Bajo or Bajau is one of the participants who are now many people in Sulawesi. As the participants, Bajo people are still less famous than other tribes in Sulawesi. But there is a local wisdom of the Bajo people who need to be enjoyed.
For the people of Bajo, the sea is a source of life, they hang live from sea results. Their dependence on the sea is reflected in the division of its social group hierarchy. They recognize four groups of people who are divided according to the habit of searching for fish in the sea, namely Lilibu group (that one to two days), Papongka (turn one to two weeks), Sakai (turn one to two months), and Lame (that for months).
Another achievement for them is ‘The Sea Gypsies’, because of its nomaden lifestyle. They choose living in the sea with good atol corals and have abundant fish resources.
But now in some places, the Bajo people begin to settle, either with their own initiative or the government’s ‘forced’. They build new settlements, but never far from the sea.
Mola village is one of the villages of Bajo tribe in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, which now began to change in the middle of the city’s development. Some people no longer live on the off sea, they already live in a brick-walled house and zinc-sized. Motorcycles also become their transportation tools besides the coli-koli or small wood champs that have since used.
Photo and Text : Prasetyo Utomo
