"THE SEA IS MY COUNTRY, THE SEA IS MY ALLY": IRREGULAR MIGRANTS AND THE WATER AT THE BORDERS OF THE MALAYSIAN STATE OF SABAH

Abstract

This thesis is an anthropological exploration of the relationship between irregular migrants and the sea in their struggle against the realities of state power in Sabah. Located in Borneo, Sabah is home to thousands of irregular migrants from the southern Philippines who have been migrating across the Sulu sea for decades. As their numbers grow exponentially in the 21st century, the only solution currently provided by the Malaysian government is routine detention and deportation. But despite increased border security on land and in the sea itself, many of these migrants continue to return from Mindanao to their long-term informal settlements in coastal towns around Sabah. This thesis explores the ways in which these irregular migrants contest inconvenient national sea boundaries, the trauma of detention and deportation, and other impositions of state power by drawing on supernatural support from the sea itself.