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SANDAKAN – A father and son attacked by a crocodile in Lahad Datu yesterday were stateless Palauh (Bajau Laut) people running away from law enforcement officers, the man involved has revealed.
The man, named Morehat, 45, said they were near the Lahad Datu market before the incident. His son is still missing.
He said in a Facebook live video that he and his 1-year-old ran when they saw a police operation at the market.
“So I ran and jumped into the sea with my son. I was carrying my son, and he was still drinking milk from his bottle.
“I did not realise that there was a crocodile. The next thing I knew, the crocodile grabbed my son from me.
“I panicked and looked for my son; I did not even realise that I was already bleeding from the attack,” Morehat said in the Bajau Laut language, looking sad and pensive in the video.
The Bajau Laut, locally called the Palauh, are seafaring nomads who traditionally live in boats on the sea most of their lives.
The incident highlights Sabah’s long-standing problem of stateless residents and their fear of being rounded up by law enforcement officers.
The situation arises as a result of refugee migration, the arrival of undocumented migrants from the southern Philippine islands, as well as poverty and lack of education leading to the failure to register marriages and births.
Yesterday, the Lahad Datu Fire and Rescue Department launched a search and rescue operation to look for the toddler, believed to have been attacked by a crocodile.
The incident happened near the Lahad Datu marine jetty at about 10.05 am.
As of 6pm today, department chief Sumsoa Rashid said that the search for the child’s body is still ongoing.
In the Facebook live video, Morehat was speaking to a local volunteer teacher after his discharge from the Lahad Datu Hospital with multiple stitches on his head and arms.
Social media users responded to his story with condolence messages, with many enquiring about making donations.
Morehat, who struggled to speak in Bahasa Malaysia, said all he wanted now is for his son’s body to be found so that he could bury the child in his hometown in Semporna.
He said he has seven children. The 1-year-old victim is his youngest child.
A volunteer teacher, Jefry Musa, who teaches at a school for stateless children in Semporna, told The Vibes that Morehat’s case is only one of thousands of cases involving discrimination against the Bajau Laut community in Sabah.
The community has been threatened and intimidated by the authorities for years, Jefry said.
“Enough. Let them live like humans. Treat them with dignity. They also have hearts and feelings like us. Stop torturing them,” he said.
Jefry also talked about a video being shared on WhatsApp that shows Morehat crying right after the incident.
The incident highlights Sabah’s long-standing problem of stateless residents and their fear of being rounded up by law enforcement officer. pic.twitter.com/EUsMEvQSLr
— TheVibes.com (@thevibesnews) December 2, 2022
The clip has stirred anger here, as the person recording it can be heard saying in a mix of Bahasa Malaysia and Bajau: “Who asked you to run? Now you’ve been attacked by a crocodile” and “Who cares” while Morehat expresses anguish.
In the video circulated on WhatsApp, Morehat addresses the person making the recording as “Tuan”, an indication that it could have been a law enforcement officer.
Officers from the Sabah Immigration Department, however, told The Vibes that they do not have reports of such an incident. – The Vibes, December 2, 2022
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