Tawau: Humbling a Citizen of the World
Today we feature a post by our guest blogger – Mr. Esham. He writes about how his visit to Tawau opened his eyes and enriched his soul.On behalf of people of Tawau, we would like to thank him for his contribution.
Tawau: humbling a citizen of the world
For someone who is not into deep sea fishing, logging or plantation, to do a business trip to Tawau would have raised suspicion with the spouse. I did just that. The objective was genuinely for networking and of course travel.
The trip taught me, citizen of the world, about me, about my Malayness, my home port, about the archipelago, about the very basic things that I have not touched base with, about life.
When the pilot did his usual “good morning this is your captain” brief, I had my first lesson in geography that Malaysia is such a vast country. Tawau is 2400 km away from KL. The flight is going to take 2 hrs 40 minutes. Wow!! Taa-Wau!! Compare that to Jakarta or Bangkok. This is like going to Surabaya!!
Little Surabaya
That was what I found in Tawau when I did my evening stroll, Little Surabaya. I went to the Pasar Gantung which is not Babylon but a china market selling china made goods hung out for displays. At the food stall next to it I met Mas Parjo, selling a new innovation called Murtabak Jawa. It is basic murtabak with cabbage, egg and sprinkling of meat filling. They did that to Hindustani music and called it dangdut and now it is murtabak. Enterprising Javanese.
Murtabak Jawa. Photo credit tuntejapersona of blogspot.
Mas Parjo was not unique. Ninety percent of the stalls sell Gado-gado, bakso, murtabak Jawa, lele buntut and tempe. That explains, the Javanese sounding names of many Umno representative from Sabah. The Jainab, the Parjo. The names tell that they are fairly recent citizens of Sabah.
To the land hungry Javanese, Sabah must be paradise. At the Fish market I saw giant anchovies, giant cockles, oversized semilang.
The Nusantara is the Malay Archipelago. DEBUNKING USMAN AWANG.
I met a variety of people of different ethnic Malay background: Bugis, Sulu, Filipina, Timorese and of course Kadazans.
At the port, I discovered that there is a ferry service to Nunukan. The Bugis taxi driver told me that it is only 30 minutes to the border. He could still explain what a penisir is while my Bugis partner could not. And Penisir is the symbol of the Bugis soul.
From the aircraft I saw a big colony of houses protruding out to sea not unlike the Kampong Air in Bandar Sri Begawan but bigger. I later found out that this is the Filipino” illegals”.
Aren’t they victims of regional politics? Prior to statehood, this is their archiplelago with the mobility, the freedom to escape poverty, warlords, intermarry and define what Malay is.
All in all, these are hardworking, enterprising people. How I wish Usman Awang is still alive. I would like him to recite his Malay Sajak, then let him loose and let this Malay mob go after him and ceremoniously stripped him of the Sastrawan Negara title.
Departing
I decided to take the Air Asia Flight back to Kuala Lumpur. Now everyone can fly.
I have not felt the sadness of departure for a long time. With the mobility I am enjoying now, I have in fact forgotten that departing is a sad occasion. At the Airport in Tawau I had a refresher course of the meaning of relationship and how sad departing is. Hello. it is only KL. Am I becoming plastic?
I saw families and friends hugging and crying. Somehow I could share the sadness. A few drops rolled down my cheek, I was missing my loved ones.
I later found out a few families from the 7th Battalion , the Royal Malay Regiment, are being posted out to other battalions. Why is the battalion not moved? Isn’t that a basic capability of a fighting force, mobility? I asked.
Tawau that I knew has always been associated with the Navy, Army and Air Force. Tawau has always seen action. It was the Confrontation, communist insurgency, Sipadan, piracy. Tawau has seen all.
The visit although short has been an eye opener and soul enriching. Before leaving the hotel, I sent out an SMS to my host “ Please convey my appreciation to Yang Ariff, for sharing a piece of Tawau”. A special mention on Hotel Marco Polo, the best in town. It is a 3 star which try hard at delivering 5 star service. Well done!
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Interesting read
Thanks for sharing.
Love the writings. This is very and a real eye opener to those who are still in their cocoon that this land is only belongs to their own.To be honest, I myself have not been able to visit the outer border of Tawau Town and hope would be able to do it. There are places like Qouin Hill, Balung Kokos, Andrassy, Kalabakan, Luasong and many more that needs to be visited. Afterall there are our Malaysian territory. And definitely would love to visit Nunukan and some parts of our neighbouring towns in Kalimantan.
To the writer, if you are reading this, please include me in your next trip to Tawau again. Perhaps- we can discover more historical factual and make new friends with the people in the places that never been visited.
Thanks for your sharing. That was wonderful and lovely insights.
By the way, please reach me at my e-mail alisaiff@yahoo.com.my or mobile 017-2062843. Thanks again.
Good to read the thought of a Malay from the Peninsula on their thought and impression on Tawau in relation to the greater Malay race. If one stay longer he will find that Tawau is more than the Bugis, Jawanist, Filipinos (Suluk, Bajau, visaya etc), Timorist and Kadazan; there are also Cocos and Iban here too (yes the Iban from Sarawak who probably came years ago with the logging company from there)and the Chinese of various dialect groups. More importantly, they all coexist together peacefully.
I read this story again today and found it even more interesting… great write up. I hope that Mr. Esham is able to contribute more stories like this.
For someone who's not from Tawau, you sure did a good job sharing your experience. I am a true Tawaunian and what you have shared here brings a lot of sweet memories – makes me missed Tawau more. Well shared and Kudos to you, En Esham!
Thank you guys for the flattering comments. My visit was indeed humbling. Tawau exemplifies the spirit of the archipelago, the nusantara, the peaceful coexistance, the seafaring tradition that seemed to have been lost by many others. It was a shame that I could not explore beyond. I would love to visit the Melud Basin, take the ferry to Nunukan and spend some time at the floating village. Many of us Malaysian have not fully appreciated the many treasures that we have and Tawau and its hinterland is certainly one.
My first visit to Sabah was in the 80s. How things have changed. It was Kota Belud. I wrote this post in my blog http://inspigoblog.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/an-en...
To alisaif I will take that up!!
It has been some time since my visit to TAWAU and a year since the last comment. That is a long time with the kind of development SABAH is going through the last one year. If things go as planned, I would be going to TAWAU again soon. I am indeed looking forward to that, trip to nunukan maybe. Melud Basin is one place I must go.
Esham, nice of you to drop by – don’t forget to join the group on Facebook… the community there is very active. Link: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/362413623999/
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