NIBONG TEBAL: Penang has several islands and one of them is Pulau Aman. Its population? About 250.
At the height of the pandemic, the islanders closed access to their homes – not a single outsider was allowed to come ashore and Pulau Aman was one of the few locales nationally that remained largely free of Covid-19.
The island again became accessible to visitors late last year.
Its reputation as a haven from the pandemic became evident yesterday when Perikatan Nasional’s Batu Kawan candidate Wong Chia Zhen (Gerakan) and his supporters from Bersatu and PAS visited.
Wong, 37, expressed astonishment at the untapped eco-tourism potential of Pulau Aman, which is less than 2km off the sea from the southern side of mainland Penang.
There is not a single car here.
Pulau Aman is part of the Batu Kawan parliamentary constituency, and Wong has a stiff fight ahead of him because he must face off Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and MCA’s local community leader Datuk Tan Lee Huat.
He must also fend off Parti Warisan’s Ong Chin Wen, a former assemblyman in Penang when he was in PKR, and 75-year-old Lee Ah Leong from Parti Rakyat Malaysia.
If chosen, Wong vowed to pressure government authorities to enhance the quality of life for these islanders.
Pulau Aman, at 116ha and less than a quarter of the size of Penang International Airport’s runway land, is visible to all commuters driving across the second Penang bridge.
Islander Baharom Said, 57, who has lived there all his life, said he loves the isolation.
“My two sons and a daughter prefer our island life too.
“My sons are fishermen like me and my daughter stays at home to take care of our household after my dear wife passed away,” he said.
After Pulau Aman became open to visitors again, Baharom said tourists came flooding in every weekend.
“But our jetty is old and unstable. We hope for a new, fortified jetty for locals and visitors,” he said.
Fisherman Mat Sidi Mat Saad, 53, said during the island’s closure, they were not starving because the island had so many fishermen and they could easily find food at sea, shared across the island.
He said many NGOs came by boat to donate supplies so that hardly any islander needed to leave to get necessities. But none of the outsiders were allowed ashore.
The tide of development, however, threatens to change the sociological structures in Pulau Aman,
“Many youths have left our island to seek jobs.
“One of my children is working in a factory in Batu Kawan Industrial Park. Another child is studying in a religious school in Kedah,” said Mat Sidi.
He hopes that whichever elected representative wins in Batu Kawan will have more empathy for the islanders of Pulau Aman.
During Wong’s campaign walkabout, he said he found much potential for Pulau Aman as a tourist attraction.
“To make the island a better place to live in, the jetty has to be upgraded and expanded,” he said.
