It has been approximately 10 years since I last been to Pulau Maiga in Sabah. It is a beautiful island situated in the national park off Semporna. The map below shows the location of Pulau Maiga.
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Back then, it was filled with stateless families that came from the Bajau Tribe. As per my previous post, Bajau Laut is a tribe that predominantly lives on the sea in their boats, but after a while when they make landing, they are then not aligned to any nationalities. They are certain quarters who apparently took advantage of this such as charging for IC (used to obtain education for the kids) and in fact issuing IC during election time. How true is that – I don’t know. If it is, its very appalling. In fact – steps should be taken to get them legalized.
The island is blessed with beautiful sky and clear waters. Its just amazing to be honest. I did a day trip there and wished that I camped there. Now I am not sure whether its safe, but if it is, it will be a great! Awesome to be able to capture the island life in its natural state.
Most of the houses are just made of wood. There were no electricity at all. The brown stuff on the bottom left hand corner are sea weed. If I remember correctly, the selling price of that is so low. The sea weed are used as the capsule in the pharmaceutical industries (halal ones).
Photos above shows the two siblings by the jetty over looking another island in the island park. God knows what has happened to them, and whether they managed to get out of the island for a better life. I do wish that they are successful in their own life. They are probably adult by now.
The photos above shows me, Nazeri and Yusuf in Pulau Maiga during the recce trip. It was an awesome trip (really!). I wish I can do this again. Its just awesome.