I came to Semporna with only an image in my mind: the endless magical bluish ocean water and white sand beach. The very first moment when I shared this with William, my guest house’s owner, he smiled and said, well Semporna is not what you are expecting. That’s what they market about but the real Semporna is more than that.
However, I would never know that one more time, I would experience the helpless feeling of seeing the poor life, and I can not do anything much…When I saw three skinny kids (12 years old they said) carrying all the heavy goods on the cart from the cars to the boat for people, all the memories of knowing that my students quit school in Vietnam to work and just came back, one by one… I remember that night I was laying on the bed and crying out of being helpless and feeling angry towards life.
Here in Semporna, Malaysia, when tourists come for beautiful beaches and diving spots, many people are living a life without being documented. They are living a life without an identity. And I complain often about my weak passport when travelling around?!
When a person doesn’t have documents, they are paid a maximum of 300rm (~65$/month). My coffee is about 8-12rm normally. Why don’t they have documents? Because their mom is not documented. Many of them used to be Sea Gypsies, living on boats, moving from coast to coast. And Borneo island had complicated history between Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia… so now, when they are trying to reside on a specific coast, no country can give them an official identity.
I simply can not wrap my mind around this, living without an official identity, not going to school, working hard since you are little, and working harder when you grow up to receive ~65$/month.
Is this the reason a boy died after 3 days because the family can not afford a 50rm boat ticket to the mainland?
Keep the question there, because it’s more important than the answer.
Can you hear the boy singing after a hard-working day? Then why is your heart crying…?
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