BOOK REVIEW | Sabah's irregular migrants straddling two worlds

BOOK REVIEW | There is a Talking Heads song with a line that goes: "Home is where I want to be, but I guess I'm already there." I found these song lyrics lingering on my mind as I read through anthropologist Vilashini Somiah's latest book Irregular Migrants and the Sea at the Borders of Sabah, Malaysia: Pelagic Alliance.

The lyrics revolve around the desire to find a home in a place or a person and feeling a sense of belonging to this entity - not dissimilar to what is felt by the irregular migrant community found along Sabah's east coast.

In Irregular Migrants and the Sea at the Borders of Sabah, Malaysia: Pelagic Alliance, Vilashini explores the lives led by Sabah's irregular migrant community and their connection to the Sulu sea.

This is set against the backdrop of what the Sulu Sea has commonly been associated with - territorial disputes, growing security threats, piracy, drug trafficking and so on.

The characters Vilashini encounters in her journey unravelling this puzzle are mired in a dilemma with the odds vastly against them as they weave...