My Trip to Kota Kinabalu (2/4 to 4/4/2010)

This is my trip to KK after 10 years. There has been tremendous progress with new high rise buildings including shopping malls, hotels and eateries. However, you can still see the poor living tilted houses built along the coastal and estuaries. These are mostly fishermen. My trip there was to attend the FELCRA board meeting and visit Pulau Banggi and some other projects tasked to Felcra to be implemented.

I took a plane from KLIA at 3.00 pm on Friday 2/4/2010 and arrived at 5.30pm the same day. I was picked up by felcra officials and taken on a four drive cruiser to Kudat. Kudat is about 180 kilometers from KK. Arrived in Kudat at about 8.45 pm and taken to a restaurant called Terminal Tom Yam owned by a Kelantanese army officer and his wife. The food was ok but not that fantastic. After the dinner, we checked into the Marina Golf and Beach Resort. The next day we have to assemble by 7.00 am to take a speed boat to Pulau Banggi cause we want go early during low tide and come back by 2.00 pm before the sea gets rough. I was told there were incidents where boats capsized due heavy sea currents. It took us one hour to reach Pulau Banggi. We boarded on the jetty and walked towards the mainland, saw the signboard written Kpg Karakit ( I was told this is the main town where kampong people gather for any major activities especially during dignitaries visits. There were some buildings which look new including shopd, a small hospital with wards amd a new medium sized masjid.

I was told the total population of Pulau Banggi is 14,600 and they are scattered all over the island which is bigger than Pulau Langkawi. More than 90 percent of the population are fishermen. They are very poor and some senior citizen doesn’t even speak Malay. There are 14 primary schools and one secondary school. It seems last year, three schools nobody passed the UPSR exam. Durlng Pak Lah’s time, he gave special attention to Pulau Banggi in Sabah and Gahai in Pahang. Now continued attention need to be given, if not these places will be left out. We have achieved independence more than 50 years but these places are like pre-independence days. Something drastic needs to be done