On being orang suku laut in the malay world

Abstract

Southeast Asia is a region steeped in long-established maritime traditions, and sea nomadism has prevailed within its waters for centuries. Until today, widely scattered communities of sea nomads can be found across the region. This chapter traces the story of historically changing commitments of power holders in the region’s macro-politics and the stakes they held in forging the rise and decline of the sea nomads. Presently, the wider society sees them as a backward and unprogressive people. In the name of modernization and development, policymakers have tried to forcibly settle and assimilate them. Yet, their continued widespread distribution in Southeast Asia bears testament to their proficiencies to strike- and pushback against state intrusions. An examination of their relationship with space, their adoption of Christianity and Chinese religion as resources to establish modernity as well as their practices of not doing or undoing provide but just a few ethnographic glimpses into their wide-ranging strategies to ward off the State.