86
islands, Balambangan and Bangi, over 30 km offshore (Fig. 5.3). At the Kudat
waterfront I asked around to find a boatman and finally found a Chinese man who
ran a fish packing house who called another man who he said might be interested.
This was a pretty typical process. After a while, a Bajau man, named Kumai, showed
up and we drove to his water kampung, a ramshackle cluster of simple houses on
stilts over the water, all interconnected by rickety boardwalks. Kumai spoke no
English so we negotiated in Bahasa Melayu as best we could. His smallish, traditional Malaysian wooden boat with a 15 hp. motor was suspended on ropes above
the water under his home. The back was covered with a low cabin that was big
enough for him to sit in cross legged but, being tall, I found cramped. We agreed on
a 5-day schedule and an advance of 200 Ringgit (around $50). The request for an
advance was unusual and I was leery that he might just take the money and disappear. It certainly was clear that he could desperately use the money.
The next morning, Kumai was waiting at the Kudat waterfront with a case of cola
and two styrofoam coolers crammed into the small cabin. I figured he must really
like to drink cola. For 2 hours, we chugged out to Pualu Balambangan and spent the
day working around the southern part of the island with me going ashore periodically while he waited offshore in the boat. We had a fairly elaborate lunch that
Kumai’s wife had fixed. He laid this out in plastic containers on the deck of the
cabin and called me to makan (eat) at precisely 12:00 noon. Knowing that it would
take around 2 hours to get back to Kudat, at 4:00 pm I said, “balik Kudat” (we go
back to Kudat). Kumai appeared confused but after a while we headed back. I suddenly realized that he thought we would stay at the islands for the 5 days I’d contracted him for. He’d come prepared with rations and colas, bought with the advance
I’d given him.
Next morning, we met again at the Kudat waterfront. This time, Kumai had two
15 hp. motors mounted side by side. We got to Pulau Balambangan in just 1 hour.
Every day for the next several, at precisely 12:00 noon, Kumai would lay out the
lunch his wife had fixed and call me to makan. At the end of each day, we would
“balik Kudat”.
Modern Day Head-Hunters
I had serious concerns about working in eastern Sabah and these were well-founded.
For years, people have been kidnapped for ransom, often tourists from luxury island
resorts, and taken by speedboat to one of the Philippine islands in the Sulu Sea
(Fig. 5.3). This archipelago is so huge and intricate, the pirate camps are undetectable. If the ransom doesn’t come through, the hostages are often beheaded. The
abduction of two Sarawakians in 2015 and beheading of one of them was only one
such episode. The tradition of piracy and kidnapping in the Sulu Sea goes back
centuries.
Prior to coming to eastern Sabah, I met with geologist colleagues at Universiti
Malaysia Sabah and asked how they conducted research in eastern Sabah. “We
P. R. Parham
islands, Balambangan and Bangi, over 30 km offshore (Fig. 5.3). At the Kudat
waterfront I asked around to find a boatman and finally found a Chinese man who
ran a fish packing house who called another man who he said might be interested.
This was a pretty typical process. After a while, a Bajau man, named Kumai, showed
up and we drove to his water kampung, a ramshackle cluster of simple houses on
stilts over the water, all interconnected by rickety boardwalks. Kumai spoke no
English so we negotiated in Bahasa Melayu as best we could. His smallish, traditional Malaysian wooden boat with a 15 hp. motor was suspended on ropes above
the water under his home. The back was covered with a low cabin that was big
enough for him to sit in cross legged but, being tall, I found cramped. We agreed on
a 5-day schedule and an advance of 200 Ringgit (around $50). The request for an
advance was unusual and I was leery that he might just take the money and disappear. It certainly was clear that he could desperately use the money.
The next morning, Kumai was waiting at the Kudat waterfront with a case of cola
and two styrofoam coolers crammed into the small cabin. I figured he must really
like to drink cola. For 2 hours, we chugged out to Pualu Balambangan and spent the
day working around the southern part of the island with me going ashore periodically while he waited offshore in the boat. We had a fairly elaborate lunch that
Kumai’s wife had fixed. He laid this out in plastic containers on the deck of the
cabin and called me to makan (eat) at precisely 12:00 noon. Knowing that it would
take around 2 hours to get back to Kudat, at 4:00 pm I said, “balik Kudat” (we go
back to Kudat). Kumai appeared confused but after a while we headed back. I suddenly realized that he thought we would stay at the islands for the 5 days I’d contracted him for. He’d come prepared with rations and colas, bought with the advance
I’d given him.
Next morning, we met again at the Kudat waterfront. This time, Kumai had two
15 hp. motors mounted side by side. We got to Pulau Balambangan in just 1 hour.
Every day for the next several, at precisely 12:00 noon, Kumai would lay out the
lunch his wife had fixed and call me to makan. At the end of each day, we would
“balik Kudat”.
Modern Day Head-Hunters
I had serious concerns about working in eastern Sabah and these were well-founded.
For years, people have been kidnapped for ransom, often tourists from luxury island
resorts, and taken by speedboat to one of the Philippine islands in the Sulu Sea
(Fig. 5.3). This archipelago is so huge and intricate, the pirate camps are undetectable. If the ransom doesn’t come through, the hostages are often beheaded. The
abduction of two Sarawakians in 2015 and beheading of one of them was only one
such episode. The tradition of piracy and kidnapping in the Sulu Sea goes back
centuries.
Prior to coming to eastern Sabah, I met with geologist colleagues at Universiti
Malaysia Sabah and asked how they conducted research in eastern Sabah. “We
P. R. Parham