Nunukan 'nicer than most think'
2010/01/22
TARAKAN (Indonesia): For two years Nunukan island, near Tawau, Sabah, has been a second home for Abdul Malik Abdul Hamid.
The Sabahan from Semporna managed a Malaysian-owned oil palm mill along with a handful other compatriots employed as executives.
Contrary to perception that Kalimantan was the backwater of Borneo, Malik has nothing but praise on the working conditions and the people.
"I used to work in Pontianak (south Kalimantan) and I brought my family to Kuching to be near to them.
"But now my family is now back in my hometown Semporna and I get to see them twice a month by using the ferry service via Tawau."
Two to four ferries connect Tawau and Nunukan on a daily basis depending on the demand determined by the arrival of trans-Indonesian ferries here.
"When bigger ferries arrive or leave Tarakan, you can see hundreds of people coming in or out of Nunukan or Tawau."
The island here and Nunukan have long been transit points for Indonesians and Malaysians alike.
Nunukan Bupati (equivalent of a municipal president) Abd Hafid Achmad said both sides are gateways for the respective countries.
"It's the starting point for opportunities, for the Indonesians jobs and for Malaysians, investments."
Hafid said the people of Sabah, Kalimantan, Sarawak and to a certain extent Brunei, shared similarities in culture and tradition.
"It's only our invisible borders that separates us. Otherwise we are of the same kind and it's only right for us to work together."
Nunukan is barely 30km south of Tawau and is reachable by ferry in less than 90 minutes or half the time by speedboat.
From Nunukan it takes about two and half hours by speedboat and about 30 minutes by flight, scheduled once daily.
A fact-finding group led by former Sabah chief minister Datuk Harris Mohd Salleh is now touring Kalimantan to learn more about economic opportunities and bridge connections.
Those in the group include entrepreneurs and journalists as well as officers from the Indonesian consulate based in Kota Kinabalu.
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