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By Mihar Dias October 2025
When a vlogger recently declared Semporna the “dirtiest city in Malaysia,” the internet reacted as it usually does — with righteous indignation, overflowing comments, and zero context. SCMP
Naturally, I decided to investigate. So, on October 14, I went to see this supposed environmental apocalypse myself — expecting mountains of garbage, dying fish, and tourists fleeing in horror.
Instead, I found… a party.
The jetty — the heart of Semporna, where boats depart for Sipadan and other islands — was surprisingly neat.
Rubbish bins every ten metres, most of them full (which, in Malaysia, is already an achievement). Tourists were lounging about, happily munching on snacks and bobbing their heads to the “DJ Boatman” playlists blasting along the jetty. The atmosphere? Cheerful, noisy, and very much alive.
So where was this apocalyptic filth the vlogger spoke of?
Ah yes — the floating plastic bottles.
Below the water village houses, you can spot them — drifting like lazy jellyfish, souvenirs from someone’s lunch. But a mountain of trash? Hardly. More like a few floating reminders that people live here, with habits that need correcting, not condemnation.
The only real eyesore was found between the rocks near the jetty — a graveyard of bottles and wrappers waiting patiently for high tide to carry them off for another photo opportunity, preferably for the next influencer chasing content.
And that’s really the issue, isn’t it? The vlogger economy thrives on exaggeration. A balanced video doesn’t get clicks; outrage does. It’s easier to shame a place online than to understand the social and cultural roots of its problems.
But let’s not pretend it’s all sunshine and sea breeze either. The trash is real, the neglect visible — but the solution isn’t to scream at the assemblyman, the local council, or Mother Nature. It’s to teach people that the sea is not a floating bin.
Agencies can sweep, collect, and haul waste until the trucks run out of fuel — but unless the community itself changes, the rubbish will keep returning with every tide..
So yes, Semporna still has work to do. But credit where it’s due: the jetty was clean, the bins were there, and the atmosphere was inviting. For a town that’s a gateway to paradise — Sipadan, Mabul, and the stunning coral triangle — it deserves encouragement, not humiliation.
If we really care about the environment, let’s educate before we indict. The people of Semporna need awareness, not accusations; teamwork, not tantrums.
Because while vloggers chase views, the locals still have to live here — and the ocean, as always, remembers everything we throw at it.
Mihar Dias (mihardias@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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