Conference in Semporna on Sama Dilaut

On March 23-27 the 2^nd International conference on Bajau/Sama Diaspora and Maritime Southeast Asian Cultures will be held in Semporna, Malaysia. The conference will be about Sama Dilaut culture, sacred places, maritime lifestyle and migration.

I will present a paper on migration in which I discuss two possible solutions on the Sama migration crisis, derived from extensive field trips in Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. I argue that the crisis is part of an international problem facing coastal communities throughout the world, and claim that we should reclaim the concept of Sama Dilaut as guardians of the sea. Positive examples can be found in Sampela where Sama fishermen lead a traditional lifestyle within a national park and in Davao were Sama fishermen have been recruited as “Bantay Laut”, with the task of collecting plastic waste and report illegal fishing.