The Outcasts Of The Islands

The copy of I have of this book is an uncorrected proof. As such it had couple of typos in it - remarkably few, considering the number found in many books that have been proofread and published already. The more important factor in this book, is I missed out on the maps (each map page stated “map # to come”. I suspect there would also have been a good collection of photographs in the final book too, as the text regularly refers to the taking of photos. As it is no fault of the authors that I have this uncorrected proof edition, I have rated it and considered it as if these things had been present.

This was an interesting book on the sea gypsies, or the semi-nomadic boat people - living permanently on their boats in a lose tribe.

The books is presented in two parts. In the first part the author describes his time spent with a family in the waters of Sabah, in Malaysian Borneo. He lives with them for a number of months, is familiar with not only them, but their extended family and other members of the loose tribe. It is obvious the author has a real and honest connection with this family, and they with him. The day to day life, the culture, their problems and the way of life are all examined, as well as their history. The time-lines of their history is somewhat difficult, as the family have no concept of time in years. Sarani explains that an event took place ‘when the palm trees as such and such place were as high as a man'.

The author leaves the family and for a number of years continues his research, searching for other sea-dwelling families - Thailand and Myanmar, Singapore, other parts of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. This forms the second part of the book. For reasons which become obvious, the narrative loses a bit of form here. It is difficult - near impossible - to find other sea gypsies. The authorities in most countries see them not as citizens, but as troublesome vagrants, and are not keen on giving permissions and permits to the author. As well as that, many of the former boat dwellers who have taken homes on land are reluctant to talk, or simply do not get the engagement of the author. He frequently misses the friendship and interaction with Sarani when he is amongst those other, similar peoples.

In the Philippines he locates a number of relatives of Sarani, some who haven't seen him for many years, and there are some nice touches with the author having some photographs of him to show the relatives.

The book ends when the author makes his inevitable return trip to Sabah to try and find Sarani and his family. There is the tension of whether the author is looking in the right places, whether the weather will force the family into a relocation, and at the start, even whether they family are still alive (although this is confirmed very quickly by those in the towns who know Sarani). Their meeting is a happy end to the book, although the author only spends a few days with the family before they must move on.

An interesting book, worth reading for those with any interest in south East Asian culture and geography, and the movement of peoples. As I mentioned above, without the maps I was at a disadvantage, as the places mentioned by name were often very locally known names, and sounded very similar, so it was a little hard to keep track of the places. Many places are also known by names translated across languages, be it local languages, Malay, Thai etc.

For me between 4 & 5 stars, but rounded down due to the complexity of the second part of the book.