SANDAKAN – Viral videos showing homes of Bajau Laut people burning during an eviction and demolition activity in Semporna were done intentionally to get sympathy from the public, according to the Sabah tourism, culture and environment minister.
Datuk Christina Liew added that the eviction had legal basis, because the illegal settlements were inside the Tun Sakaran Marine Park (TSMP), a protected area.
In a statement, she also said police informed her that during the operation to demolish the Bajau Laut homes, several of the residents had burned their own houses in a bid to get attention.
“According to a source from the police involved in the operation, there were house owners who burned their own houses while the operations members were not present, for the purpose of making it viral on social media to get sympathy and attention from netizens,” Liew said.
“The operation was conducted due to security issues in Semporna district following a shooting incident at Darvel Bay recently as well as other cross-border crime activities in locations with illegal immigrants.
“The sovereignty of the nation’s law that is enforced in this issue must be defended,” she said.
Liew was referring to the two Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) personnel shot and wounded by gunmen during an operation at the Kunak waters in April this year.
Liew explained that the operation was conducted following a meeting chaired by Sabah Parks and the Semporna district police chief.
Eviction notices had been distributed between May 2 and 4, to those living in 273 illegal housing structures built within the TSMP gazetted area.
She said the demolition and eviction process was conducted only a month later, between June 4 to yesterday, and a total of 138 illegal houses were demolished.
While some houses were burnt, there were also those whose owners “had just left their houses just like that”.
“The TSMP is an area that was gazetted under Sabah Parks, and Parks Enactment 1984 prohibits illegal building of structures, agriculture, and fishing in the area,” she said.
A Facebook user, Tzu Wong, had posted videos of houses of the Bajau Laut being torn down and burned, allegedly during an enforcement operation on illegal structures in the TSMP on June 4.
The videos sparked public criticism, including by human rights lawyers Rajesh Nagarajan and Sachpreetraj Singh, who described the authority’s action as “violence of the worst kind bordering on barbarism”.
Liew said all actions taken during the operation had been agreed upon by the relevant agencies in several meetings, which according to her, were also attended by eight legitimate TSMP community representatives who requested for illegal communities to be evicted from the marine park area.
Among the agencies involved in the meetings were police, marine police, Semporna district office, Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom), Immigration Department, National Registration Department, and Semporna District Council.
However, Liew did not mention if the families evicted were stateless Bajau Laut community or illegal immigrants who have illegally trespassed into Sabah in recent years.
The Bajau Laut, locally called the Palauh – or sea gypsies – are sea-faring nomads who traditionally live on boats at sea for most of their lives.
They came to Sabah in the 1970s to escape war in the Philippines, and today, most of them are in Semporna, Tawau, and Lahad Datu, relying on marine catch for their survival.
They are categorised as stateless, and according to the United Nations are not considered nationals by any state under the operation of law. – June 7, 2024