Semporna Islands
The Semporna Islands are located off the coast of Sabah in the Celebes Sea. They can be reached from Semporna Town by a 45-minute speedboat ride. They comprise multiple islands and reefs, including Bodgaya Island. There are various people who live in the Sulu Islands of the Philippines and the Semporna Islands of Malaysia. The people usually ignore the international border.
The Baju Yakan
The Baju Yakan are based on Basilan Island. They are agricultural people who grow dry rice, tapioca, corn, and vegetables. Fish is an important part of their diet, but they usually buy it from the coastal Samal people. Copra is an important source of income. In Basilan, they rear horses, goats, and chickens. They are excellent boat builders and sell out rigger canoes to the coastal people. Their houses are scattered away from the coast. They are Muslims who incorporate many pagan customs. They speak a distinct dialect of Sama.
Near Bodgaya Island, they occupy the barren island of Sebangkat. They do not grow crops but practice fishing and boatbuilding, including fast-out rigger canoes. They also look for work in Semporna.
The Bajau Samal
The Bajau Samal are concentrated in the Sibutu and Tawi-Tawai islands. They are fishermen and small-scale farmers and occasionally own copra plantations. Historically, they were more maritime and scattered throughout the islands of Dravel Bay. Dravel Bay is the largest semi-enclosed bay on Sabah’s east coast, opening to the Sulawesi Sea.
In order to suppress piracy, the Chartered Company, the British outfit that was running Sabah at the time, put considerable pressure on the people to become sedentary. They became major suppliers of jungle produce and sea products.
The Baju Selakan
One must assume that the settled Baju in the offshore islands who describe themselves as Semporna Baju and claim to have been in the area for generations are descendants of the original maritime Baju. One of the largest of these settlements, though now abandoned, was on Tetagan, where relatives of the Bajau on Selakan
The Baju Laut
The Baju Laut are pagans with Islamic influences who live along the coast. They move with a small boat using a pole to different places to stay. They depend on the reefs and shallows for food. The Baju Laut move between fixed moorings in family groups sheltering from the prevailing winds.
Piper, Madeline Who are the various Bajau groups that have settled in Semporna? Sabah Society Journal; volume 7, no. 4 1984
with many thank to Victoria Chang Schmidt
Tom McLaughlin for BorneoHistory.net
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