Saturday, July 23, 2011

Bajau Legacy - Pangentoman

The Bajau or Bajaw (pronounced /ˈbædʒɔː/ or /ˈbɑːdʒaʊ/), also spelled Bajao, Badjau, Badjaw, or Badjao, are an indigenous ethnic group of Maritime Southeast Asia. Due to escalated conflicts in their native Sulu Archipelago, and discrimination suffered by Muslim groups in the Philippines with regards to education and employment, most of the Bajau have migrated to neighboring Malaysia over the course of 50 years. Currently they are the second largest ethnic group in the state of Sabah, making up 13.4%[1] of the total population. Groups of Bajau have also migrated to Sulawesi and Kalimantan in Indonesia, although figures of their exact population are unknown.[2] They were sometimes referred to as the Sea Gypsies, although the term has been used to encompass a number of non-related ethnic groups with similar traditional lifestyles, such as the Moken of the Burmese-Thai Mergui Archipelago and the Orang Laut of southeastern Sumatra and the Riau Islands of Indonesia. The modern outward spread of the Bajau from older inhabited areas seems to have been associated with the development of sea trade in trepang.

The origin of the word Bajau is not clear cut. It is generally accepted that these groups of people can be termed Bajau, though they never call themselves Bajau. Instead, they call themselves with the names of their tribes, usually the place they live or place of origin. They accept the term Bajau because they realize that they share some vocabulary and general genetic characteristic such as in having darker skin, although the Simunuls appear to be an exception in having fairer skin.

British administrators in Sabah, labeled the Samah as Bajau and put Bajau in their birth certificates as their race. During their time in Malaysia, some have started labeling themselves as their ancestors called themselves, such as Simunul. For political reasons and to ensure easy access to the Malaysian special privileges granted to Malays, many have started calling themselves Malay. This is especially true for recent Filipino migrants.


For most of their history, the Bajau have been a nomadic, seafaring people, living off the sea by trading and subsistence fishing.[5] The boat dwelling Bajau see themselves as non-aggressive people. They kept close to the shore by erecting houses on stilts, and traveled using lepa-lepa, handmade boats which many lived in.[5] Although historically originating from the southern Philippine coasts, Sabahan Sama legend narrates that they had originated from members of the royal guard of the Sultan of Johor, after the fall of the Malay Malacca empire, who settled along the east coast of Borneo after being driven there by storms. Another version narrates that they were escorting the Sultan's bride, but the bride was later kidnapped by the Sultan of Brunei. The fact that the Bajau-Sama languages belong to the Philippine branch of Malayo-Polynesian languages would substantiate the anthropological origins of the Bajau groups to be from the Philippines, and put the origin legends down to the historic Malay-centric influence of Bajau culture.

However, there are traces that Sama people came from Riau Archipelago especially Lingga Island
more than 300 years ago. It is believed by some that the migration process of Samah to North West Borneo took place more than 100 years earlier, starting from trade with the Empire of Brunei. (note connection to bride being sent from Johor to Sulu and then being kidnapped by the Prince of Brunei) With the fall of the legitimate Sultan of Johor due to being overthrown by Bugis immigrants, Sama people fled to the west coast of North Borneo where they felt safe to live under the protection of the Brunei Sultanate. That's why native Kadazan-Dusun call Sama people as "tuhun(people of) Sama" or "tulun(people of) Sama" in their dialects, the form of recognition before western civilization found Borneo. It was believed that Sama people are not from the royalty of the Sultanate, but loyal workers, craftsmen, boat builders and farmers that fled from cruelty of ethnic cleansing in chaotic Johor during aggression of the Bugis taking over the throne of Johor.

Currently, there exists a huge settlement of Filipino Bajau in Pulau Gaya, off the Sabah coast. Many of them are illegal immigrants on the Malaysian island. With the island as a base, they frequently enter Sabah and find jobs as manual laborers.

Discrimination of Bajau (particularly from the dominant Tausūg people who have historically viewed them as 'inferior' and less specifically from the Christian Filipinos)[6] and the continuing violence in Muslim Mindanao, have driven many Bajau to begging, or to migrate out of the country. They usually resettle in Malaysia and Indonesia, where they are less discriminated against.[4][7]

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

New Scientist: Exclusive first interview with key LulzSec hacker

It was early May when LulzSec's profile skyrocketed after a hack on the giant Sony corporation. LulzSec's name comes from Lulz, a corruption of LOL, often denoting laughter at the victim of a prank. For 50 days until it disbanded, the group's unique blend of humour, taunting and unapologetic data theft made it notorious. But knowing whether LulzSec was all about the "lulz" or if it owed more to its roots as part of Anonymous, the umbrella group of internet subculture and digital activism, was pure speculation. Until now.
Who is "Sabu"?
I'm a man who believes in human rights and exposing abuse and corruption. I generally care about people and their situations. I'm into politics and I try my best to stay on top of current events.

We've seen you cast as everything from the greatest of heroes to the most evil of villains. How would you characterise yourself?

It is hard for me to see myself as either. I am not trying to be a martyr. I'm not some cape-wearing hero, nor am I some supervillain trying to bring down the good guys. I'm just doing what I know how to do, and that is counter abuse.

What was your first experience with "hacktivism"?

I got involved about 11 years ago when the US navy was using Vieques Island in Puerto Rico as a bombing range for exercises. There were lots of protests going on and I got involved in supporting the Puerto Rican government by disrupting communications. This whole situation was the first of its kind for the island and the people didn't expect things to go that route. Eventually, the US navy left Vieques.

How did you get involved with Anonymous?

When I found out about what happened to Julian Assange, his arrest in the UK and so on, I found it absolutely absurd. So I got involved with Anonymous at that point.

What operation really inspired you and why?

Earlier this year, we got wind of the Tunisians' plight. Their government was blocking access to any website that reported anti-Tunisian information, including Tunileaks, the Tunisian version of Wikileaks, and any news sites discussing them.

Tunisians came to us telling us about their desire to resist. "Disrupt the government of Tunisia," they said, and we did. We infiltrated the prime minister's site and defaced it externally. When Tunisia filtered off its internet from the world, it was the Tunisians who came online using dial-up and literally allowed us to use their connections to tunnel through to re-deface the prime minister's websites. It was the most impressive thing I've seen: a revolution coinciding both physically and online. It was the first time I had proof that what Anonymous was doing was real and it was working.

What would you like to say to people who say that you and other Antisec/Anonymous/LulzSec members are just troublemakers who have caused untold damage and loss to people for no apparent reason?

Would you rather your millions of emails, passwords, dox [personal information] and credit cards be exposed to the wild to be used by nefarious dealers of private information? Or would you rather have someone expose the hole and tell you your data was exploitable and that it's time to change your passwords? I'm sure we are seen as evil for exposing Sony and others, but at the end of the day, we motivated a giant to upgrade its security.

But what about hacks that were done "for lulz"?

Yes, some hacks under LulzSec were done for the lulz, but there are lessons learned from them all. In 50 days, you saw how big and small companies were handling their user data incorrectly. You saw the US federal government vulnerable to security issues that could have just as easily been exploited by foreign governments. You saw affiliates of the US government handling sensitive emails and they themselves ignored the FBI's better practice manuals about password re-use.

With the Public Broadcasting Service site, you saw the media vulnerable to fake articles. And yes, our Frontline hit [the group attacked the PBS's Frontline television programme website after perceived unfair treatment of Wikileaks] was political, but we also showed what could happen if an organisation were to hack 50 of the biggest media publications right now, online, and distribute a mass news article designed to blend in on each outlet's site. That kind of thing would cause some serious havoc. I mean, we're talking about the potential of crashing stocks or spreading damaging rumours. Everything we did had a duality: a lesson and some LOLs at the same time.

When did you realize you had hit the point of no return?


I was at the point of no return when I realised that I could make a change. Operation Tunisia was it for me. Then HBGary [a security firm attacked by LulzSec]. Now Antisec is the biggest movement in years, unifying all hackers and free thinkers across Anonymous and other groups. There's no going back.

How do you describe what Antisec is about?

Expose corruption. Expose censorship. Expose abuses. Assist our brothers and sisters during their operations in their own countries like the one we have going in Brazil now, Operation Brazil, which is about internet/information censorship. Expose these big multinational companies that have their hands in too much, that have too much power, and don't even take the time to secure your passwords and credit cards. And finally, discussion and education. We are not sitting idly by and letting our rights get thrashed. It's time to rise up now.

So what would an Antisec "win" look like?


There is no win. There's just change and education.

The popularity of LulzSec and Anonymous has inspired many to follow in your footsteps. What words of wisdom do you have for them?

Those who are with me in the fight do not have to be hackers. They can be reporters, artists, public speakers. This movement is about all of us uniting against corruption. But I don't ask anyone to take my risks. I don't want anyone to follow me down my path.

Are you afraid of being caught?

There is no fear in my heart. I've passed the point of no return. I only hope that if I am stopped, the movement continues on the right path without me.

Source: New Scientist