The Prejudice of Bajau: From Own and Others Ethnic Perspective: A Preliminary Study in Sabah

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to identify prejudices among government and private worker toward the ethnic of Bajau in Malaysia, especially in Sabah state. A total of 22 workers from government and private agency were invited to join this study. In-depth interview had been used to investigate perception of Bajau towards own ethnic and perception of others ethnic toward Bajau. From analysis, ethnic groups identify themselves according three major aspects, which are 1) attitude and behavior, 2) physical and appearance, 3) culture. The conclusion from these research, the understanding from others ethnic groups toward Bajau is on the lesser side, but there are some of the factors that match the perception of Bajau toward themselves, such as Bajau is or rude natured. This might be due to the less understanding from others ethnic or the disappearing traditional culture of Bajau.

Full text

 Abstract—The purpose of the study is to identify prejudices
among government and private worker toward the ethnic of
Bajau in Malaysia, especially in Sabah state. A total of 22
workers from government and private agency were invited to
join this study. In-depth interview had been used to investigate
perception of Bajau towards own ethnic and perception of
others ethnic toward Bajau. From analysis, ethnic groups
identify themselves according three major aspects, which are 1)
attitude and behavior, 2) physical and appearance, 3) culture.
The conclusion from these research, the understanding from
others ethnic groups toward Bajau is on the lesser side, but
there are some of the factors that match the perception of Bajau
toward themselves, such as Bajau is or rude natured. This
might be due to the less understanding from others ethnic or the
disappearing traditional culture of Bajau.
Index Terms—Prejudice, Bajau ethnic, government, private
agency.
I. INTRODUCTION
The One Malaysia concept was introduced by Malaysian
prime minister Dato Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak. This
concept promotes the unity among Malaysian of all races.
Malaysia is built up by multi-races and these races are able to
live under the same roof. However, Malaysia had been gone
through ethnic crisis decades ago at 1969, also known as the
tragedy of May 13. The tragedy involved 2 main races in
Malaysia, which is Malay and Chinese and this tragedy had
sacrificed many lives. This tragedy spurred the government
to built up an organization, called Jabatan Perpaduan
Negara dan Integrasi Nasional, in order to rebuild the
understanding and harmony among each races, religion and
culture. The harmony among each race is very important in
order to stabilize the Malaysian society.
1Malaysia concept caters the needs of all sector of the
plural society and to ensure equal distribution of wealth
between racial groups, between states and federal. Integrity
on the part of the government and the public sector is one
matter. The managing of all spectrums of unity (not just racial)
is to be given proper thinking. In order to move Malaysia
towards a better society, identity and future hence unity and
Manuscript received September 13, 2013; revised November 21, 2013.
This work was support by LRGS Grant UMS/SPKS 6.7.1/800-3/2/3 with
tittles Stereotype, Prejudice and Discrimination among Ethnicity in Sabah.
Lailawati Madlan, Chua Bee Seok, Jasmin Adela Mutang, and Ho Cheah
Joo are with Psychology and Social Health Research Unit, School of
Psychology, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia (e-mail:
laila@ums.edu.my; chuabs@ums.edu.my; jasmine@ums.edu.my;
hocj14@gmail.com).
Shamsul Amri Baharudin is with Director Institute of Ethnic Studies
(KITA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (e-mail: abshamsul@gmail.com).
integration should promote co-operation between race,
beliefs and region as one Malaysia, not as Sarawakian or
Sabahan. The trust and aspiration of the people that
1Malaysia will bring about a greater nation must not be
hampered. Therefore, the government will have to deliver on
all its promises. The concept unveiled is a guiding principle
to build a united and progressive nation, and to inculcate the
spirit and values of togetherness and sense of belongings,
regardless of race, religion and creed.
Although this concept has been promoted, but it is not
guaranteed for Malaysian harmonies for long term.
Sometime people doesn’t see the small things but it’s can be a
trigger for sensitive issue in our countries. Zahara Aziz and
friends [1] conducted a research about prejudice at 9 areas in
Selangor state. The result shows that the tolerance between
the races is at the moderate stage. Chinese and Indian kept
moving apart from each other between the years of 1993 to
2007. The findings also concluded that the situation of Malay
with Chinese and Indian did not change much in terms of
tolerance. According to the research, the factors that
contribute to the deterioration of ethnic solidarity were
influenced by economic and political issues.
Although the government implemented the New
Economic Policy (NEP) in which the policy is intended to
address the economic imbalance between the various races in
Malaysia, but it did not helped much. This is attributed by the
notion that the control of the economy is still monopolized by
certain group of people even though the economy remained
at a high pace. The unbalance of wealth distribution will
bring about negative economy impact such as poverty
especially for the rural indigenous farmers as well as
non-indigenous ethnic groups who live in rural areas. The
causes of this scenario relates to the industrial, business and
corporate sector that mostly dominated by Chinese and
foreigners.
Sabah is one of the states in Malaysia that is privileged to
have a society of diverse ethnicity. Sabah sits at the tip of
Borneo, the world’s third largest island. It’s Coastline of
1,440 km washed by the sea South China Sea on the West and
Sulu Sea and Celebs Sea on the East. The population of about
2 million comprises over 34 different races speaking over 80
local dialects. The beautiful thing is all these diverse ethnic
groups live together harmoniously while at the same time
preserving their own culture, traditions, festivals and customs,
to make Sabah a multicultural exotic experience unlike any
other. There are about 34 ethnic groups in Sabah. However,
out of the total there are five major ethnic groups in Sabah,
which are Kadazandusun, Bajau, Murut, Chinese and Melayu
Brunei. This study will only cover the ethnic of Bajau. This
ethnic group is located in parts of the Sabah state, such as
Lailawati Binti Madlan, Chua Bee Seok, Jasmin Adela Mutang, Shamsul Amri Baharudin, and Ho
Cheah Joo
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Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 4, No. 3, June 2014
244
DOI: 10.7763/IJIET.2014.V4.406
The Prejudice of Bajau: From Own and Others Ethnic
Perspective: A Preliminary Study in Sabah

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Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 4, No. 3, June 2014
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Kota Belud, Tuaran, Papar and Semporna.
The Bajau is an indigenous ethnic group of Maritime
Southeast Asia, making up 13.4% of the total population of
Sabah, the 2nd largest ethnic group in the state. Like the term
"Kadazandusun", "Bajau" is a collective term, used to
describe several closely-related indigenous groups. These
Bajau groups also blend culturally with the “Sama” groups
into what is most properly called the "Sama–Bajau" people.
Historically, the term "Sama" was used to describe the more
land-oriented and settled Sama–Bajau groups, while "Bajau"
was used to describe the more sea-oriented, boat-dwelling,
nomadic groups. Even these distinctions are fading as the
majority of Bajaus have long since abandoned boat-living,
most for Sama–style piling houses in the coastal shallows.
Today, the greatest feature distinguishing the "Bajau" from
the "Sama" is their poverty.
The Sama–Bajau peoples speak some 10 languages of the
Sama–Bajau subgroup of the Western Malayo-Polynesian
language family. Many Bajaus of the east coast retain their
seaborne lifestyle and as such, are sometimes referred to as
the "Sea Gypsies" (although the term has been used to
encompass a number of non-related ethnic groups with
similar traditional lifestyles, such as the Orang Laut of
southeastern Sumatra and the Riau Islands of Indonesia).
The various Bajau sub-groups vary culturally,
linguistically, and religiously. Religion can vary from a strict
adherence to sunni-islam to animistic beliefs in spirits and
ancestor worship. Traditional Bajau communities may have a
dukun (i.e. a shaman) and may adhere to taboos concerning
the treatment of the sea and other cultural aspects. An
example of this is the offering of thanks to the "embo dilaut”,
the God of the Sea, whenever a particularly large catch is
brought in. The east coast Sabah Bajau are also famous for
the annual “Semporna Regatta”. Among the boat-dwellers in
particular, community spirit mediums are consulted at least
once a year for a public seance and nightly trance dancing. In
times of epidemics, the mediums are also called upon to
remove illness causing spirits from the community. They do
this by setting a "spirit boat" adrift in the open sea beyond the
village or anchorage.
West Coast Bajaus are expert horsemen, the famous
"Cowboys of the East". This is their main claim to fame in
Malaysia, where horse riding has never been widespread
anywhere else. During special occasions, the Bajau horsemen
wear a black long-sleeved shirt (badu sampit) and trousers
(seluar sampit) which have gold lace trimmings sewn on,
together with a headpiece (podong), similar to the Bajau
bridegroom. Gold buttons (betawi) run down the front
opening of the shirt (which is sometimes white, instead of
black) and decorated with silver flowers called intiras. The
trousers are more tight-fitting than the bajau bridegroom's
seluar sama, with a silver-hilted dagger (keris) inside a wood
and silver sheath at his side. He also carries a spear (bujak)
and a shipping crop (pasut). The Bajau horseman's horse (or
rather pony) has its own costume and is more gaily dressed
than the rider. The outfit (kain kuda) almost completely
covers the pony, except for holes for its eyes and nose. This
cloth is tied around the pony's legs to keep it in place. The
saddle (sila-sila) is not like those of the cowboys of the West
but is a smaller piece of buffalo hide, so shaped to fit the
pony's back. A thick piece of cloth (lapik) is placed under the
sila-sila. Antique brass bells (seriau), colorful reins (tingalu)
and bridle (kakang) all make for a very festive pony costume.
Although the state of Sabah have begun to practice the
1Malaysia concept a long time ago through inter-ethnic
marriage, but it cannot assure the survival of the future
harmony. Furthermore, the inclusions of external cultural
elements have some impact on the culture itself, especially
for Bajau ethnic in Kota Belud. A long time ago, when a
mother gives birth to her son, all the family members will
gather for 7 days in the house. Not only the family members,
but also the neighbors will come to join the ceremony which
will be performed at night and guests will be served drinks
and some cake or biscuits. Sometimes the ceremonies named
“bertitik” which is accompanied by traditional instruments
such as gongs; xylophone and drums were played to entertain
the guests. However, this tradition is being eroded, and some
of the people did not follow the "berjogo" culture anymore
after childbirth, in spite of the fact that culture is a way to
strengthen family ties. When the culture is not practiced, then
it is difficult for the family members to meet up even during
the festival. Thus, this attitude has somehow contributed to
the breakdown of the family system which will trigger the
attitude of individualistic where individuals are less sensitive
to other people and ultimately it will affects interpersonal
relationships.
II. CONCEPT PREJUDICE, STEREOTYPE AND
DISCRIMINATION
A. Prejudice
Prejudice is human’s inner characteristic which is wrong
and awkward, inner feelings ordered and phrase toward
certain society group or only toward certain individual.
McLemore [2] and Healey [3] defined prejudice as negative
view about others ethnic or just towards a certain ethnic.
Usually this perception does not come with clear information.
When this prejudices is spoken out, it become stereotype.
“Scapegoat” theory introduced by Dollard [4], explains that
prejudice happen due to pre judgment, which does not refer
to any real facts. In general, prejudice starts with the feeling
of disappointment and this feeling is applied by a majority
group or individual to bully the minority group. According to
Simpson and Yinger [5], prejudice culture is conservative
and it will constantly develop from time to time, such as
attitude, values and belief. This mean that when someone
hold an prejudice assumption as part of the “culture heritage”,
then the individual will always think and act negatively
toward other groups.
B. Stereotype
According to McLemore [2] and Healey [3], stereotype
refers to a negative general statement that speaks toward
certain ethnic group. Stereotype will cause the ethnic to look
down on others ethnics followed by limited interaction which
can finally build up racism. There were two types of
stereotype. First, is labeling which mean downgrading the
minority group, such as “lazy” and “not smart”. Secondly, it

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Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 4, No. 3, June 2014
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occurs when the differences of power and status between
minority group and the dominant group become diminished.
Minority group with almost same status with dominant group
will cause the dominant group to act out negatively toward
the progressing minority group and give statement like “too
smart”, “too tricky” and so on.
C. Discrimination
Discrimination are perception, thought and negative belief
of someone or a group of ethnic toward others ethnic groups
or members which will affect their behavior and negative
perceptions. It is prejudice manifestation within an ethnic
group. Shamsul Amri Baharudin, [6]. At this stage,
discrimination can be interpreted by some group differently
in term of act and the meaning of word. Discrimination is
defined as unjustified negative behavior toward a particular
social group and the members of that group. Indeed, past
research has suggested that discrimination typically stems
from prejudiced attitudes and stereotypes towards other
groups (Dovidio, Kawakami, & Gaertner, [7]. An experiment
by Ziegert and Hanges [8] indicated that when given
justification for discrimination by an authority in an
organizational setting, individuals with higher levels of
unconscious racial bias rated Black job applicants more
negatively compared to those low in unconscious racial bias.
Further, a study by Norton, Sommers, Vandello, and Darley
[9] showed evidence that individuals will provide non-racial
justifications for race-related selection decisions, and that
this is especially true for individuals high on racial prejudice.
III. OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study is to identify perception among
government and private worker toward the ethnic of Bajau in
Malaysia, especially in Sabah State.
IV. METHOD
A. Sample and Location
A total of 22 workers from government and private agency
were invited to join this study. In-depth interview had been
used to investigate perception of Bajau towards own ethnic
and perception of others ethnic toward Bajau.
B. Data Analysis
Data is analyzed with indigenous psychology approach by
Braun and Clarke (2006) using categorization, open coding
and axial coding method.
V. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
A. Their Perception on Own
From the attitude and behavior aspects, Bajau identify
themselves as patient, like to help, does not care, introvert,
envious person, not consolidating, no manners, against
elderly, youngster like to drinks alcohol, hide their feeling,
fight with cleaver (parang), fight to kill, competing with
town area people, unwilling to help, good, help each other,
respect, and elements of greed.
Bajau ethnic says their physical and appearance are similar
to Timor Leste from Indonesia and Philippine and sometime
mis-associated as Filipino due to their skin color. The Bajau’s
are skilled fishermen as well as good rice cultivators. That is
why their claim themselves patient. Rice cultivation have a
long processes. First is land preparation to have the soil in
optimum physical condition for growing rice. Plowing and
tilling of land is done to predetermined levels that allow rice
plants to develop a good root system. The proper preparation
of land for sowing is achieved via tractors (mechanical means)
or with the help of water buffaloes. But nowadays, the
tradition using a buffaloes has been disappeared especially in
Kota Belud. The machine takeover because it's can be done in
one day. Land preparation also includes leveling to ensure
water reaches all areas planted. The good paddy is when their
grow-up with green color. Many years ago, like others
country, transplanting is the more popular plant
establishment technique. Transplanting occurs when
pre-germinated seedlings are transferred from a seedbed to
the wet field. It requires less seed and is an effective method
for controlling weeds. Nowadays, most of Bajau’S people
especially in Kota belud direct seeding sown by hand or
plated by machine. So the process easier and no need to
transferred anymore. Harvesting is the process of collecting
the mature rice crop from field. Depending on the variety,
rice crop usually reached maturity at around 115-120 days
after crop establishment. Harvesting can be performed
manually or mechanically. Mostly by machine because it is
can be done in couples of hour.
TABLE I: PERCEPTION OF BAJAU TOWARD THEIR OWN ETHNIC
Ethnic Bajau
Attitude
and
behavior
Patient (5), like to helps (4), don’t care (4), introvert
(2), envious person (2), not consolidate (1), no
manners (1), against elderly (1), youngster like to
drinks alcohol (1), hide feeling (1), fight with
cleaver (1), fight must kill (1), competed with town
area peoples (1), unwilling to help (1), good (1),
help each other (1), respect (1), greed when meet (1)
Physical
and
appearance Look alike Timor (1), like Pilipino (3), face (2)
Culture Set aside (2), Tradition disappear slowly (1),
conversation (1), language (2), fisherman (2)
See Table I, they are also experts in rearing ponies and
water buffaloes. Dubbed “the Cowboys of the East” they are
renowned for their horsemanship. In their culture aspect, it is
reported that their culture are residing away. One of the
interviewee said Bajau traditions are disappearing slowly.
This is because some of the tradition does not apply
ceremonies such as “bejogo” and “seliuh anymore. The
“seliuh” tradition only happens when the Bajau communities
start harvesting their Paddy. They take turns to make their job
easier. Nowadays all the activities are being replaced by
machine and work now can be done in just one day. Bajau
ethnic are also known by their conversation style and
language. Bajau language from Kota Belud district is

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different from Tuaran, Papar and also Semporna in Tawau.
The rhythm of language from Papar area is softer compared
to Kota Belud and Tuaran. Meanwhile Bajau communities
from Semporna speak a different language compare to kota
belud, tuaran and papar. Although bajau community from
Semporna claims themselves as Bajau but their languages
totally difference with Bajau from West coast of Sabah. This
is because Semporna District is near to Philippine country so
their languages more too Filipino style.
Below were some of the statement from interviewee:
“maybe tradision disapear from day to day, traditions
Bajau had disappear”, “also like fighting ”,“…this ethnic
bajau for now I see from day to day, teenagers like us now,
most of them, like to drink so much, drink alcohol. Bajau’s
teenagers same age like us against elderly, “If Bajau, they
tend to outspoken and dare to die also a little bit rude.” “We
same Bajau always help each other”, “...this Bajau easier to
fight by using parang until kill! U know?”
B. Perception toward Bajau
How about others ethnic are perceptions toward Bajau?
The opinions from others ethnic such as Chinese,
kadazandusun, murut and melayu brunei toward Bajau in
term of attitude and behavior aspect is that Bajau is rude
(behavior, words, and when get angry). Most of Bajau people
talk loudly especially the elderly besides outspoken. Their
also pleasant, not good at work, like to monopoly business,
dawdle, quiet, good natured, good in trading, not controlling
of their children, cooperative, straight forward, discuss
directly, outspoken, does not care much of education, like to
fight and dare to die. When their said this ethnic not
controlling of their children, bajau’s people seem like to be
independence.
According to the one of our interviewee Bajau people like
to fight because of their past generation. This statement of
course does not include all Bajau ethnic. Some time they
fight in order to protect friends and their spirit of ethnicity
become more powerful. In terms of physical and appearance,
others ethnic report that the Bajau ethnic if not of beauty and
has a dark skin tone. Furthermore, in term of culture aspect,
Bajau have their own language and dialect, low education
level, and discourages their ethnic to marry Bajau ethnic due
to Bajau’s culture (See Table II).
TABLE II: OTHERS ETHNIC GROUPS PERCEPTION TOWARD ETHNIC BAJAU
Ethnic BAJAU
Attitude and
behavior
Not good at work (1), like to monopoly business (1),
dawdle (1), Rude (6), quiet (1), pleasant (2), good (1), like
business (1), not control their children (1), can co-operate
(1), straight forward (1), discuss directly (1), outspoken
(1), rude words (1), don’t care about study (1), like to fight
(1), dare to die (1)
Physical and
appearance Less of beauty (2), low education level (2), don’t marry
with Bajau (2), dark ski n (4)
Culture dialect(2), language(1)
Below were some of the statement from interviewee:
“Their look like Filipino, that’s why people think this
ethnic a little bit rude..their also like fighting and don’t ever
try to argue with them ortherwise you can be killed by
them..”,“their like to monoply in business but
cheated..”,“their also very cooperative to others”,“a litte bit
rude”.
Comparing from the own perception and also others ethnic
perception towards bajau, there are several finding has
matched such as bajau like to fight, dark skin and also like to
monopoly in business.
VI. CONCLUSION
Overall, we can concluded that the understanding from
others ethnic groups toward Bajau is on the lesser side, but
there are some of the factors that match the perception of
Bajau toward themselves, such as Bajau is or rude natured.
This might be due to the less understanding from others
ethnic or the disappearing traditional culture of Bajau. This
result is an in-depth interview from government and private
workers which shows that most of the workers identify an
ethnic through the ethnic’s slang and language. This happens
in every country, where a race will have difference dialect
and the people will also differentiate them from the slang
they used (Mior Ahmad, Mior Hamzah & Rashidah Mamat,
[10]). This study only focuses on the perception from some
government and private workers. This is one of the
limitations in the study. In the future study, it should be
include the perceptions from other levels of people in the
society. This will help increasing the understanding of others
toward Bajau, and at the same time decreasing the
misunderstanding among all the ethnic groups. The prejudice
among ethnic should be focus in next research because this
factor can be a triggered in future especially in countries that
have many ethnic. Nowadays, a conflict between ethnic has
been occurred in some country in the world. The
communities should be aware that small matter can be a
trigger if there is no effort from now on.
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Lailawati Binti Madlan was born on 20 March 1975.
She obtaibed her Bachelor of Education (Guidance and
Counseling) from the State University of Semarang,
Central Java, Indonesia (2001), Master of Psychology
(2006) from University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and PhD
(in progress) at University Malaysia Sabah.
Currently, she works as a lecturer in Universiti
Malaysia Sabah. She published many articles, such as
1) “Stress and Coping among University students: A preliminary research on
ethnicity,” Southeast Asia Psychology Journal, vol 1. 2) Hubungan antara
stress dan sumber stress di kalangan pelajar university. Jurnal Kebajikan
Masyarakat, vol. 36. 3) Stres dalam kalangan guru: satu perbandingan
antara Bandar dan luar Bandar. UPPsiKs: UMS, 2011.
Mrs. Lailawati’s membership is in Asian Association in social psychology
(AASP), Malaysian Psychology Association (PSIMA), and Malaysian social
Science Association.