MOBILITY + CLUSTERS

The Bajau Laut utilize two boat typologies within this maritime environment: the boggo’ and the lepa. All boats are individually owned and serve various functions.

The boggo’, ranging from 3 - 5 meters, is used only inshore as a means to navigate between unconnected villages. The boggo’ only can hold one to two people and is propelled by paddles. However, it can be towed by the lepa.

In contrast, the lepa shown in the diagram to the left is larger at 7 - 12 meters long. The boat is divided into three sections, the midsection is used for living, the stern is used for cooking, and the bow is reserved for fishing, poling, and manning the sails.

Boat construction and care is an intricate process that requires frequent attention. Repairs are typically made from a bark called gellom which grows along the coral line.

During times of marriage, a lepa is built and given to the new couple in order to assure residential independence from their families. Married couples would then set sail to new housing clusters.

REFER TO BAJAU LAUT LEPA DIAGRAM:

1 Teddas (keel)

2 Pangahapit (strake)

3 Tuja’ (bow section with raised poling platform)

4 Jungal (side-pieces ending forward in a projecting bowsprit and aft in a small stern projection)

5 Tuja’ buli’ (stern section)

6 Bengkol (lower sideboard forming fitted gunwale)

7 Kapi kapi (middle sideboard)

8 Koyang koyang (upper sideboard)

9 Dinding (wall of living quarters)

10 Ajong ajong (forward side-piece) fore and aft)

11 Sa’am (cross-beams enclosing living quarters fore and all)

12 Sapau (roof)

13 Lamak (sail)

14 Lantai (deck planks)

15 Panansa’an (bow and stern deck)

16 Patarukan (forward cross-piece and mast support)

17 Sengkol (cros-pieces reinforcing hull and supporting deck planks)

Housing clusters form social groups and hierarchy within the Bajau Society. The clusters are typically composed of between seven (50 people) and thirty (200 people) homes. The clusters are composed of close kin and former housemates.

Walking planks and platforms connect clusters together without having to travel with their boggo’. On account of this close relationship between houses neighboring houses are expected to assist with domestic tasks and share food.

The Bajau Laut only have participated in passive fishing techniques. They utilize three types of drift-nets crafted from cotton twin, nylon, or locally sourced bark-fibre twine. However, commercial fishing companies are placing economic and nutritional pressures on indigenous peoples. Shown to the left are examples of these activities.

Due to brutal human activity and the fastest growing economy in the Asia-Pacific region, the coral triangle area has lost 40% of its biodiversity.

“The Moken are born, live and die on their boats, and the umbilical cords

Water People Moken

of their children plunge into the sea.”

The Moken, meaning water people, live among a string of 800 islands. They believe the sea, the islands, and all entities have spirits. A similar complex choreography, to the Bajau Laut, is conducted with the sea. Where they move toward different fishing ground in conjunction with the wind, current, and the lunar cycle. In contrast to the Bajau, the Moken