Monthly Photos　Feb 2024

Photos taken by ILCAA staff and associates are posted here once a month; most of them are taken during their field research in Asia and Africa.

(The copyright belongs to the photographers.)

At the sea between two countries

Blue plastic buoys serve as rafts for the aquaculture of shellfish called kupang, a type of mussel. The shellfish grow attached to the ropes hung from the buoys. Seletar people, sea nomads who used to travel by houseboat in rivers and waters between the Malay Peninsula and Singapore Island, now build houses and cultivate shellfish for their livelihood in villages established on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. Over half a century has passed since the sea became a border area due to the separation of Malaysia and Singapore. The sea remains the most familiar living space to Seletar people, who sometimes build houses above the water.
In this photo, we can see Singapore on the left and greenery of Malaysia on the right. Far in the distance lie white skyscrapers of the Forest City, an urban development project handled by mainland Chinese real estate developers.

August, 2023
Malaysia, Selangor, Sungai Temon
Photograph by Aya KAWAI