For centuries there has been the free movement of people and goods across North Borneo to its neighbouring countries

The Bajau Laut, or Sea Bajau or also often referred to with the derogatory label Palauh by other communities, are known to be living within their ancestral domain of the Sulu and the Celebes Seas or the Sulu-Semporna-South Sulawesi Triangle. During the Pre-British period, their mobility around this region was well established as part of their civilization and was not an issue with other peoples in the land-based territories.  However, the legal status of the Bajau Laut became problematic when citizenship and territories were formalized by the emergence of the nation-states of the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. In the case of the Bajau Laut population located on the Malaysian side of Sabah, the dynamics of their own internal development has become more complicated.  In Sabah there are three groups of Bajau: the West Coast Bajau, the various groups of East Coast Bajau, and the Bajau Laut who can be found along Sabah’s east coast, and around the islands off of Semporna. These three groups can be differentiated by their language and dialects, as well as livelihood, status in life, education, community structure and their general worldviews.  The West Coast Bajau and the East Coast Bajau have slowly integrated themselves into the Malaysian society, while the Bajau Laut continues their semi-nomadic life at sea and are generally regarded as stateless by the Malaysian government.  This paper looks into the changes that has occurred within the Bajau Laut group and how they are viewed by the Sabah government and society.  One of the main finding of this paper is that the status of the Bajau Laut as stateless has made them more vulnerable and easily exploited. This in turn presents as a possible security problem to the state as these people pledges allegiance to no one.

Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (TKI) merupakan sumber pekerja utama dalam sektor perladangan di Sabah, terutamanya kelapa sawit. Kumpulan TKI yang paling dominan adalah berketurunan Bugis (termasuk TKI dan Pendatang Tanpa Izin (PTI) yang datang dari Sulawesi Selatan, diikuti oleh pekerja berketurunan Timor (Adonara dan Flores di Nusa Tenggara) dan Jawa. Kertas kerja ini memfokuskan kajian ke atas TKI berketurunan Bugis dan cuba melihat bagaimana kumpulan ini mendominasi sektor ini di Sabah. Bagi melengkapi kajian ini, tinjauan dan temu bual telah dibuat di beberapa buah estet di Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Lahad Datu, Kunak dan Tawau. Di samping itu, temu bual turut dibuat dengan Konsulat Jenderal Indonesia di Kota Kinabalu dan Tawau, pihak majikan dan agensi pekerjaan. Kajian mendapati bahawa rangkaian sosial dalam kalangan migran Bugis dan faktor desakan ekonomi serta usaha untuk meningkatkan taraf hidup sebagai punca utama migran Bugis cukup dominan dalam sektor perladangan di Sabah.

Malaysia has a significant population of migrant labour force. Out of the 5.5 million migrant workers in the country, more than half are reported to be undocumented, with the state of Sabah being home to the highest population of undocumented migrant workers majority from the Philippines and Indonesia. Since the 1970s the scale of migration increased drastically with the arrival of large number of Muslim refugees from the war-torn southern Philippines, and economic migrants from rural areas of Indonesia, in hopes of achieving better economic and food security. This steady flow of foreign labour also coincided with the state’s economic development plan which saw labour intensive sectors such as constructions, plantation and timber boom. However, when the Covid-19 pandemic began to spread in Malaysia, job opportunities drastically reduced as the government pulled the brakes on almost all economic sectors and closed off the borders. The Movement Controlled Order (MCO) announced nationwide beginning 18 March 2020 thus increased the vulnerability of the undocumented irregular migrants, as the economic threat in the form of loss of wages and movement restrictions decreased the food security of this group.

Elemen bukan fizikal merupakan elemen utama dalam pembentukan sempadan, terutamanya pembentukan sempadan identiti sesuatu kumpulan. Namun, artikel ini melihat bahawa pembentukan sempadan bukan fizikal ini tidak boleh difahami sebagai satu proses semula jadi kerana ia merupakan elemen yang dibentuk oleh proses tertentu. Dalam hal ini, penulis melihat bahawa salah satu daripada elemen penting yang membawa kepada wujudnya wacana hegemoni dalam pembentukan sempadan identiti ini adalah melalui elemen peristiwa. Oleh itu, artikel ini membincangkan bahawa peristiwa Tanduo di Sabah merupakan tragedi identiti masyarakat Tausug di negeri ini kerana peristiwa ini mewujudkan kebenaran sosial dalam kalangan masyarakat yang akhirnya membawa kepada imej negatif masyarakat Suluk di negeri Sabah. Jelasnya, pembentukan imej negatif ini terhasil daripada fungsi peristiwa tersebut dan menyebabkan ia menjadi salah satu fakta yang tidak dapat disangkal kebenarannya. Akibatnya, masyarakat Suluk dilihat sebagai bermasalah, perlu dijauhi, berbahaya dan seterusnya membawa kepada pembentukan pelbagai kategori Tausug yang sebelum ini berada dalam satu kategori yang sama. Dalam hal ini, penulis melihat jika sempadan fizikal boleh diperkukuhkan melalui peningkatan ketenteraan, artikel ini melihat pembentukan dasar-dasar yang berguna perlu dimainkan oleh badanbadan bukan kerajaan, ahli-ahli politik dan sebagainya terutamanya dalam mengurus persepsi yang berlaku ini.   A non-physical element is a key element in the border formation, particularly the formation of group's identity. However, this paper argues that the formation of this non-physical boundary cannot be understood as a natural process or pre-given but produced by a particular social and historical process. In this case, the authors argue that one of the crucial elements that led to the emergence of this hegemonic discourse of the identity formation is through the role of event. Therefore, this paper argues that Tanduo incident in 2013 was the tragedy of the Suluk identity formation in the state. The Tanduo incident has produced the particular kind of relationships, self/other and eventually led to the negative representation of the Suluk community in the state. Apparently, the formation of this negative representation is derived from the role of event, namely the Tanduo incident which produce a new reality, undeniable fact and truth about the Suluk. As a result of this self/other relationships, the Suluk community has been seen as problematic, to be shunned, dangerous and finally it leads to the formation of the bad and good Suluk categories. In this case, the author argues that, if the physical boundaries can be strengthened through military enforcement, this paper sees the non-governmental organizations, politicians, ruling government and various segments of Sabah society play a very crucial role especially in managing this negative perception towards Suluk community