bumiputera's special rights, which met with approval from the delegates: "Let no one from the other races ever question
7011-471: Is unlikely, especially in view of the constitutional issues involved, although successive administrations since Mahathir have attempted to reform the system of government aid for the bumiputera. Some bumiputera groups believe further affirmative action is necessary. Parliament began to use the term bumiputra in 1965. Following debate of the act to create the Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA),
Sama-Bajau - Misplaced Pages Continue
7182-602: The perahu ( layag in Maranao ), djenging ( balutu ), lepa , and vinta ( pilang ). Some Sama-Bajau groups native to Sabah are also known for their traditional horse culture . The Sama-Bajau are the dominant ethnic group of the islands of Tawi-Tawi . They are also found in other islands of the Sulu Archipelago , coastal areas of Mindanao and other islands in the southern Philippines ; as well as northern and eastern Borneo , Sulawesi , and throughout
7353-592: The Austronesian peoples . This would also explain why even boat-dwelling Sama-Bajau still practice agricultural rituals, despite being exclusively fishermen. Linguistic evidence further points to Borneo as the ultimate origin of the proto-Sama-Bajau people. A genetic study of three groups—the Derawan of Northeast Borneo, the Kotabaru of Southeast Borneo, and the Kendari of Southeast Sulawesi—suggested that their origin
7524-691: The Banguingui ) were involved, along with non-Sama-Bajau groups like the Iranun . The scope of their pirate activities was extensive, commonly sailing from Sulu to as far as the Moluccas and back again. Aside from early European colonial records, they may have also been the pirates described by Chinese and Arabian sources in the Straits of Singapore in the 12th and 13th centuries. Sama-Bajau usually served as low-ranking crewmembers of war boats, directly under
7695-535: The Brunei Malay word bajaul , which means "to fish". 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. British administrators in Sabah classified the Sama-Bajau as "Bajau" and labelled them as such in their birth certificates. Thus,
7866-656: The Cham areas in Vietnam , Cambodia , and Hainan ; and the Mergui Archipelago of Myanmar. Additionally, modern-era migration has brought Austronesian-speaking people to the United States, Canada, Australia, the UK, mainland Europe , Cocos (Keeling) Islands , South Africa, Sri Lanka , Suriname , Hong Kong , Macau , and West Asian countries . Some authors also propose further settlements and contacts in
8037-563: The Hayato people , the Kumaso , and the Azumi were of Austronesian origin. Until today, local traditions and festivals show similarities to Malayo-Polynesian culture. The Sino-Austronesian hypothesis , on the other hand, is a relatively new hypothesis by Laurent Sagart , first proposed in 1990. It argues for a north–south linguistic genetic relationship between Chinese and Austronesian. This
8208-512: The Malay world , Indonesia , and Brunei . The term is derived from the Sanskrit language which was later absorbed into the classical Malay word bhumiputra ( Sanskrit : भूमिपुत्र , romanized : bhū́miputra ). This can be translated literally as "son of the land" or "son of the soil". In Indonesia , this term is known as " Pribumi "; the latter is also used in Malaysia but in
8379-704: The Maldives , Madagascar, Indonesia ( Sunda Islands and Moluccas ), the Philippines , and the Pacific Islands eastward to Easter Island . Multiple other authors corroborated this classification (except for the erroneous inclusion of Maldivian ), and the language family came to be known as "Malayo-Polynesian", first coined by the German linguist Franz Bopp in 1841 ( German : malayisch-polynesisch ). The connections between Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and
8550-762: The Moken of the Burmese-Thai Mergui Archipelago , the Orang Laut of southeastern Sumatra and the Riau Islands of Indonesia, and the Tanka people of Southern China . 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 ). Sama-Bajau is a collective term, referring to several closely related indigenous people who consider themselves
8721-1052: The Pacific coast of the Americas, Japan, the Yaeyama Islands , the Australian coast, Sri Lanka and coastal South Asia , the Persian Gulf , some Indian Ocean islands, East Africa , South Africa, and West Africa . Austronesian peoples include the following groupings by name and geographic location (incomplete): The broad consensus on Austronesian origins is the "two-layer model", where an original Paleolithic indigenous population in Island Southeast Asia were assimilated to varying degrees by incoming migrations of Neolithic Austronesian-speaking peoples from Taiwan and Fujian , in southern China, from around 4,000 BP . Austronesians also mixed with other preexisting populations as well as later migrant populations among
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#17327650408218892-527: The Pearl River Delta from Taiwan and/or Luzon , shortly after the Austronesian expansion, later migrating further westwards to Hainan, Mainland Southeast Asia , and Northeast India . They propose that the distinctiveness of Kra-Dai (it is tonal and monosyllabic ) was the result of linguistic restructuring due to contact with Hmong-Mien and Sinitic cultures. Aside from linguistic evidence, Roger Blench has also noted cultural similarities between
9063-712: The Philippines , and Polynesia . Also included are the Malays of Singapore ; the Polynesians of New Zealand , Hawaii , and Chile ; the Torres Strait Islanders of Australia; the non- Papuan peoples of Melanesia and coastal New Guinea ; the Shibushi speakers of the Comoros , and the Malagasy and Shibushi speakers of Réunion . Austronesians are also found in the regions of Southern Thailand ;
9234-1198: The Pitcairns , the Kermadec Islands , and the Norfolk Islands were also formerly settled by Austronesians but later abandoned. There is also putative evidence, based in the spread of the sweet potato , that Austronesians may have reached South America from Polynesia, where they might have traded with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas . In the Indian Ocean, Austronesians in Maritime Southeast Asia established trade links with South Asia . They also established early long-distance contacts with Africa, possibly as early as before 500 BCE, based on archaeological evidence like banana phytoliths in Cameroon and Uganda and remains of Neolithic chicken bones in Zanzibar . By
9405-431: The Pleistocene made some of the modern-day islands of Sundaland accessible via land bridges. However, the spread of humans across the Wallace line and into Sahul necessitated crossing bodies of water. Remains of stone tools and marine shells in Liang Sarru, Salibabu Island , North Sulawesi, dated to 32,000–35,000 years ago, is possible evidence for the longest sea voyage by Paleolithic humans ever recorded. The island
9576-513: The Tausūg who are more closely related to the northern Philippine ethnic groups like the Visayans . In 1965, the anthropologist David E. Sopher claimed that the Sama-Bajau, along with the Orang laut , descended from ancient " Veddoid " (Australoid) hunter-gatherers from the Riau Archipelago who intermarried with Austronesians . They retained their hunter-gatherer lifestyle, though they became more maritime-oriented as Southeast Asia became more populated by later Austronesian settlers. In 1968,
9747-529: The Wallacea obsidian network ( Timor , Atauro , Kisar , Alor , ca.22,000 BP). However, the method of crossing remains unknown and could have ranged from simple rafts to dugout canoes by the terminal Pleistocene. These early settlers are generally historically referred to as " Australo-Melanesians ", though the terminology is problematic, as they are genetically diverse, and most groups within Austronesia have significant Austronesian admixture and culture. The unmixed descendants of these groups today include
9918-466: The foxtail millet -cultivating Longshan culture of Shandong (with Longshan-type cultures found in southern Taiwan), the fishing-based Dapenkeng culture of coastal Fujian, and the Yuanshan culture of northernmost Taiwan, which Blench suggests may have originated from the coast of Guangdong . Based on geography and cultural vocabulary, Blench believes that the Yuanshan people may have spoken Northeast Formosan languages . Thus, Blench believes that there
10089-419: The kalamat . The kalamat are known in Muslim Sama-Bajau as the wali jinn (literally "custodian of jinn ") and may adhere to taboos concerning the treatment of the sea and other cultural aspects. The kalamat presides over Sama-Bajau community events along with mediums known as igal jinn . The kalamat and the igal jinn are said to be "spirit-bearers" and are believed to be hosts of familiar spirits . It
10260-547: The umboh referred more specifically to ancestral spirits , different from the saitan ( nature spirits ) and the jinn ( familiar spirits ); some literature refers to all of them as umboh . These include Umboh Baliyu (the spirits of wind and storms), and Umboh Payi or Umboh Gandum (the spirits of the first rice harvest). They include totemic spirits of animals and plants, including Umboh Summut (totem of ants ) and Umboh Kamun (totem of mantis shrimp ). The construction and launch of sailing vessels are ritualised, and
10431-726: The "Badjao Girl"), went viral in the Philippines. One Tausug Muslim who was interviewed insulted the Bajau people, who are also Muslim but he declared the Bajau as non-Muslim and compared killing a Bajau to killing a monkey, saying it was not worth the effort for a juramentado to attack Bajau. There are Tausug in Sulu who takfir the Bajau and declared them as non-Muslims despite them following Islam and discriminate against them due to their lifestyle. In Indonesia many discriminate against them with false stereotypes, accusing them of using love potions on women and were untrustworthy. The Sama-Bajau are fragmented into highly diverse subgroups. They have never been politically united and are usually subject to
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#173276504082110602-552: The "Lord of the Sea") and his consort, Dayang Dayang Mangilai ("Lady of the Forest"). Umboh Tuhan is regarded as the creator deity who made humans equal to animals and plants. Like other animistic religions, they fundamentally divide the world into the physical and spiritual realms which coexist. In modern Muslim Sama-Bajau, Umboh Tuhan (or simply Tuhan or Tuan ) is usually equated with Allah . Other objects of reverence are spirits known as umboh ("ancestor", also variously spelled omboh , m'boh , mbo' , etc.). Traditionally,
10773-406: The "people from the southern world". In the third edition, published in 1795, he named Austronesians the " Malay race ", or the " brown race ", after correspondence with Joseph Banks , who was part of the first voyage of James Cook . Blumenbach used the term "Malay" due to his belief that most Austronesians spoke the "Malay idiom" (i.e., the Austronesian languages ), though he inadvertently caused
10944-547: The "pre‑Austronesians". Through these pre-Austronesians, Austronesians may also share a common ancestry with neighboring groups in Neolithic southern China. These Neolithic pre-Austronesians from the coast of southeastern China are believed to have migrated to Taiwan between approximately 10,000 and 6000 BCE. Other research has suggested that, according to radiocarbon dates, Austronesians may have migrated from mainland China to Taiwan as late as 4000 BCE ( Dapenkeng culture ). They continued to maintain regular contact with
11115-431: The 16th century. They also engaged in extensive trade with China for "luxury" sea products like trepang , pearls , and shark fin . From Zamboanga, some members of these people adopted an exclusively seaborne culture and spread outwards in the 10th century towards Basilan, Sulu, Borneo, and Sulawesi. They arrived in Borneo in the 11th century. This hypothesis is currently the most widely accepted among specialists studying
11286-490: The 17th-century, the Spanish priest Francisco Combés calls the Sama-Bajau as the Lutao ("[people who] float on water") in his Historia de las Islas de Mindanao, Iolo, y sus adyacentes (1667), and describes them as building houses on the sea because they "hate land". They were described as being the subjects of the Sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanao , and they were esteemed for their shipbuilding skills and were commonly hired as crews of warships. For most of their history,
11457-422: The 5th to 7th centuries CE. It is likely that the Austronesians that settled Madagascar followed a coastal route through South Asia and East Africa, rather than directly across the Indian Ocean. Genetic evidence suggests that some individuals of Austronesian descent reached Africa and the Arabian Peninsula . A competing hypothesis to the "Out of Taiwan" model is the "Out of Sundaland " hypothesis, favored by
11628-553: The Austronesian expansion (estimated to have started at around 500 BCE) also resulted in gradual population turnover. These secondary migrations were incremental and happened gradually enough that the culture and language of these groups remained Austronesian, even though in modern times, they are genetically more Papuan. In the vast majority of cases, the language and material culture of Austronesian-speaking groups descend directly through generational continuity, especially in islands that were previously uninhabited. Serious research into
11799-492: The Austronesian expansion was largely peaceful. Rather than violent displacement, the settlers and the indigenous groups absorbed each other. It is believed that in some cases, like in the Toalean culture of Sulawesi (c. 8,000–1,500 BP), it is even more accurate to say that the densely populated indigenous hunter-gatherer groups absorbed the incoming Austronesian farmers, rather than the other way around. Mahdi (2016) further asserts that Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tau-mata ("person")
11970-412: The Austronesian expansion, as proof that Austronesians originated from within Island Southeast Asia. Bumiputera (Malaysia) Bumiputera or bumiputra ( Jawi : بوميڤوترا , Native) is a term used in Malaysia to describe Malays , the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia , and various indigenous peoples of East Malaysia . The term is sometimes controversial. It is used similarly in
12141-442: The Austronesian languages and its speakers has been ongoing since the 19th century. Modern scholarship on Austronesian dispersion models is generally credited to two influential papers in the late 20th century: The Colonisation of the Pacific: A Genetic Trail ( Hill & Serjeantson , eds., 1989) and The Austronesian Dispersal and the Origin of Languages ( Bellwood , 1991). The topic is particularly interesting to scientists for
12312-729: The Malacca peninsula, as well as the Sandwich, the Society, and the Friendly Islanders, and also the Malambi of Madagascar down to the inhabitants of Easter Island, use the Malay idiom. By the 19th century, however, a classification of Austronesians as being a subset of the "Mongolian" race was favoured, as was polygenism . The Australo-Melanesian populations of Southeast Asia and Melanesia (whom Blumenbach initially classified as
12483-430: The Malay majority through granting them a privileged status over Malaysian Chinese. Originally intended as a temporary measure, these policies are still in effect. They have been described as racially discriminatory. Although the policies have succeeded in creating a significant urban Malay and Native Bornean middle class, they have been less effective in eradicating poverty among rural communities. The concept of
12654-613: The Malaysian Higher Education Ministry defined bumiputra as follows, depending on the region of origin of the individual applicant: In addition to the interpretation given above, a broader definition of bumiputera include groups such as native Indonesians , Malaysian Siamese , Muslim Indian Malaysians, Peranakan and the Kristang people of Portuguese-Eurasian descent. Most of these encompass communities that were established in southeast Asia prior to
12825-456: The Minister of Higher Education, Mustapa Mohamad, stated that he wanted public universities to recruit more non-bumiputera academic staff to "strive for world-class institutions", which may have signaled a move toward less racial discrimination in academia. However this does not affect entry into universities, which is still designed to restrict other races access to higher education in favour of
12996-637: The Native Australians), and the "Pelagian or Oceanic Negroes" (the Melanesians and western Polynesians). Despite this, he acknowledges that "Malayo-Polynesians" and "Pelagian Negroes" had "remarkable characters in common", particularly in terms of language and craniometry . In linguistics, the Malayo-Polynesian language family also initially excluded Melanesia and Micronesia , due to the perceived physical differences between
13167-653: The Pacific Islands to successfully retain rice cultivation. Palau and Yap were settled by separate voyages by 1000 BCE. Another important migration branch was by the Lapita culture , which rapidly spread into the islands off the coast of northern New Guinea and into the Solomon Islands and other parts of coastal New Guinea and Island Melanesia by 1200 BCE. They reached the islands of Fiji , Samoa , and Tonga by around 900 to 800 BCE. This remained
13338-480: The Pacific Islands were also noted by other European explorers, including the Orientalist William Marsden and the naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster . Johann Friedrich Blumenbach added Austronesians as the fifth category to his "varieties" of humans in the second edition of De Generis Humani Varietate Nativa (1781). He initially grouped them by geography and thus called Austronesians
13509-548: The Pacific Islands. Although Blumenbach's work was later used in scientific racism , Blumenbach was a monogenist and did not believe the human "varieties" were inherently inferior to each other. Rather, he believed that the Malay race was a combination of the "Ethiopian" and "Caucasian" varieties. Malay variety. Tawny-coloured; hair black, soft, curly, thick and plentiful; head moderately narrowed; forehead slightly swelling; nose full, rather wide, as it were diffuse, end thick; mouth large, upper jaw somewhat prominent with parts of
13680-536: The Philippines to rehabilitate Sama-Bajau refugees and teach them livelihood skills. In 2016, the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources started a project for distributing fishing boats, gear, and other livelihood materials among Sama-Bajau communities in Luzon . This was largely the result of raised awareness and an outpouring of support after a photo of a Sama-Bajau beggar, Rita Gaviola (dubbed
13851-580: The Philippines, the Sama-Bajau can be divided into three general groups based on where they settle: Other minor Sama-Bajau groups named after islands of origin include the Sama Bannaran, Sama Davao, Sama Zamboanga Sikubung, Sama Tuaran, Sama Semporna, Sama Sulawesi, Sama Simunul, Sama Tabawan, Sama Tandubas (or Sama Tando' Bas), and Sama Ungus Matata. Mixed-heritage Sama-Bajau and Tausūg communities are sometimes known as "Bajau Suluk" in Malaysia. People of multiple ethnic parentage may further identify with
14022-439: The Philippines; in Malaysia, they identify as Bajau Laut. Sea-going Bajau are given the pejorative name Pala'au or Palauh by other Bajau groups, which has been adopted by Malaysian mainstream media. Historically in the Philippines, the term Sama referred to the more land-oriented and settled Sama–Bajau groups, while Bajau referred only to more sea-oriented, boat-dwelling, nomadic groups. Even these distinctions are fading as
14193-545: The Physical History of Man (1836–1847), his work had become more racialized due to the influence of polygenism. He classified the peoples of Austronesia into two groups: the "Malayo-Polynesians" (roughly equivalent to the Austronesian peoples) and the "Kelænonesians" (roughly equivalent to the Australo-Melanesians ). He further subdivided the latter into the "Alfourous" (also "Haraforas" or "Alfoërs",
14364-411: 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
14535-463: The Sama-Bajau have been a nomadic , seafaring people, living off the sea by trading and subsistence fishing. 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. A 2021 genetic study shows that some Sama-Bajau have Austroasiatic ancestry. Most of the various oral traditions and tarsila (royal genealogies ) among
14706-537: The Sama-Bajau in Malaysia may sometimes self-identify as "Bajau". The Malaysian government recognizes the Sama-Bajau as legally Bumiputera under the "Bajau" subgroup which guarantees easy access to the special sociopolitical privileges also granted to Malaysian Malays ; to a point of them identifying as "Malay" for political reasons. 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. In
14877-529: The Sama-Bajau is the annual feast known as pag-umboh or magpaay-bahaw , an offering of thanks to Umboh Tuhan . In this ceremony, newly harvested rice ( paay-bahaw ) are dehusked ( magtaparahu ) while Islamic prayers ( duaa ) are recited. They are dried ( magpatanak ) and are then laid out in small conical piles symbolic of mountains ( bud ) on the living room floor (a process known as the "sleeping of rice"). After two or three nights, two-thirds are set aside for making sweet rice meals ( panyalam ), while one-third
15048-605: The Yangtze region came into regular contact with Proto-Sinitic speakers in the Shandong Peninsula , around the 4th to 3rd millennia BCE. This corresponded with the widespread introduction of rice cultivation to Proto-Sinitic speakers and conversely, millet cultivation to Pre-Austronesians. An Austronesian substratum in formerly Austronesian territories that have been Sinicized after the Iron Age Han expansion
15219-614: The admixture is around 20 to 30% Papuan and 70 to 80% Austronesian. The Melanesians in Near Oceania are roughly around 20% Austronesian and 80% Papuan, while in the natives of the Lesser Sunda Islands , the admixture is around 50% Austronesian and 50% Papuan. Similarly, in the Philippines, the groups traditionally considered to be "Negrito" vary between 30 and 50% Austronesian. The high degree of assimilation among Austronesian, Negrito, and Papuan groups indicates that
15390-565: The ancestors of the Indonesian Sama-Bajau. However, there are other versions that are 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. Incidentally, the native pre-Hispanic name of Zamboanga City is "Samboangan" (literally "mooring place"), which
15561-535: The anthropologist Harry Arlo Nimmo, on the other hand, believed that the Sama-Bajau are indigenous to the Sulu Archipelago, Sulawesi, and/or Borneo, and do not share a common origin with the Orang laut. Nimmo proposed that the boat-dwelling lifestyle developed among the ancestors of the Sama-Bajau independently from the Orang laut. A more recent study in 1985 by the anthropologist Alfred Kemp Pallasen compares
15732-490: The archipelago of the Philippines, intermingling with the earlier Australo-Melanesian population who had inhabited the islands since about 23,000 years earlier. Over the next thousand years, Austronesian peoples migrated southeast to the rest of the Philippines, and into the islands of the Celebes Sea and Borneo. From southwestern Borneo, Austronesians spread further west in a single migration event to both Sumatra and
15903-545: The boat-dwelling Sama-Bajau as beggars and squatters . The ancestral roaming and fishing grounds of the Sama-Bajau straddled the borders of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. And they have sometimes voyaged as far as the Timor and Arafura Seas . In modern times, they have lost access to most of these sites. There have been efforts to grant Sama-Bajau some measures of rights to fish in traditional areas, but most Sama-Bajau still suffer from legal persecution. For example, under
16074-530: The bumiputera. The manufacturing sector is exempted from the Foreign Investment Committee (FIC) Guidelines and the mandatory 30% Bumiputera equity and restrictions in market entry have been removed for all (manufacturing) sub-sectors. Malaysia requires citizens to carry a national identification card called MyKad . Smart Cards identify citizens as Muslims or non-Muslims. The national identification card does not specify whether or not
16245-702: The coastal regions between the Yangtze River delta and the Min River delta. Based on linguistic evidence, there have been proposals linking Austronesians with other linguistic families into linguistic macrofamilies that are relevant to the identity of the pre-Austronesian populations. The most notable are the connections of Austronesians to the neighboring Austroasiatic , Kra-Dai , and Sinitic peoples (as Austric , Austro-Tai , and Sino-Austronesian , respectively). These are still not widely accepted, as evidence of these relationships are still tenuous, and
16416-553: The coastal regions of southern Vietnam, becoming the ancestors of the speakers of the Malayic and Chamic branches of the Austronesian language family. Soon after reaching the Philippines, Austronesians colonized the Northern Mariana Islands by 1500 BCE or even earlier, becoming the first humans to reach Remote Oceania . The Chamorro migration was also unique in that it was the only Austronesian migration to
16587-785: The command of Iranun squadron leaders, who in turn answered to the Tausūg datu of the Sultanate of Sulu. The Bajoe harbour in Sulawesi was the site of a small settlement of Sama-Bajau under the Bugis Sultanate of Bone . They were significantly involved in the First and Second Bone Wars (1824–1825) when the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army sent a punitive expedition in retaliation for Bugis and Makassar attacks on local Dutch garrisons. After
16758-400: The commercial sector was taken over by wealthy Chinese merchants. The Communities Liaison Committee (CLC), comprising leading politicians from different racial backgrounds, supported the promotion of economic equality for the Malays, conditional on political equality for the non-Malays. CLC member E.E.C. Thuraisingham later said, "I and others believed that the backward Malays should be given
16929-610: The early farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin that domesticated rice from around 13,500 to 8,200 BP . They display typical Austronesian technological hallmarks, including tooth removal , teeth blackening , jade carving, tattooing, stilt houses , advanced boatbuilding, aquaculture , wetland agriculture , and the domestication of dogs, pigs, and chickens. These include the Kuahuqiao , Hemudu , Majiabang , Songze , Liangzhu , and Dapenkeng cultures that occupied
17100-661: The eastern Indonesian islands. In the Philippines, they are grouped with the religiously similar Moro people . Within the last fifty years, many of the Filipino Sama-Bajau have migrated to neighbouring Sabah and the northern islands of the Philippines, due to the conflict in Mindanao . As of 2010, they were the second-largest ethnic group in Sabah. 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
17271-734: The end of the first millennium BCE, Austronesians were already sailing maritime trade routes linking the Han dynasty of China with the western Indian Ocean trade in India, the Roman Empire , and Africa. An Austronesian group, originally from the Makassar Strait region around Kalimantan and Sulawesi , eventually settled Madagascar , either directly from Southeast Asia or from preexisting mixed Austronesian- Bantu populations from East Africa . Estimates for when this occurred vary, from
17442-489: The exclusion of Melanesian and Micronesian languages. This was adopted by Ray, who defined the "Oceanic" language family as encompassing the languages of Southeast Asia and Madagascar, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. In 1899, the Austrian linguist and ethnologist Wilhelm Schmidt coined the term "Austronesian" (German: austronesisch , from Latin auster , "south wind"; and Greek νῆσος , "island") to refer to
17613-813: The face when seen in profile, sufficiently prominent and distinct from each other. This last variety includes the islanders of the Pacific Ocean, together with the inhabitants of the Marianas, the Philippine, the Molucca and the Sunda Islands, and of the Malayan peninsula. I wish to call it the Malay, because the majority of the men of this variety, especially those who inhabit the Indian islands close to
17784-685: The fall of Bone, most Sama-Bajau resettled in other areas of Sulawesi. During the British colonial rule of Sabah , the Sama-Bajau were involved in two uprisings against the North Borneo Chartered Company : the Mat Salleh rebellion from 1894 to 1905, and the Pandasan Affair of 1915. Modern Sama-Bajau are generally regarded as peaceful, hospitable, and cheerful people, despite their humble circumstances. However,
17955-516: The first dance known as igal limbayan under the dangkan tree, with the eldest leading. They are performed with intricate movements of the hands, usually with metal fingernail extensions called sulingkengkeng . If the dance and music are pleasing, the bansa are believed to take possession of the dancers, whereupon the wali jinn will assist in releasing them at the end of the dance. Austronesian people The Austronesian peoples , sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples , are
18126-687: The furthest extent of the Austronesian expansion into Polynesia until around 700 CE, when there was another surge of island colonization. It reached the Cook Islands , Tahiti , and the Marquesas by 700 CE; Hawaii by 900 CE; Rapa Nui by 1000 CE; and New Zealand by 1200 CE. For a few centuries, the Polynesian islands were connected by bidirectional long-distance sailing, with the exception of Rapa Nui, which had limited further contact due to its isolated geographical location. Island groups like
18297-516: The general consensus is that the archeological, cultural, genetic, and especially linguistic evidence all separately indicate varying degrees of shared ancestry among Austronesian-speaking peoples that justifies their treatment as a " phylogenetic unit". This has led to the use of the term "Austronesian" in academic literature to refer not only to the Austronesian languages but also the Austronesian-speaking peoples, their societies, and
18468-431: The geographic area of Austronesia . Some Austronesian-speaking groups are not direct descendants of Austronesians and acquired their languages through language shift , but this is believed to have happened only in a few instances, since the Austronesian expansion was too rapid for language shifts to have occurred fast enough. In parts of Island Melanesia , migrations and paternal admixture from Papuan groups after
18639-496: The global population), making it the fifth-largest language family by number of speakers. Major Austronesian languages include Malay (around 250–270 million in Indonesia alone in its own literary standard, named Indonesian ), Javanese , and Filipino ( Tagalog ). The family contains 1,257 languages, the second-largest number of any language family. The geographic region that encompasses native Austronesian-speaking populations
18810-482: The government founded an agency to preserve bumiputera interests. In July 2017, Prime Minister Najib Razak said that the government would consider the request of the Muslim Indian community to be recognized as bumiputera, in what is seen as a move to woo voters in the lead-up to the upcoming general election . Certain but not all pro-bumiputera policies exist as affirmative action for bumiputera, for NEP
18981-403: The government – from there, they apply to universities. In the 1965 session of Parliament , Singapore 's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (who was also a member of that Parliament) questioned the implementation of Malay rights as proposed. Lee asked, "How does the Malay in the kampung find his way out into this modernised civil society? By becoming servants of the 0.3 per cent who would have
19152-472: The heading "Ethnic Preferences", part of a paragraph describes the reality of the bumiputera policy as follows: "Many of the preference policies are opaque, with details of implementation largely left to the various ministries and civil servants within those ministries. Policies and practices vary greatly. Some practices are explicit and contained in law or regulation, while others are informal, leaving much ambiguity for potential investors. The civil service itself
19323-574: The increase of influence and trading activities of the Srivijaya Empire . Genetically, the Sama-Bajau are highly diverse, indicating heavy admixture with the locals or even language and cultural adoption by coastal groups in the areas they settled. However, the study is restricted to the Indonesian Bajo subgroup, and the authors recommend additional studies from Sama-Bajau groups in neighbouring regions. A 2021 genetic study discovered
19494-477: The indigenous Aslians still speak Austroasiatic languages. However, some of the languages in the region show signs of underlying Austroasiatic substrates. According to Juha Janhunen and Ann Kumar, Austronesians may have also settled parts of southern Japan, especially on the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku , and influenced or created the Japanese hierarchical society. It is suggested that Japanese tribes like
19665-476: The inhabitants of these regions from Malayo-Polynesian speakers. However, there was growing evidence of their linguistic relationship to Malayo-Polynesian languages, notably from studies on the Melanesian languages by Georg von der Gabelentz , Robert Henry Codrington , and Sidney Herbert Ray . Codrington coined and used the term "Ocean" language family rather than "Malayo-Polynesian" in 1891, in opposition to
19836-719: The interior Papuans and Indigenous Australians . In modern literature, descendants of these groups, located in Island Southeast Asia west of Halmahera , are usually collectively referred to as " Negritos ", while descendants of these groups east of Halmahera (excluding Indigenous Australians ) are referred to as " Papuans ". They can also be divided into two broad groups based on Denisovan admixture . Philippine Negritos , Papuans, Melanesians , and Indigenous Australians display Denisovan admixture, while Malaysian and western Indonesian Negritos ( Orang Asli ) and Andamanese islanders do not. Mahdi (2017) also uses
20007-527: The islands of the Indo-Pacific , culminating in the settlement of New Zealand c. 1250 CE . During the initial part of the migrations, they encountered and assimilated (or were assimilated by) the Paleolithic populations that had migrated earlier into Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea . They reached as far as Easter Island to the east, Madagascar to the west, and New Zealand to
20178-583: The islands they settled, resulting in further genetic input. The most notable are the Austroasiatic -speaking peoples in western Island Southeast Asia ( peninsular Malaysia , Sumatra , Borneo , and Java ); the Bantu peoples in Madagascar and the Comoros ; as well as Japanese , Persian , Indian , Arab , and Han Chinese traders and migrants in more recent centuries. Island Southeast Asia
20349-456: The king. 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
20520-403: The land-based political groups of the areas they settle, such as the Sultanate of Brunei and the former Sultanate of Sulu . Most subgroups of Sama-Bajau name themselves after the place they originated from (usually an island). Each subgroup speaks a distinct language or dialect that are usually mutually intelligible with their immediate neighbouring subgroup in a continuous linguistic chain. In
20691-499: The language family. Schmidt had the same motivations as Codrington: he proposed the term as a replacement to "Malayo-Polynesian", because he also opposed the implied exclusion of the languages of Melanesia and Micronesia in the latter name. It became the accepted name for the language family, with Oceanic and Malayo-Polynesian languages being retained as names for subgroups. The term "Austronesian", or more accurately "Austronesian-speaking peoples", came to refer to people who speak
20862-549: The languages of the Austronesian language family. Some authors, however, object to the use of the term to refer to people, as they question whether there really is any biological or cultural shared ancestry between all Austronesian-speaking groups. This is especially true for authors who reject the prevailing "Out of Taiwan" hypothesis and instead offer scenarios where the Austronesian languages spread among preexisting static populations through borrowing or convergence, with little or no population movements. Despite these objections,
21033-419: The later confusion of his racial category with the Malay ethnic group . The other varieties Blumenbach identified were the "Caucasians" (white), "Mongolians" (yellow), "Ethiopians" (black), and "Americans" (red). Blumenbach's definition of the "Malay" race is largely identical to the modern distribution of the Austronesian peoples, including not only Islander Southeast Asians but also the people of Madagascar and
21204-589: The law, and "Except as expressly authorised by this Constitution, there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent or place of birth in any law or in the appointment to any office or employment under a public authority or in the administration of any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of property or the establishing or carrying on of any trade, business, profession, vocation or employment." Article 153 itself expressly forbids particular forms of discrimination; clause 5 states that "All persons of whatever race in
21375-810: The linguist Robert Blust proposed that the Sama-Bajaw languages derived from the Barito lexical region , though not from any established group. It is thus a sister group to other Barito languages like Dayak and Malagasy . It is classified under the Bornean geographic group. Sama-Bajau languages are usually written in the Jawi alphabet . Religion can vary among the Sama-Bajau subgroups; from 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
21546-649: The mainland until 1500 BCE. The identity of the Neolithic pre-Austronesian cultures in China is contentious. Tracing Austronesian prehistory in Fujian and Taiwan has been difficult due to the southward expansion of the Han dynasty (2nd century BCE) and the recent Qing dynasty annexation of Taiwan (1683 CE). Today, the only Austronesian language in southern China is Tsat , spoken in Hainan . The politicization of archaeology
21717-520: The majority of Sama-Bajau have long since abandoned boat living, most for Sama-style piling houses in the coastal shallows. Sama is believed to have originated from the Austronesian root word sama meaning "together", "same", or "kin". 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') or in Indonesian word it means boat dwelling. Other possible origins include
21888-560: The methods used are highly contentious. In support of both the Austric and Austro-Tai hypothesis, Robert Blust connects the lower Yangtze Neolithic Austro-Tai entity with the rice-cultivating Austroasiatic cultures, assuming the center of East Asian rice domestication, and putative Austric homeland, to be located in the Yunnan/Burma border area, instead of the Yangtze River basin, as is currently accepted. Under that view, there
22059-434: The migrations, including rice , bananas, coconuts, breadfruit , Dioscorea yams , taro , paper mulberry , chickens, pigs, and dogs . The linguistic connections between Madagascar , Polynesia , and Southeast Asia , particularly the similarities between Malagasy , Malay , and Polynesian numerals , were recognized early in the colonial era by European authors. The first formal publication on these relationships
22230-437: The money to hire them to clean their shoe, open their motorcar doors?" and "How does telling a Malay bus driver that he should support the party of his Malay director (UMNO) and the Chinese bus conductor to join another party of his Chinese director (MCA) – how does that improve the standards of the Malay bus driver and the Chinese bus conductor who are both workers in the same company?" Lee closed with "Meanwhile, whenever there
22401-529: The more nomadic Sama-Bajau, like the Ubian Bajau, are much less adherent to orthodox Islam. They practice a syncretic form of folk Islam, revering local sea spirits, known in Islamic terminology as Jinn . The ancient Sama-Bajau were animistic , and this is retained wholly or partially in some Sama-Bajau groups. The supreme deities in Sama-Bajau mythology are Umboh Tuhan (also known as Umboh Dilaut ,
22572-424: The name "Bajau" instead of "Sama"). 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
22743-564: The natives of the mainland of Malaya and the natives of the Borneo States". He later qualified that the benefits under Article 153 were for "the natives of Malaysia…who are less advanced and less able to compete with these other Malaysians". In the book Buku Panduan Kemasukan ke Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Awam, Program Pengajian Lepasan SPM/Setaraf Sesi Akademik 2007/2008 (Guidebook for entry into public higher learning institutions for SPM/equivalent graduates for academic year 2007/2008),
22914-451: The nearby tonal languages of Mainland Southeast Asia and Hainan. Although the populations of the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and neighboring islands are Austronesian-speaking, they have significantly high admixture from Mainland Southeast Asian populations. These areas were already populated (most probably by speakers of Austroasiatic languages) before they were reached by the Austronesian expansion, roughly 3,000 years ago. Currently, only
23085-434: The open ocean; this technology allowed them to colonize a large part of the Indo-Pacific region. Prior to the 16th-century colonial era , the Austronesian language family was the most widespread in the world, spanning half the planet from Easter Island in the eastern Pacific Ocean to Madagascar in the western Indian Ocean . Languages of the Austronesian family are today spoken by about 386 million people (4.9% of
23256-399: The oral traditions with historical facts and linguistic evidence. He puts the date of the ethnogenesis of Sama-Bajau as 800 AD and also rejects a historical connection between the Sama-Bajau and the Orang laut. He hypothesises that the Sama-Bajau originated from a proto-Sama-Bajau people inhabiting the Zamboanga Peninsula who practised both fishing and slash-and-burn agriculture. They were
23427-471: The original inhabitants of Zamboanga and the Sulu archipelago, and were well-established in the region long before the first arrival of the Tausūg people at around the 13th century from their homelands along the northern coast of eastern Mindanao. Along with the Tausūg, they were heavily influenced by the Malay kingdoms both culturally and linguistically, becoming Indianised by the 15th century and Islamised by
23598-511: The parliamentary debate of 13 November 1965, the Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman , was asked by Lim Chong Eu if there is a "legal and constitutional definition of the term "Bumiputera", and whether the children of Malaysian citizens who were born after 31 August 1963, will also be entitled to all the rights of "Bumiputera". To this, Tunku replied: "Mr Speaker, Sir, the term 'Bumiputera'...has no legal meaning except in so far as to denote
23769-435: The past in areas that are not inhabited by Austronesian speakers today. These range from likely hypotheses to very controversial claims with minimal evidence. In 2009, Roger Blench compiled an expanded map of Austronesia that encompassed these claims based on a variety of evidence, such as historical accounts, loanwords, introduced plants and animals , genetics, archeological sites, and material culture. They include areas like
23940-404: The period of British colonial rule which saw large-scale immigration from China . Others favour a definition encompassing all children of bumiputera. In Sarawak, there were cases of people with one bumiputera parent and one non-bumiputera parent being dismissed as non-bumiputera. However, this law was changed in 2022. At the time of Malaya's independence from British colonial rule in 1957,
24111-603: The policies were established in the Malaysian New Economic Policy (NEP) period. Many policies focus on trying to achieve a bumiputerashare of corporate equity, comprising at least 30% of the total. Ismail Abdul Rahman proposed this target after the government was unable to agree on a suitable policy goal. In a report titled 2012 Investment Climate Statement – Malaysia published by the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (US Department of State), under
24282-521: The policy was to create "Towering Malays". In 2005 she gave a speech that stated: "If there are young Malay entrepreneurs whose companies are successful, then we appreciate their success, we want Towering Malays of glokal (global and local) standard". She also said that the policy of Approved Permits (APs) had produced many bumiputera entrepreneurs in the automotive industry. Since 2000, the government has discussed phasing out certain affirmative action programs and reinstating " meritocracy ". In 2003 it began
24453-456: The population included many first- or second-generation immigrants who had come to fill manpower needs as indentured labourers , among rich Chinese merchants and settlers who brought their wealth and investment into Malaysia. Chinese immigrants, who typically settled in urban areas, played a significant role in the commercial sector after the Indians left the country to return to India, much of
24624-541: The preexisting Negrito populations, and later on, the incoming migrations of the Austronesian peoples (also adopting an Austronesian language in the process). They are genetically clustered with the Lua and Mlabri peoples of mainland Southeast Asia, as well as the Manobo people of mainland Mindanao . The study also identifies minimal South Asian gene flow among Sama populations starting at around 1000 years ago. Sama ancestry
24795-497: The provisions of this Article. Article 160 defines a Malay as being one who "professes the religion of Islam , habitually speaks the Malay language, conforms to Malay customs and is the child of at least one parent who was born within the Federation of Malaysia before independence of Malaya on 31 August 1957, or the issue of such a person." Article 8 of the Constitution, states that all Malaysian citizens shall be equal under
24966-405: The remarkably unique characteristics of the Austronesian speakers: their extent, diversity, and rapid dispersal. Regardless, certain disagreements still exist among researchers with regards to chronology, origin, dispersal, adaptations to the island environments, interactions with preexisting populations in areas they settled, and cultural developments over time. The mainstream accepted hypothesis
25137-564: The result of various Neolithic migration waves from the mainland and back-migration from the Philippines. These incoming migrants almost certainly spoke languages related to Austronesian or pre-Austronesian, although their phonology and grammar would have been quite diverse. Blench considers the Austronesians in Taiwan to have been a melting pot of immigrants from various parts of the coast of East China that had been migrating to Taiwan by 4000 BP. These immigrants included people from
25308-446: The rights of Malays on this land. Don't question the religion because this is my right on this land." In 2004, Mohd. Johari Baharum, parliamentary secretary of the Prime Minister's Department, stated that the PSD scholarships would remain quota based. He added that there were no plans to convert this to a merit based system, and that the total value of the PSD scholarship since 1996 was 2.4 billion ringgit . Another controversial aspect
25479-526: The same grade in the service of the Federation shall, subject to the terms and conditions of their employment, be treated impartially," while clause 9 states: "Nothing in this Article shall empower Parliament to restrict business or trade solely for the purpose of reservations for Malays." The concept of the bumiputera's special position has been disputed. The Reid Commission , which drafted the Constitution, initially proposed that Article 153 expire after 15 years unless renewed by Parliament . This qualification
25650-426: The seasonal trade around mooring points necessitates a more land-based lifestyle for greater market penetration. In Malaysia, some hotly debated government programs have also resettled Bajau to the mainland. The Sama-Bajau in the Sulu Archipelago were historically discriminated against by the dominant Tausūg people , who viewed boat-dwelling Sama-Bajau as 'inferior' and as outsiders—the traditional Tausūg term for them
25821-410: The single-migration model into Taiwan by pre-Austronesians to be inconsistent with both the archaeological and linguistic (lexical) evidence. The Austronesian expansion (also called the "Out of Taiwan" model) is a large-scale migration of Austronesians from Taiwan, occurring around 3000 to 1500 BCE. Population growth primarily fueled this migration. These first settlers settled in northern Luzon , in
25992-401: The south. At the furthest extent, they might have also reached the Americas . Aside from language, Austronesian peoples widely share cultural characteristics, including such traditions and traditional technologies as tattooing , stilt houses , jade carving, wetland agriculture , and various rock art motifs. They also share domesticated plants and animals that were carried along with
26163-399: The special position was "a slur on the ability of the Malays." In 1970, however, one member of the Cabinet said that Malay special rights would remain for "hundreds of years to come." In the 1970s, the government implemented the New Economic Policy (NEP), designed to be a more aggressive form of affirmative action for the bumiputera than Article 153. Article 153 provides specifically for
26334-722: The spiritual leader of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party stated that the term bumiputera is racist and the policy prevented other races from receiving government aid. Nik Aziz's remarks were made in response to the criticisms and threats made by UMNO against Democratic Action Party 's Boo Cheng Hau , the opposition leader in Johor when Boo was reported to have compared "bumiputeraism" with state apartheid . On 1 February 2015, Swiss academic Tariq Ramadan reflected on how non-Muslims have been treated as second class citizens. He stated, "I'm sorry but some of your fellow citizens in this country who are not Muslims are facing this discrimination, they are facing injustices." In 2006,
26505-417: The system of "Malaysian model meritocracy" for university admission. Admission to public universities was not based upon a common examination such as the SAT or A-Levels , but rather upon a two parallel systems of either a one-year matriculation course or a two-year STPM ( Malaysian Higher School Certificate ) programme. Bumiputera compose an overwhelming majority of entrants to the matriculation programme. It
26676-609: The term "First Sundaland People" in place of "Negrito", as a more accurate name for the original population of Southeast Asia. These populations are genetically distinct from later Austronesians, but through fairly extensive population admixture, most modern Austronesians have varying levels of ancestry from these groups. The same is true for some populations historically considered "non-Austronesians", due to physical differences—like Philippine Negritos, Orang Asli, and Austronesian-speaking Melanesians, all of whom have Austronesian admixture. In Polynesians in Remote Oceania , for example,
26847-412: The term "Qata" (from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qata) to distinguish the indigenous populations of Southeast Asia, versus "Tau" (from Proto-Austronesian *Cau) for the later settlers from Taiwan and mainland China. Both are based on proto-forms for the word "person" in Malayo-Polynesian languages that referred to darker-skinned and lighter-skinned groups, respectively. Jinam et al. (2017) also proposed
27018-583: The two groups, like facial tattooing, tooth removal or ablation , teeth blackening, snake (or dragon) cults, and the multiple-tongued jaw harps shared by the indigenous Taiwanese and Kra-Dai-speakers. However, archaeological evidence for this is still sparse. This is believed to be similar to what happened to the Cham people , who were originally Austronesian settlers (likely from Borneo ) to southern Vietnam around 2100–1900 BP and had languages similar to Malay . Their languages underwent several restructuring events to syntax and phonology due to contact with
27189-711: The use of fish aggregating devices instead of explosives). Medical health centres ( puskesmas ) and schools have also been built even for stilt-house Sama-Bajau communities. Similar programs have also been implemented in the Philippines. With the loss of their traditional fishing grounds, some refugee groups of Sama-Bajau in the Philippines are forced to resort to begging ( agpangamu in Sinama), particularly diving for coins thrown by inter-island ferry passengers ( angedjo ). Other traditional sources of income include selling grated cassava ( magliis ), mat-weaving ( ag-tepoh ), and jewellery-making (especially from pearls ). Recently, there have been more efforts by local governments in
27360-538: The use of quotas in the granting of scholarships, positions in the civil service, and business licences, as well as native reservations of land. Policies under the rubric of the NEP include subsidies for real estate purchases, quotas for public equity shares, and general subsidies to bumiputera businesses. Former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad have both suggested that Malays should depend less on government assistance. Many observers believe full abolition of bumiputera privileges
27531-409: The vessels are believed to have a spirit known as Sumangâ ("guardian", literally "one who deflects attacks"). The umboh are believed to influence fishing activities, rewarding the Sama-Bajau by granting good luck favours known as padalleang and occasionally punishing by causing serious incidents called busong . Traditional Sama-Bajau communities may have shamans ( dukun ) traditionally known as
27702-492: The written records of other Europeans henceforth; including in Sulawesi by the Dutch colonies in 1675, in Sulawesi and eastern Borneo by Thomas Forrest in the 1770s, and in the west coast of Borneo by Spenser St. John in the 1850s and 1860s. Sama-Bajau were often widely mentioned in connection to sea raids ( mangahat ), piracy , and the slave trade in Southeast Asia during the European colonial period, indicating that at least some Sama-Bajau groups from northern Sulu (e.g.
27873-566: Was settled by modern humans in the Paleolithic following coastal migration routes , presumably starting before 70,000 BP from Africa , long before the development of Austronesian cultures. These populations are typified by having dark skin, curly hair, and short statures, leading Europeans to believe, in the 19th century, that they were related to African Pygmies . However, despite these physical similarities, genetic studies have shown that they are more closely related to other Eurasian populations than to Africans. The lowered sea levels of
28044-446: Was an east–west genetic alignment, resulting from a rice-based population expansion, in the southern part of East Asia: Austroasiatic-Kra-Dai-Austronesian, with unrelated Sino-Tibetan occupying a more northerly tier. Depending on the author, other hypotheses have also included other language families like Hmong-Mien and even Japanese-Ryukyuan into the larger Austric hypothesis. While the Austric hypothesis remains contentious, there
28215-472: Was derived from the Sinama word for a mooring pole , sambuang or samboang . The origin myths claiming descent from Johor or Gowa have been largely rejected by modern scholars, mostly because these kingdoms were established too recently to explain the ethnic divergence. Whether the Sama-Bajau are indigenous to their current territories or settled from elsewhere is still contentious. Linguistically, they are distinct from neighbouring populations, especially from
28386-420: Was highest among the Sama Dilaut, followed by more land-based Sama. But it was also detected among other ethnic groups that do not self-identify as Sama in Palawan , Zamboanga , Basilan , Sulu , and Tawi-Tawi . The epic poem Darangen of the Maranao people record that among the ancestors of the hero Bantugan is a Maranao prince who married a Sama-Bajau princess. Estimated to have happened in AD 840, it
28557-506: Was in 1708 by Dutch Orientalist Adriaan Reland , who recognized a "common language" from Madagascar to western Polynesia, although Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman observed linguistic links between Madagascar and the Malay Archipelago a century earlier, in 1603. German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster , who traveled with James Cook on his second voyage , also recognized the similarities of Polynesian languages to those of Island Southeast Asia. In his book Observations Made during
28728-425: Was in southern Sulawesi. Their ethnogenesis is estimated to have dated back to around the 4th century AD by an admixture event between the Bugis people and a Papuan group. The authors suggest that the Sama moved to eastern Borneo at around the 11th century AD, and then towards northern Borneo and the southern Philippines at around the 13th to 14th centuries AD. They hypothesize that they were driven to migrate during
28899-470: Was previously uninhabited by humans or hominins and can only be reached from either Mindanao or the Sangihe Islands by crossing an expanse of water at least 100 km (62 mi) wide, even during the low sea levels of the Pleistocene. Other evidence of early maritime transport are the appearance of obsidian tools with the same source on neighboring islands. These include the Philippine obsidian network ( Mindoro and Palawan , ca.33,000-28,000 BP), and
29070-438: Was struck from the final draft. After the 13 May Incident in 1969, representatives within the government argued over whether the special position of the bumiputera should have a sunset clause . Ismail Abdul Rahman argued that "the question be left to the Malays themselves because ... as more and more Malays became educated and gained self-confidence, they themselves would do away with this 'special position'." Ismail believed
29241-401: 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. This legend is popular among Sabah Sama-Bajau as it legitimises their claim to "Malay-ness" and strengthens their ties to Islam, which puts them in a favourable position in the Bumiputera laws of Malaysia (similar to the usage of
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