KUALA LUMPUR: The government is conducting a study on the sea gypsy, or the Pala’u, community in Sabah.
In response to a question by Datuk Datu Nasrun Datu Mansur (BN-Silam), Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said the community lived on boats, and practised a nomadic way of life in Sabah, the southern Philippines and Indonesia.
“They are poor and illiterate. To resolve the issue of nationality and registration, the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) and the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) have a holistic approach, and have conducted several series of profiling studies on them,” he said.
Shahidan said the main purpose for the study was to identify the sea gypsies’ living area, the population of the community, and their nationality.
“Last year, Esscom had done two profiling studies; one in Kampung Labuan Haji on Pulau Omadal, and Pulau Kulapan in Semporna.”
Another study was done on the island and reefs of Serumbu in Semporna.
Shahidan said Esscom had conducted profiling studies in Kampung Halo, Kampung Bangau-Bangau and Pulau Nusa last month.
“Esscom also plans to conduct another profiling study in Kampung Kunak 3 , Kunak in August this year.”
He said the findings of the studies would be analysed to determine the next course of action.
“As of now, the Pala’u community continues with their y activities and are under control.”
Datu Nasrun had asked what action had the government taken to resolve the overwhelming number of sea gypsies in Sabah that are unregistered and their nationality unknown.
