Besedin Egor

Homo Sacer on a Small Raft: The Legal Status of the Bajau Laut in Sabah, Malaysia

ЮГО-ВОСТОЧНАЯ АЗИЯ: АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ РАЗВИТИЯ, 2026, №2(71), 146-158

 
Annotation: The article examines the legal status of the Bajau Laut – sea nomads re-siding in the Malaysian state of Sabah – as a case study in statelessness in Southeast Asia. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben's concept of "bare life," international indigenous rights frameworks, and Didier Bigo's theory of the governmentality of unease, the article reconstructs how a de facto zone of indistinction has formed around the Bajau Laut community. The analysis shows that the Malaysian state applies a logic of inclusive exclusion: while denying the group citizenship, it simultaneously subjects them to a restrictive legal regime that criminalizes their traditional practices. The article identifies the key drivers of this condition — the deliberate semantic exclusion of the Bajau Laut from the bumiputera category, their historical stigmatization as a security threat, and the securitization of migration in the context of the Philippines' territorial claims over Sabah. The consequences are severe: the community faces systematic barriers to healthcare, education, and the continuation of their maritime way of life.

Keywords: statelessness, Bajau Laut, Sabah, Malaysia, indigenous peoples, bare life, securitization, zone of indistinction