So near, yet so far for Batu Sapi's poor
A group of little boys discuss the rules of a game, as a couple of them squat to dig small holes in the muddy brown earth.
After a brief parley, they appear to have agreed on the rules of engagement and one of them scampers off a short distance and preps himself for the opening shot.
He takes aim, flicks his glass marble and misses a freshly-dug hole by a few centimetres, oblivious to the murky run-off that surreptitiously filled up their little piece of heaven...
A group of little boys discuss the rules of a game, as a couple of them squat to dig small holes in the muddy brown earth.
After a brief parley, they appear to have agreed on the rules of engagement and one of them scampers off a short distance and preps himself for the opening shot.
He takes aim, flicks his glass marble and misses a freshly-dug hole by a few centimetres, oblivious to the murky run-off that surreptitiously filled up their little piece of heaven.
Scenes like this pepper the vast, haphazard layout of Kg Mangkalinau, as boys, both small and not so little, whittle away at the hours with not much else for entertainment or comfort.
Like many squatter villages that punctuate Batu Sapi's coastline, abject poverty leaves thousands living in conditions not even fit for livestock, with rickety shacks hovering over a sea of filth and garbage serving as their homes.
There is no electricity, they have no potable water, and they cannot afford to sustain sending their children to school.
All this hardship; and yet they are barely a 20-minute drive away from the bright lights of Sandakan city.
To the minds of many Sabahans, the residents of these settlements are mostly illegal immigrants or beneficiaries of ‘Projek IC', which local dissidents attribute to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his successful bid to overthrow the then-opposition PBS government in 1994 - by allegedly handing out instant citizenship to a burgeoning illegal immigrant population and artificially boosting the votes for BN.
Residents of these shanties on the other hand maintain the validity of their citizenship, with many ever ready to show their MyKads, and the men even carry their Umno membership cards close at hand.
Regardless of the social stigmas and perceptions that surround the existence of these slums, the painful reality is that these people are poor and illiterate.
They need help, but get almost no help at all.
'We will support our bapa'
Despite having lived in such deplorable conditions for decades, many of the slum residents declare their undivided support for BN, which is to them synonymous with the term ‘bapa', or father.
Security guard Jaafar Lama, 60, complained that villagers of Kg Mangkalinau, which was founded in 1993, constantly have to salvage scrap building material and anything else they can find to repair their homes and the precarious bridges that link them to the world outside.
He lamented that despite their loyalty to BN, they do feel a bit like a child neglected by their ‘bapa'.
"Sokong, mana boleh tak sokong (BN). Itu bapa sendiri, mana boleh sokong orang lain... tapi tengok macam mana dia jaga anak (We support, how can we not support. That is our father, how can we support others... but look at how he takes care of his children)," Jaafar said.
The village security and development committee chairperson of neighbouring Kg Mangkalinau Orang, Ahmad Musa, 55, echoed Jaafar's sentiments, pointing out that villagers who are mostly fishermen cannot even say how much they earn every month as they aren't even sure if their boats can survive a trip out at sea.
But what worries them most is the prospect of being evicted from where they are, as most of those living in Mangkalinau Orang were previously sent packing from their previous settlement in BDC, which was torn down in 2002.
"This is government land, so if the government decides it wants the land back, we will have to move again."
When asked what he will do if his village is forced to move, all Ahmad could say was; "Inilah ini," a typical colloquial term in Sabah which means that's the problem.
Housewife Juaidah Sindrum (right), 37, told Malaysiakini how her family had to literally take apart their house at Mile 3, Sandakan, and save the scraps to rebuild another one in Kg Mangkalinau just five months ago.
She said this is the second time she and her family of seven children, aged from six to 20, have been evicted for squatting as they have barely enough money to survive day-to-day, let alone send her children to school.
Like the others, she maintained that she is a staunch BN supporter as she believes the ruling coalition can bring them ‘kesenangan' (comfort).
But when it was put to her that she is still living in abject poverty despite the decades of support she and her family have given BN, she could only heave a sigh of resignation.
"Apa boleh buat... harap begitu saja (what can we do... hope is all we have)," she said.
